Star of the classic adult film Deep Throat who briefly brought the genre close to mainstream popularity.
Her best-known film was also her debut feature, and it became so popular that it received a review in the New York Times.
Despite the popularity she gained through Deep Throat, she later claimed she was hypnotized to perform in it, and spent the rest of her life campaigning against the adult film industry.
She sued her husband, Chuck Traynor, alleging that he forced her to do adult films at gunpoint. He admitted to hitting her, but said it was consensual.
In the 1980s, she joined Gloria Steinem and other feminists at the forefront of the anti-adult film movement.