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Porn star Marilyn Chambers dies at 56

  • Story Highlights
  • NEW: She had been set to sign contract for off-Broadway show with Ron Jeremy
  • Marilyn Chambers starred in some of the most famous porn movies of '70s
  • Chambers, once a model for Ivory Snow, was in "Behind the Green Door"
  • Chambers' body was found Sunday; investigators do not suspect foul play
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By Alan Duke
CNN
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LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Porn icon Marilyn Chambers was found dead in her Los Angeles home Sunday night, but investigators do not suspect foul play, according to a Los Angeles County Sheriff's spokesman.

Marilyn Chambers rose to fame as an adult-film actress in the 1970s.

Marilyn Chambers rose to fame as an adult-film actress in the 1970s.

Chambers began her career in 1970 as a model for Ivory Snow soap, and starred two years later in the porn classic "Behind the Green Door."

"She was a really nice girl," said actor Ron Jeremy, who co-starred with Chambers in adult films starting in the 1970s.

Chambers' death was a "total shock," 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."

A family member found Chambers, 56, in the mobile home where she lived in the Canyon Country area and called police Sunday evening, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitemore said.

The death appeared to be from natural causes, although toxicology tests have not been completed, Whitemore said.

The coroner's investigation has not been completed, and no cause of death has been determined, according to a spokesman with the Los Angeles Medical Examiner's office.

Although her career was mostly in X-rated films, Chambers' fame was boosted by the irony that her face had graced the Ivory Snow box, a soap advertised as "99 and 44/100 percent pure."

Chambers eventually co-starred with all of the best-known porn actors of the 1970s and 1980s, Jeremy said.

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