Linda Lovelace in Deep Throat

LINDA LOVELACE

Aside from its innovative albeit idiotically puerile high-concept — the conceit of a woman having a clitoris where her gag reflex is usually located — there wasn't much to distinguish Deep Throat from much of the emerging hardcore fare that was beginning to fester in what was once the urban grindhouse circuit of the '70s. But timing and luck were on the side of this Florida-shot 1972 film, which heralded the era of porno-chic and brought mainstream celebrity to female star Lovelace.

Her mainstream celebrity did not bring much mainstream work. She and original costar Harry Reems teamed up again for director Joseph Sarno's 1974 softcore variant/sequel Deep Throat Part II, and Lovelace half-heartedly performed in a lame softcore sex farce entitled Linda Lovelace for President in 1975. But she and then-husband/manager Chuck Traynor were, as Ron Jeremy would be decades later, semi-adopted as swinging oddities by certain fun-loving celebs, most notably Sammy Davis Jr., who unabashedly spoke about his enthusiasm for porn in general and Throat in particular in interviews. But in the late '80s Lovelace published a harrowing memoir, Ordeal, recounting the terrifying abuse she endured at the hands of Traynor, who took on managerial duties for one Marilyn Chambers after Lovelace broke free of his clutches. She subsequently became an outspoken anti-porn activist.

But her career and finances never really stabilized, and health issues plagued her, and by the turn of the century she found herself in a peculiar position. She needed, in some way, to exploit the porn Linda Lovelace, whom she abhorred, in order to make a living. While not backing down from her anti-porn stance, she posed in lingerie for the relatively highbrow adult magazine "Leg Show" and made personal appearances at fan conventions. This reporter met her in 2001 at the Chiller Theater Expo in New Jersey, where she was signing t-shirts and "Leg Show" issues and seeking out a buyer for what she claimed was the original macramé top that she wore in Deep Throat all those years before. The asking price? Just three hundred dollars.

In 2002 Lovelace died of injuries after a car crash.

NEXT: Marilyn Chambers.