Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Spotlight On Georgina Spelvin



Georgina Spelvin. Another goddess from The Golden Age. A contemporary of Linda Lovelace and Marilyn Chambers, Georgina's most famous film The Devil In Miss Jones is just as iconic and well-known as theirs. Just like Deep Throat and Behind The Green Door, even if you haven't seen it, you've heard the name.  That movie catapulted her to the stardom the mainstream world never gave her and guaranteed that she would never fall into the massive Tomb Of The Unknown Celebrity. She was the winner of 6 consecutive AFAA Awards from 1976 to 1981; four for best supporting actress and two for best actress. She also won a Legends of Erotica award and is in two hall of fames, the AVN and XRCO.


She was born Michelle Graham in Texas on March 1st 1936. As a child she suffered from polio but was able to recover enough of her mobility to begin taking dancing lessons. She originally wanted to be an opera singer but her voice wasn't strong enough so then she decided to become a ballerina.
Like a lot of the stars from that era she originally tried to break into mainstream acting and, like a lot of them, had some minor success on Broadway; she was a chorus girl in productions of Guys And Dolls, Sweet Charity and The Pajama Game.
Her first movie was 1957's softcore lesbian film The Twilight Girls and she appeared in numerous sexploitation films during the 60's.
Her other mainstream credits include the classic exploitation film I Spit On Your Corpse for which she was also the costume designer. She also had cameos in the films Police Academy and Police Academy 3 as well as Bad Blood-using the name Ruth Raymond-and Next Year in Jerusalem. She also guest starred in the series Dream On and The Lost World.
She got into the adult industry when her friend Harry Reems introduced her to famed porn director Gerard Damiano. She used various pseudonyms including Shelley Abels, Claudia Clitoris, Tia Von Davis, Dorothy May, Merle Miller, Ruth Raymond, Ona Tural and Georgette Spelvin before finally settling on Georgina Spelvin when she was cast in her most famous film, 1973's The Devil In Miss Jones. She epitomized the porn chic era and appeared in over 70 films before retiring from the industry in 1979 although she did return for a cameo in Vivid's remake of the film called, appropriately enough, The New Devil In Miss Jones.

In 2008 she published her autobiography The Devil Made Me Do It, which is now on my to read list, and is available through her site georgiespelvin.com check it out.

In 2009 she appeared in Massive Attack's Paradise Circus music video and in 2011 she appeared on Showtime's series Dave's Old Porn where she discussed her old films and clips.
She now works in the graphics arts business in Hollywood and has been married to mainstream actor John Welsh since 2000. I looked him up on IMDB and he has an impressive resume including guest spots and recurring roles on Married With Children, Night Court, Life Goes On, The Facts Of Life, Who's The Boss and What's Happening.
Interesting bit of trivia, Georgina Spelvin is the feminine version of popular stage name George Spelvin, a name that has been used by stage actors when they didn't want their real names credited in the projects they did. The name Alan Smithee has been used by directors for the same reason.
Check out her site www.georgiespelvin.com it's pretty cool and buy her book.
XOXO
-Joe-

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