Friday 7 April 2017

Tina Russell's 1973 autobiograpy 'Porno Star'


Thanks to Keith Crocker, I recently had the chance to read the ultra rare Tina Russell 1973 autobiography 'Porno Star'. At the time Tina and her then-husband Jason Russell were amongst the most prolific and well-known stars of the dawn of the adult film industry. Filled with her on and off screen exploits, Tina also had much to say about her co-stars and directors (thinly disguising them under easy to guess pseudonyms), including Harry Reams, Marc Stevens, Jamie Gillis, Gerard Damiano and Andrea True. Unfortunately only a couple of years later her life would dramatically unravel. Jason Russell left his wife, in a particularly cruel way, for the underage Jean Jennings. A shattered Tina, whose adoration of Jason is clearly expressed in the book, descended into a spiral of chronic alcoholism and depression, resulting in her tragic premature death at 32. Though largely forgotten today, Tina Russell is to me personally one of the most memorable adult stars because she had an inner and outer beauty, intelligence and charisma which stood out in a predominately generic industry. For a wealth of info on Ms Russell, the invaluable Rialto Report podcast on her life and death is a MUST.

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