Gloria Leonard
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Gloria Leonard | |
---|---|
The Bronx, New York, U.S.[1] | |
Died | February 3, 2014 Waimea, Hawaii, U.S. | (aged 73)
Other names | Aria Ola, Gayle Leonard,[1] C. Gale Leonard, Gail Leonard |
Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[1] |
Spouse(s) | Charles Leonardi Jr. (divorced) Bobby Hollander (?–1990, divorced)[citation needed] |
Children | 1 |
Gloria Leonard (born Gale Sandra Klinetsky;
Career
In the 1960s, Leonard was a Wall Street commodities trader.[5] She later went into public relations and worked for Elektra Records.[6] Upon her return to New York, looking for work, she contacted casting agent Dorothy Palmer, who apparently failed to tell Leonard that the acting role she cast her in was for an adult film.[4]
Adult film
Leonard began appearing in
She directed several films for companies such as Adam & Eve, VCA Pictures, and Vivid Entertainment.[1]
Publishing
In 1977, she was hired as the publisher of High Society magazine, a position she held for 14 years while continuing to act and appear in films.[4] She was hired by the magazine's publisher Carl Ruderman, who wanted a female publisher of a men's magazine.[8] Adult-industry historian Ashley West stated in an interview that Ruderman expected her to be a figurehead, but that she took the position seriously. West said, "Gloria really would visit wholesalers herself, had relationships with all the distributors, would hire and fire staff, would supervise layouts, would recommend and decide upon the content, so really became a hands-on editor, at least in the first five or six years of her stint at High Society."[4]
Leonard is also credited with two successful ideas that each became
Phone sex line pioneer
Leonard is credited with being one of the first people to use "
Appearances
Early in her career she was interviewed by a magazine for an article titled "The Parkway All-Stars" (after the
Leonard was also presenter at an awards ceremony for Video Review magazine that was
Leonard appeared in a documentary film by Melissa Monet called Porn—It's A Living. Leonard delivered the film's opening line: "Not too many people are going to be proud saying, 'Look at my daughter, look how good she sucks cock.'"[4][9]
Television appearances
She had a role as a salesperson on
Advocacy
Organizations
Leonard helped found and was a lifetime member of one of the industry's earliest adult actress support groups. Started in 1984, the group was named Club 90 and initially met at Annie Sprinkle's home at "90 Lexington Avenue" in New York.[4] Other members included Veronica Vera, Veronica Hart, Annie Sprinkle, and Candida Royalle.
She also served as administrative director of the Adult Film and Video Association of America, the adult film industry trade association, from 1989 to 1992, until that organization merged with the Free Speech Coalition. In 1998, she was elected president of the FSC.[citation needed] She was also president of the AFVAA in 1986.[10]
Feminism
Leonard was a
Awards and recognition
She won the Best Actress award for Taboo, American Style from the
Personal life
Leonard was Jewish and raised in the
Relationship with Norman Mailer
In a chance meeting in an Upper East Side New York restaurant in 1982, Leonard first met author/playwright Norman Mailer. Mailer, a noted womanizer, struck up a conversation with Leonard after recognizing her.[13] The meeting was rumored to have led to an affair between the two, but it did not last long.[14]
Later on, Leonard was approached by a group of movie distributors from the Midwest to finance what was described as "the world's first million-dollar pornographic movie."[14] She invited Mailer to lunch and made her pitch. In an interview Leonard said that the author "sat straight up in his chair and said, 'I always knew I'd one day make a porny.'" Leonard then asked what his fee would be and Mailer responded with "Two-hundred fifty thousand". The project later ended due to scheduling conflicts between the two.[13]
Death
Leonard had made her home in Waimea, Hawaii, in what proved to be her last years. Either on January 31, 2014, or in the early hours of February 1, she suffered a massive stroke there.[2] Not found for approximately 24 hours afterward, she was transported to a nearby hospital. As a result of the stroke, Leonard was left with extensive brain damage, and she died on February 3, 2014, at the age of 73, after having her life-support systems disconnected.[15]
References
- ^ a b c d "Gloria Leonard". Retrieved 26 September 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f Slotnik, Daniel E. (6 February 2014). "Gloria Leonard, Publisher and Pornography Star, Dies at 73". New York Times. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
- ^ Adams Otis, Ginger (2014-02-04). "Gloria Leonard, ex-porn actress and publisher of High Society, dead at 73". Daily News. Archived from the original on 2014-03-03.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Kernes, Mark Sr. (March 2014). "The Industry Remembers Gloria Leonard". Adult Video News. 30 (3): 22–23, 112. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
- ^ https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/8/resources/8441
- ^ Report, The Rialto (2013-07-14). "Gloria Leonard: New York years interview". The Rialto Report. Retrieved 2024-03-10.
- ^ a b c d e "Gloria Leonard". Feminists for Free Expression. Archived from the original on 2009-04-18. Retrieved 2009-03-30.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-03-10.
- ^ Staff. "Porn... It's a Living (1998) Full Cast & Crew". Amazon via IMDb. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
- ^ "10th Annual Erotic Awards", Adam Film World, January 1987, p. 7
- ^ "XRCO Hall of Fame". Retrieved 4 February 2014.
- ^ "AVN Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on April 15, 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
- ^ a b Anolik, Lili (2 February 2011). "How Norman Mailer Came This Close to Making a Million-Dollar Porn". The L Magazine. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
- ^ a b Kernes, Mark. "Norman Mailer's Brush With Porn ... and Gloria Leonard As Gloria Leonard tells it, he would have penned 'The Gone With the Wind of fuck films'". Adult Video News. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
- ^ Kernes, Mark. "Legendary Adult Actress Gloria Leonard Passes". Adult Video News. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
External links
- Gloria Leonard at IMDb
- Gloria Leonard at the Internet Adult Film Database
- Gloria Leonard at the Adult Film Database
- Papers of Gloria Leonard, 1940-2015: A Finding Aid. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.