Update!

Porn Queen Marilyn Chambers Dead

Star of Behind the Green Door found dead in suburban L.A. home at 56; autopsy pending to determine case

By Josh Grossberg Apr 13, 2009 6:20 PMTags
Behind the Green Door Poster, Marilyn ChambersMitchell Brothers Film Group

Marilyn Chambers, whose showbiz career detoured from "99 and 44/100 percent pure" Ivory Snow girl to the decidedly not pure Behind the Green Door, has been found dead.

The Los Angeles coroner's office says Chambers' body was discovered Sunday night in her rural Santa Clarita home by her daughter, McKenna. An autopsy is being performed to determine how the 56-year-old actress died, but authorities do not suspect foul play.

Born Marilyn Briggs, she was just another aspiring starlet when Procter & Gamble put her face on its soap box in the early 1970s. Until that point, her only credit was a bit part in the Barbra Streisand flick The Owl and the Pussycat.

But she gave up the good-girl shtick—any any shot at mainstream stardom—when she won the lead role in Behind the Green Door, which was the first widely circulated porn film, paving the way for Deep Throat.

Although she became a hugely popular porn star, she only had one "legitimate" credit afterward, the lead role in David Cronenberg's 1977 horrorfest Rabid.

Chambers eventually dabbled in politics, running for vice president in the 2004 election on the Personal Choice Party ticket, a party with libertarian leanings.

(Originally published April 13, 2009, at 11 a.m. PT)

UPDATE: The Los Angeles coroner's office confirmed May 18, 2009, that Chambers died of a cerebral hemorrhage and aneurysm related to heart disease.