Marilyn Chambers, the former actress who was never quite able to shed the stigma of appearing in early porn films, was memorialized at a public service on Zuma Beach this Wednesday, which would have been her 57th birthday.
Chambers, known in recent years as Marilyn Taylor, died of massive cardiac arrest April 12 in her home near Santa Clarita.
The decision to have a public service in Malibu was because of “insane media attention” and the fact that Chambers “loved Zuma Beach and felt at peace there,” close friend Peggy McGinn said.
“Marilyn was so much more than the porn stuff you hear,” McGinn said in reminiscing about Chambers. “Smart, funny and full of love. There will never be another like her.”
Chambers had many talents that seemingly flew under the radar, including being a gourmet chef and running for the nation’s vice presidency on the 2004 Utah ballot for the Personal Choice Party. She and presidential running mate Charles Jay garnered approximately .1 percent of Utah’s vote.
Indeed, at a private service held Sunday, Chambers was remembered as being “the Mom I never had,” “a bright aura” and “someone who helped me find dignity and self-respect” from a host of family and friends. Early reviews would not have hinted at that woman.
At age 20, Chambers starred in the infamous 1972 X-rated film, “Behind the Green Door.” The irony of her modeling job for Ivory Snow laundry soap (“99 and 44/100 percent pure”) was not lost on the porn film’s producers, who marketed the movie as featuring the quintessential “All American Girl,” while Ivory Snow’s parent company Procter & Gamble immediately dropped Chambers as a representative.
However, Chambers was no neophyte. She demanded a percentage of the gross profits from “Behind the Green Door,” a practice she applied to all her work, thus leading to a profitable career.
Her decision to do the film, however, ended up dogging Chambers’ career, as mainstream producers were leery of casting her outside of X-rated features. Most of her work since the ’70s capitalized on her seductive bona fides, up to her last job voicing the lead in the comedy feature “Porndogs: The Adventures of Sadie.”
But the porn siren was not in evidence at Chambers’ life celebration Sunday. Guest after guest spoke of Chambers’ generosity of spirit, her philosophy of “moving on” and her powerful devotion to her daughter, 17-year-old McKenna Taylor.
“Zuma Beach is where my mom and me would always go hang out,” Taylor said. “That’s why I wanted her memorial to be here. It’s so open and free. Like her.”
Chambers had been set to appear in a new play by David Bertolino titled “The Deep Throat Sex Scandal” on Broadway in July. The play is about the social and political fallout from the ’70s era of adult filmmaking. Bertolino said he and the show’s producers were astonished to see the range Chambers showed as an actress when auditioning her for one of the roles.
“I brought Marilyn in as a piece of stunt casting,” Bertolino said. “We weren’t going to give her a beefy part but she blew us away. We expanded her role. Honestly, I think she would have stolen the show.”
Taylor said her mother was always surprising people with the unexpected wholeness of her nature. “My mom was beautiful,” she said. “Inside and out.”