CARNAL NATION

Photograph by
David Steinberg

Adult movie star Juliet Anderson, best known for her character "Aunt Peg," died in her sleep on Monday, January 11. She was 71. Anderson was unique in adult films because when she made 1978 debut in the movie Pretty Peaches, she was already 39 years old, an age where most adult movie stars have already been looking back at their glory days for several years. Pretty Peaches was only the beginning; from there she went on to make over 80 adult films and directed three. Long before the terms "MILF" or "cougar" entered the common parlance—or had even been invented—Juliet Anderson became iconic in her depiction of a middle-aged woman (and ultimately, a senior citizen) who was shamelessly flamboyant in her love of sexuality.

I met Juliet Anderson many times in the last ten years here in the Bay Area. I never got to know her as well as I would have liked. We crossed paths at several social gatherings and parties, but always she impressed me with her charisma and confidence and, even into her seventies, her sensuality. I may not have known her well, but from my brief, scattered encounters with her, she seemed to represent  an excellent argument for the idea that doing porn—or at least engaging in lots of vigorous, shameless fucking—will keep you young.

Writer and photographer David Steinberg, who was a longtime friend of Anderson, gave a loving reminiscence of her on SFGate.com:

She was a true sexual enthusiast—both in her films and in her life—at a time when most people in the porn industry were more interested in money than sex. She was intelligent, responsible, and creative in a subculture that favored mindless excess and the endless repetition of tired, repetitive formulas. She projected life and joy where many offered little more than lifeless, boring clichés.

Anderson was also important for her work behind the camera. In 1984, she discovered Nina Hartley, directing her in Educating Nina, and Hartley credits Anderson for mentoring her in her early career. She quit the adult movie industry after Educating Nina because of battles she had with male producers. She said that the film, while a great triumph in terms of talent, production values, and plot, was a "financial and emotional disaster" for her. In 1998, she returned to porn with the film Ageless Desire, which showed three real-life couples over fifty years old having sex.

One of the things that brings everyone at CarnalNation into work every day is that each of us believes strongly that sexuality is an important part of everyday life that shouldn't be trivialized, demonized, or hidden away. For anyone who believes that, the passing of Juliet Anderson is a great loss. For decades, she devoted her imagination and her body to creating images of sexuality that went beyond the conventional. Our best wishes go out to her family and friends.

Friends and fans of Juliet Anderson who want to share their memories can attend a memorial service at the Center for Sex and Culture on Tuesday, January 26, at 6 PM. Please RSVP to Carol Queen (carol@sexandculture.org). Please say whether you are a friend or a fan in your email.