Remembering Candida Royalle: 1950-2015

"When I made my choice to start into production, it was a great way to embrace my name and everything I had done and just say, 'You know what? I'm not going to run for it. I'm going to take my fame and do something I'm proud of.'" `Candida Royalle, 2012

Last evening, I read the sad news that Goddess Candida Royalle passed away from cancer related causes.  Starting in 2007, I had the opportunity to speak with Candida on several occasions as she had agreed to share memories, personal experiences, and select parts of her life story for A Life Measured in Inches and Golden Goddesses. Intelligent, articulate, insightful, sincere, gracious and thorough, I was greatly appreciative of her time.
   In 2012, while visiting New York City, Candida invited me and a couple of friends to join Candida, Gloria Leonard, and some old friends at the West 79th St. marina in Manhattan for a few sun drenched hours. It was a spectacular afternoon, one in which I will never forget.
   In compiling Golden Goddesses, interview sessions with Candida stand out as some of the most fascinating and informative, as Royalle spoke with reverence and sensitivity with respect to her her childhood, teen years, feminism, her foray into adult films and eventual transition to directing with a focus on couples, eroticism and romance when she launched her own company Femme Productions in 1984. Royalle was an integral part of Club 90, a small group of women and friends who connected through their mutual experiences as adult performers and have retained their unique friendship over the years.
   Diligent and industrious, the last couple of years, Candida was busy developing a documentary film titled While You Were Gone, The Untold Story of Candida Royalle.
   One of the true giants of the erotic and feminist movements, Candida's Royalle's legacy will burn eternal through her stellar work, her gutsy actions, and the power of her own words. R.I.P.
   The following quotes are excerpted from Golden Goddesses.

"I think that pornography itself is a reflection of how we have perverted our sexuality and for the most part, what would be described as 'male' pornography makes sex look rather dirty, and mechanical and loveless. I think it's a reflection of what we've done to our sexuality through positioning it was something dangerous and bad, needing to be controlled and suppressed. I spent all of those years looking into my soul and trying to look objectively at having been in movies, and whether or not this was good or bad -- was this bad for society? I had to flesh it out for myself and I couldn't live with this burning question in my mind. 'Oh, my god, did I take part in something horrible?' I don't think it was, but I don't think we'll see in our lifetime a society that doesn't condemn it even while millions of people consume it."

"I had gone into therapy to understand why I did what I did. After much reading and exploring, and looking at it through a historical perspective as well as my own personal perspective, I decided there was nothing wrong with performing sexually with others for others to view, and enjoy, and learn from. I felt that the pornography that existed reflected a society that had great conflict about sexuality and that there was no woman's voice. We were not getting a whole lot out of these films ther than easy jerk-off material. Of course, that got me to thinking that it would be interesting to create movies that had a woman's voice that actually had good information, and that people could actually learn something. I knew there would be people who would love movies that are more intelligent with more craft and artistry. At the same time, women were starting to become more curious because of the feminist movement. We had received permission to explore our sexuality and quite significant: home video and cable television were introduced in to the culture. This really gave people a place to view and explore these movies and their fantasies at home. I saw all that come together and I thought it was a viable market that the industry was ignoring."

"I've sacrificed pieces of my life. I have very little relationship with the Italian side of my family any longer, a whole piece of my fmaily that was a major part of my life when I was growing up. While i sometimes makes me sad to think about the huge family I lost, I accept it as an unadvoidable consequence of choosing to break that rules and live according to my own beliefs."

"I worry about all of the young women coming into the adult industry now, and not having the wherewithal to go into therapy. I'm sorry, you can't do something that's this controversial and taboo without having some conflict about it, and in some way, it stays with people for the rest of your life. Even through we know that there's nothing wrong with what we did, a lot of people are going to judge you for it. If I had the wherewithal and the inclination, I would start some kind of place for women to come and get counseling because they're going to need it. It's not as if I'd be telling them, 'You're a sick person' or ' you're a bad person.' Just talk about it and make sure you're OK with it because it's the only way to stand up to people's judgements. You've got to have self-respect, self-love and self-understanding."
~ Excerpted from Chapter 7., "Femme," Spotlight on Candida Royalle, Golden Goddesses: 25 Legendary Women of Classic Erotic Cinema, 1968-1985. © 2012 Jill C. Nelson

William Margold Remembers Gloria Leonard in Cinema Seen

The following tribute is written by William Margold, adult film historian and long time friend, comrade and admirer of Gloria Leonard. The Cinema Seen piece will appear in the Feb 13, 2014 edition of L.A. Xpress. Bill sent his reflections along this morning and granted permission for this article to be posted here.

