Without Marilyn Chambers, there would be no Jenna, Tera, Jesse, Stormy, Belladonna or Sasha. Marilyn Chambers was one of porn’s first superstars. She was the first star to perform interracial on screen (with Johnny Keyes). Some of her movies such as Insatiable and the Mitchell Brothers’ Behind the Green Door, which was porn’s first hit movie. She was the first to crossover over, then back again — first as an Ivory Snow model who went to do porn, then into mainstream movies such as Barbra Streisand’s The Owl and the Pussycat and David Cronenberg’s Rabid.

Marilyn passed away Sunday at the age of 56, just 10 days shy of what would have been her 57th birthday, from what is being listed now by some reports as natural causes in her humble home in Los Angeles. It’s a sad passing for not only fans, but many who knew her in the business.

My career in the adult world sorta revolves around Marilyn in a strange way. The first adult movie I ever saw was was Marilyn’s 1983 movie Up ‘N Coming. Shortly after I started here, I interviewed Marilyn who was making a comeback and signed as a contract star with VCA in 1998 and made Still Insatiable and looked amazing at 46. She was as much of a pleasure to speak with as she was to watch in action. Ironically, she was also the first star a guy named Paul Fishbein ever did, for this magazine back in the day called Adult Video News (AVN). She was connected to many people in adult in so many different ways. I met her in person at the first porn convention I ever went to, at the now defunct East Coast Video Show in Atlantic City, and then at my first AVN Awards show and convention later on that year. She remembered me each time and it was always a thrill seeing my first porn crush each time.

Chambers went on to make a few more films for VCA, and then did some “how to” movies and other non-sex roles in adult DVDs, and even though she made other movies and did many other things during her time with us, I’ll remember that “first porn experience” and the beauty she had on screen and off.