Famed porn star Marilyn Chambers found dead

The adult film star and exotic dancer, who also once modeled for Ivory Snow detergent, was found dead at her home Sunday evening, April 12, 2009, just 10 days before her 57th birthday, by her teenage daughter, McKenna Taylor.

Peggy McGinn, a friend of Chambers, says the cause of death has not been determined.

Foul play is not suspected and the Los Angeles coroner's office said an autopsy would be carried out to determine the cause of her death.

Born Marilyn Ann Briggs on Apr 22, 1952 in Providence, Rhode Island, Chambers broke into the adult film industry by starring in the 1972 film "Behind the Green Door", which was among the first pornographic films widely distributed, and attracted a more mainstream audience than the usual adult fare.

Although the film became one of the biggest adult hits of the decade, at the same time it caused a stir because of its raunchy scenes in which Chambers was seen having sex with the well-endowed African-American porn star Johnny Keyes.

During her early career, Chambers landed some modeling gigs, a small role in the 1970 film “The Owl and the Pussycat”, which starred Barbra Streisand, and a 1971 low-budget film, “Together”, in which she appeared nude. Depressed Chambers then moved to San Francisco where she tried her hands in several jobs, including work as a topless model and a bottomless dancer.

Chambers, who starred in more than 25 porn movies, also modeled as the "cover girl" on the Ivory Snow soap box, posing as the mother holding the baby under the tag line "99 & 44/100% pure".

She also made several films with late porn star John Holmes, who was one of the most famous male adult film stars of all time, and who died from AIDS-related complications in 1988.

"She certainly was one of the first famous porn stars," said Mark Kernes, senior editor of Adult Video News. "In her day, there was really Linda Lovelace, obviously for 'Deep Throat,' and Marilyn Chambers."

He added that Chambers' “‘Behind the Green Door’ was made all the more exotic, I think, for some people because she had been on that Ivory Snow box. So here's the Ivory Snow beauty queen having hard-core interracial sex."

Chambers had dabbled with careers in music and politics. In the 2004 United States presidential election, she ran for Vice President on the Personal Choice Party ticket, a quasi-libertarian party. She received a total of 946 votes. In 1976, she released the disco single "Benihana". In 2005, she received a lifetime achievement FOXE Award.

She was married and divorced three times- first to Doug Chapin; their relationship ended after the release of “Behind the Green Door”. She was married to porn producer/director/manager Chuck Traynor from 1975-1985. After divorcing her second husband, Chambers married truck driver Tom Taylor. But her third marriage also ended in divorce.

Chambers is survived by her 17-year-old daughter, McKenna Marie Taylor; her brother, Bill Briggs; and her sister, Jann Smith.