02-13-14

CINEMA SEEN  By William Margold

 

Death takes the life out of us.

I offer up this sobering thought because my own life has just lost an irreplaceable element of vitality by the name of GLORIA LEONARD.

She passed away from the ravaging effects of a massive stroke a few weeks ago, unforgivably alone in the relatively unpopulated paradise that is the west side of Hilo, Hawaii.
    The wondrous woman who was worthy of an audience 25 hours a day, didn’t even have a cat or a dog to lick her face when her body gave out, and she unceremoniously collapsed in her tiny house, and was left unnoticed for over 24 hours to dwindle away in the eerie experience of watching her life flash before her eyes.
    I suggest this concept only because I had a searing slice of something similar when the Pacific Ocean slammed me onto a shore in Malibu, and then its riptide took me for an unnerving yet illuminating ride way under its waves in the summer of 1965.
    But while I only glimpsed a short subject, and then was spit back onto the shore, I suspect that Gloria got to see a double feature, the news, and even a couple of cartoons!      
    If anyone ever fulfilled the sentiment “Bigger Than Life”---it was the force of nature that reigned supreme as an Adult Entertainment Industry Icon for well over three decades.
She essentially brought her own stage with her wherever she went, and she could spellbind an audience into a state of awe when she spoke.
   The luminous lady, whose laugh conjured up the image of a percolating volcano, was without a doubt the single most impressive human being that I’ve ever known.
And with that being said, it is going to take the rest of my existence---and most likely beyond, if there is such a place--- for me to even remotely try and qualify my feelings for---and about---her.
    Historically, from her sex screen debut presence in 1976’s “The Opening of Misty Beethoven” the most lauded adult film of all-time, to her various marketing endeavors as the publisher of High Society, to her incomparable leadership on the Boards of The Adult Video Association and The Free Speech Coalition, Gloria was a dynamo of dedication to the cause of Free Speech…and to speaking freely.
    And for all those reasons, but in particular for her choosing to champion “speaking freely”…she was justifiably  honored (in January 2002) by Larry Flynt with a block of cement that now sits in front of his Hustler store in West Hollywood.
    And as the frivolity of fate would have it, I was chosen to “be cemented” as well that chilly evening, in what ranks as the proudest moment of my carnal cinema career because of having the opportunity to escort Gloria Leonard into the edifice of/for eternity. Gloria Leonard & Bill Margold Hustler Hall of Fame Inductions
     I’ve been agonizing over a way to reluctantly end this page, and then it dawned on me that the very best I could do was dedicate (donate) my own extremely controversial/unique business card (God Created Man…William Margold Created Himself) to her, so that she can hand it out (God Created Woman…Gloria Leonard Created Herself) wherever she winds up holding court.
end

Tribute: Gloria Leonard was not just a Porn Star ~ (1940-2014)

Photo by Kenneth Brewster

In March 2010, I had the pleasure of interviewing Gloria Leonard for Golden Goddesses. I had admired and respected Leonard since I first became aware of her while co-researching and writing "A Life Measured in Inches," and knew that once I began work on "Goddesses," I wanted to profile Gloria in her own chapter.
     Delighted when she accepted my request for an interview (I have to thank Seka again for being instrumental in this process as she alerted the "Club 90" girls about my intentions for the book), we set a date to talk on the phone while Gloria was still living in Florida.
     In June 2012, I, along with two friends, had the opportunity to spend time with Gloria in New York during a private gathering with friends on a boat. It was a wonderful, memorable afternoon. Gloria was lively, hilariously funny, and full of great stories. She looked beautiful. Three months after the book was published, Gloria sent me a touching note. In January 2013, she wrote:

 

'So far, I haven't been able to put it down - have just hit my chapter (love the name you gave it). Just wanted you to know how grateful I personally am to have been included but more than that, am blown away by the amount of work you invested in the project. Over the years, I have granted interviews to dozens of so-called writers only to never see a single thing in print so am particularly thrilled to have "Golden Goddesses" in my hot little hands.  I am grateful for your insights and hard work.

