Juliet Anderson died she was 71

Juliet Anderson (born Judith Carr),^[3] died she was 71. Anderson also known as Aunt Peg, was an American pornographic actress and adult movie producer, relationship counselor and author.^[1] Entering the adult movie business relatively late in life (at age 39), she quickly built a reputation as one of the premier performers in the so-called "golden age of porn," appearing in over seventy films--many of them as "Aunt Peg", where she portrayed a giddy, insatiable woman determined to enjoy life and sex to the maximum extent possible.^[4] In 1984, she started a new career as a relationship counselor and massage therapist, before returning to adult entertainment in the mid 1990s.

(July 23, 1938 – January 11, 2010)

Judith Carr was born and grew up in Burbank, California, the daughter of a jazz trumpet player and an aspiring actress. She was afflicted with Crohn's disease and spent a sizable portion of her youth in the hospital or on bedrest.^[4] Graduating from Burbank High School in 1959 (where she was a straight-A student),^[5] she briefly attended Long Beach State College as an art major before relocating to Hayama, Japan with her then lover, a Navy sailor. A brief marriage to him did not work out, and Juliet spent the next eighteen years in various occupations, including teaching English to foreign students in Japan, Mexico, Greece and Finland.^[5] While teaching in Finland, she also worked as a radio producer. In 1963, while living in Miami, Anderson was secretary to a producer of "nudie" movies and a receptionist at the Burger King home office; she also worked for Avis during this period. In her website autobiography, she indicates that she appeared in an (unnamed) sexploitation film in 1963, portraying a police sergeant.^[5]

During this time, Anderson was known by her birthname of Judith Carr. She did not begin using the moniker "Juliet Anderson" until later in her adult film career, when she made the transition from 8mm productions to feature films.^[6] She has also used the stage names of Alice Rigby, Judy Callin, Ruby Sapphire, Judy Carr, Aunt Peg, Judy Fallbrook, and Judith Anderson.^[7]

After a further period overseas, Anderson returned to the United States during the early 1970s, and became involved in the pornography business while a student at San Francisco State University. She was working in advertising when she answered an ad by hardcore pornography producer Alex d’Renzy, who was looking for an actress.^[4] Cast in the movie Pretty Peaches, Juliet's career quickly took off from there. She acquired the name of "Aunt Peg" during a movie where she was portrayed as having sex with a niece, who cried out: "oh, Aunt Peg!";^[8] It is this moniker by which Anderson is best known to her fans. She appeared in several pornographic magazine pictorials during this timeframe, made appearances on radio and television, and operated a mail-order business, casting agency and a phone-sex service. She also performed in stage shows across the United States, combining comedy and sex in her performances. Anderson later indicated that these stage exhibitions were the "most gratifying" portion of her adult career.^[5]

Although Anderson portrayed many characters during her movie career, all tended to be tough-talking and unsentimental, yet rambunctious, vibrant and even comedic--all at the same time.^[4] She was said never to have faked an orgasm in any of her films.^[9] Author Charles Taylor wrote that she "brought a persona of classic movie-broad to porn," referring to her as "the Joan Blondell of porn". Another critic, Howard Hampton, opined that "her tough, no-nonsense older woman routine would be at home in the margins of any Howard Hawks movie".^[4]

In 1984, Anderson chose to leave the adult film business due to differences between herself and producers regarding the editing of Educating Nina, a film she directed starring Nina Hartley. She moved to northern California, where she ran a bed and breakfast for a time and opened a massage therapy office.^[5] Anderson chose to return to pornography in 1995, making new movies as an actress, producer and director.

In 1998, she directed Ageless Desire, a hardcore video featuring several over-50 real-life couples, including Juliet and her current partner.^[10] Numerous awards followed: Induction into the Erotic Legends Hall of Fame in 1996, an X-rated Critics Organization Hall of Fame Award in 1999, and a "Lifetime Achievement Actress Award" from the Free Speech Coalition in 2001. In 2007, Anderson received an honorary Doctor of the Arts from The Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality.^[5]

By 2009, Anderson lived in Berkeley, California with four cats.^[5] She continued to work in the adult film industry, and had announced plans to produce new films. She also worked as a relationship counselor, giving private workshops for couples focusing on "Tender Loving Touch," in which sexual touching is seen as "play, not as foreplay."^[4] She has contributed to the books The New Sexual Healers: Women of the Light and The Red Thread of Passion, and has authored articles for magazines and newspapers.^[5]

Anderson's body was discovered by a friend on the morning of January 11, 2010. The cause of death was not immediately known, but she was known to have been suffering from Crohn's disease, a painful ailment.^[3]

Awards

• AVN Awards Hall of Fame^[11]
• XRCO Hall of Fame (inducted 1999)^[12]

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