Ms. Marilyn Chambers, given name Marilyn Briggs, was central to the erotic empire built by the late Mitchell brothers - Jim and Artie - at their Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre, now in its 40th year.

Ten years ago, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown proclaimed a "Marilyn Chambers Day," praising the porn queen for her "artistic presence," her "vision" and her "energy." 

"That wasn't from any personal knowledge. That was all part of the allure of San Francisco," Brown said Monday. "At the time that she was doing what she was doing, it created an interest nationally if not internationally in our city. And people would come here to see if Marilyn Chambers was really dressed in snowflakes."

"She was a pioneer, and an amazingly secure woman. I admired her for being at the forefront of an industry that was so taboo when she started," said Jenna Jameson, currently one of the industry's biggest stars.

Hirsch noted that one of the most striking things about Chambers' career was its longevity in a business where stars quickly fade. She still has a photo gallery on the Web site Adult Video News and the Internet Movie Database credits her as recently completing a film called, "Porndogs: The Adventures of Sadie" with Ron Jeremy.

Marilyn Chambers, the porn star who fearlessly tackled lesbian and interracial sex scenes back in the early seventies Chambers - along with Kay Parker - was one of porn's preeminent actresses during the "Golden Age of Porn," first gaining a name for herself in the racially-charged classic "Behind the Green Door."

Cut on a $60,000 budget, the film made $25 million worldwide.

Chambers was known for her suburban looks and the ravenous delight with which she let men (and women) do pretty much anything they wanted to her.

"She was the first crossover adult star. She was the Ivory Snow girl and when she decided to make an adult movie that was big news," Steven Hirsch, co-CEO of adult filmmaker Vivid Entertainment Group, told The Associated Press on Monday.

"It was the first adult movie that was more than just a bunch of sex scenes," Hirsch said of her breakthrough film. "She was an actress and she brought that ability to the set of 'Behind the Green Door.' That's part of what made that movie so successful."

Paid to 'live out my greatest fantasies'

In an online chat with AdultDVDtalk.com in 2000, Chambers attempted to explain what caused her to take such a radically different career path after "The Owl and the Pussycat" and her modeling work.

"Back then in my naive brain I was thinking that something like 'Behind the Green Door' had never been done before and the way our sexual revolution was traveling I really thought it was going to be a stepping stone which would further my acting career," she said.

She learned afterward, she said, that wasn't the case.

Chambers' death was a "total shock," [fellow adult star Ron Jeremy] said, because they had been scheduled to sign a contract Monday to perform together in an off-Broadway "tongue-in-cheek" re-enactment of the porn classic "Deep Throat." "What's strange is that she was at a stage where she was totally happy and totally content with her life," Jeremy said. "Her life was falling together, and she was doing really well."

To Marilyn Chambers, liberty was about a lot more than politics. She did everything with a revolutionary, libertarian attitude. (I am sure the fans of her films would emphasize that word 'everything.') She exemplifies a complete libertarian, and she will be missed by many in our party and the international libertarian movement.

She was an ambassador from the porn community to all peoples.