Marilyn Chambers, RIP
Marilyn Chambers is dead. Whil I knew she was the face of Ivory Snow in more innocent years, I had no idea she was a Rhode Island girl.
“Behind the Green Door” was notorious for a couple of reasons. First of all, when the film was released, boxes of Ivory Snow showed Chambers, in a straight modeling job, cuddling a baby and looking for all the world like Procter & Gamble’s slogan, “99 and 44/100% Pure.”
Ivory Snow sales skyrocketed, but the company quickly substituted another model for the no-longer-pure Chambers.
The film was also scandalous because it featured a sex scene between Marilyn and a black actor, Johnny Keyes. That just wasn’t done in the Hollywood of the time.
Made on a budget of $60,000, the movie ultimately grossed more than $25 million, including its video release.
Chambers, who grew up as Marilyn Ann Taylor in a middle-class home in Providence, R.I., went on to star in many other porn films, as well as other movies not considered Academy Award quality.
What I want to know is why this is filed under “city/local” at Philly.com. She died in California, and grew up in Rhode Island. If the Philly connnection is that she talked to Dan Gross the gossip columnist a few years ago… well that’s a stretch.
Here’s an interview from 1977.