 

Love Gloria'

 

Last evening, I learned the sad news that Gloria Leonard passed away in her 74th year. In her memory and honour, I have updated her profile on this blog, with added excerpts from her chapter (see below). Adult film historian and friend, Bill Margold, is credited for her chapter's title, appropriately named: Gloria Leonard: The Grand Damndest of them All.

 

May you rest in peace, Ms. Leonard. You will be forever missed.  ♥

 

***

Excerpted from Chapter 8: Gloria Leonard: The Grand Damndest of them All

 

'Gloria Leonard is considered by her contemporaries as the highly esteemed “Grand Dame” of the Golden Era of pornographic movies. Now in her 71st year, Gloria still possesses razor sharp wit, intimidating intelligence, beauty and savvy. As a fiercely independent woman who entered adult films at the ripe age of 35, Leonard's verbal dissertation about her life, career, and the world around her is delivered with delicious deprecating humor that would make her teenage mentor, Lenny Bruce, smile in his grave...'

Gloria Leonard: Contrary to the stereotypical perceptions out there, nobody was every drugged and dragged off of the streets. The only person whom I ever hated was Linda Lovelace because, even in her book [Ordeal] and when she spoke publicly, she would always bring up the fact that a gun was held to her head when they were making Deep Throat (1972). But what she would neglect to include was that the gun was not held by anybody involved with the actual production, rather than by her boyfriend [Chuck Traynor], a lousy choice in men that she made. That always pissed me off that she wasn’t totally forthcoming about the circumstances. Marilyn Chambers was a very honest gal, whereas Linda adopted this kind of ‘I’m a victim’ and ‘poor me’ attitude and wound up having all of these hardcore, humorless feminists supporting her.

I earned quite a good living, by the way, specifically in the ‘80s, literally speaking at dozens of colleges and universities, very often debating the so-called, "feminists.'  My thinking was, if the bottom line of the feminist movement is for women to be able to choose whatever they want to do without any repercussions, well, shit, that’s what I’m doing. You should be cheering me on, not wagging your fingers at me.

I am somebody who was at the forefront of what was considered as a rebellious and radical industry, that is now quite commonplace. I feel we championed free speech and freedom for people to do what they want and to watch what they want.

Working in the adult industry has given me an opportunity to meet people that I would otherwise never have met. It's given me an opportunity to travel to places that otherwise I might never have had the opportunity to visit. It has given me a platform from which to espouse my political views. Bearing in mind that here I was raising a child single-handedly without the benefit of child support or anything else -- working my tail off to put a roof over our heads and food on the table -- this was before the term 'Women's Lib' ever existed, I was doing this.

I actually discussed my decision to work in adult films with my daughter prior to doing it. I explained that just the way there are movies with comedy, and with action, and horror movies, there are also movies with sex. I told her that I was contemplating performing in one and she was very supportive and encouraging. Occasionally, a few years down the line there would be somebody at school who would make some sort of an unpleasant comment to her, but she was tough, she let it roll.

Jamie [Gillis] inducted me into the Las Vegas "Legends Hall of Fame." He stood behind my chair, and of course, predictably, extolled my virtues, but the thing that he said which actually brought me to sobbing tears is this: "Babe Ruth was not just a baseball player, Frank Sinatra was not just a singer, and Gloria Leonard is not just a porn star." That, for me, is my Kodak moment. It was very, very touching.

***

 

*Please also visit Rialto Report to read a magnificent Tribute to Gloria Leonard by Ashley West, and  listen to a July 2013 Interview Podcast for a segment in which Ms. Leonard is featured.

Golden Goddesses: 25 Legendary Women of Classic Erotic Cinema,1968-1985 © 2012 Jill C. Nelson