Pornographic Film Actor - History

History

Performers have appeared in sex films since the era of photography began. Films that featured nudity were popular in "penny arcades" of the early 1900s which had hand-cranked films and rotoscope (Holmes-style Stereoscope) glasses.

These penny arcade attractions featured topless women, full frontal nudity, and even sexual coupling. Performers in these early photograph and film recordings usually used pseudonyms or remained uncredited to avoid legal sanction and social approbation.

Production of erotic or pornographic films commenced almost immediately after the invention of the motion picture. The first erotic film was the 7-minute 1899 film Le Coucher de la Mariee directed by Frenchman Albert Kirchner (under the name "Léar") which had Louise Willy performing a bathroom striptease. Other French filmmakers also started making this type of risqué films, showing women disrobing.

In Austria, Johann Schwarzer between 1906 and 1911 produced 52 erotic productions, each of which contained young local women fully nude. Before Schwarzer's productions, erotic films were provided by the Pathé brothers from French produced sources.

Linda Lovelace, an American pornographic actress of the early 1970s, is often seen as the first modern porn star with appreciable name recognition outside her genre. Lovelace starred in the 1972 feature Deep Throat. It was Casey Donovan who starred in the very first mainstream pornographic hit, Boys in the Sand, in 1971, nearly a year before Deep Throat. The success of Deep Throat, which grossed millions of dollars worldwide, that encouraged the ascension of more such stars and the production of more such films. Examples include Marilyn Chambers (Behind the Green Door), Gloria Leonard (The Opening of Misty Beethoven), Georgina Spelvin (The Devil in Miss Jones), and Bambi Woods (Debbie Does Dallas).

The 1970s have been called The Golden Age of Porn, a time when pornographic films were shown in public theaters and accepted (or at least tolerated) for public consumption. This "golden age" lasted from the 1970s through the late-70s or early 1980s. Sex films of this era had specific storylines, plots, and promotional budgets. Performers became celebrities. Such performers include Peter Berlin, John Holmes, Ginger Lynn Allen, Porsche Lynn, Desireé Cousteau, Juliet Anderson ("Aunt Peg"), Lisa De Leeuw, Veronica Hart, Nina Hartley, Harry Reems, Seka, and Amber Lynn.

Once people could watch adult movies in the privacy of their own homes, a new adult market developed that far exceeded the scope of its theater-centric predecessor. More recently, the Internet has served as catalyst for creating a still-larger market for porn, a market that is even less traditionally theatrical.

There are hundreds of adult film companies today, releasing tens of thousands of productions, recorded directly on video, with minimal sets. Of late, web-cams and web-cam recordings are again expanding the market. Thousands of pornographic actors work in front of the camera to satisfy pornography consumers' demand.