Marilyn Chambers passes at 56

In an industry that no one watches (porn), and yet generates more money that the entire Hollywood film industry every year, a star has fallen. Marilyn Chambers has died at the age of 56. She was just 10 short of her birthday.

Now I realize this may not be a big deal for many of the younger readers. These days the porn industry is popular and almost mainstream with the likes of Jenna Jameson and others gaining the same attention that some of the A- and B-list Hollywood icons receive. So the death of Chambers (born Marilyn Ann Briggs) may not seem important. But in her day, she created more attention in the taboo realm than virtually every actor or actress since.

It is an interesting side note that while Chambers was attempting to enter mainstream acting, she was the soap box model for Ivory Snow. The advertising tag at the time was "99 & 44/100% pure", something that her later work would dispute in multiple ways.

Chambers was a breakthru actress. Some may find that comment odd when describing the porn industry, but think about it. She was one of the first (perhaps the first known actress) to be involved in an interracial sex scene. It can be said that while this was an extreme manner to break the taboo of the time, it in some way helped to remind the masses (that never see or buy porn of course) that we are all just people. It's very much in the manner that Chambers' was one of the first to shave her genital area, or to have a genital piercing, which today are common and non-taboo acts.

But no matter how you might wish to view or think about the life and career of Marilyn Chambers, there are a couple of facts. She was a mother. She was young. She was a professional. The loss of anyone that can claim these things is always a saddness. So even for those that do not respect the career she chose, due respect should be observed for the person she was.