MARILYN CHAMBERS FOUND DEAD AT AGE 56

Special thanks to the Dragon Lady of Ground Zero for alerting me to this, and I'll have more as details become available. From today's Los Angeles Times:

Porn star Marilyn Chambers found dead in L.A. County home

10:42 AM | April 13, 2009

Marilyn Chambers, a former Ivory Snow detergent model who became a porn star, died Sunday at her Canyon Country home. She was 56.

Chambers, whose real name is Marilyn Ann Taylor, was found unresponsive at 8:51 p.m. at her residence it the 16000 block of Vasquez Canyon, said Los Angeles County coroner's spokesman Ed Winter. The cause of death is under investigation but foul play was not suspected and an autopsy is pending.

Chambers became a pop culture phenomenon when she gave up work as a model advertising Ivory Snow laundry detergent to star in the X-rated "Behind the Green Door" in 1972.

The movie also sparked a buying frenzy on boxes of Ivory Snow soap, then graced by Chambers' angelically complexioned face.

-- Andrew Blankstein