Marilyn Ann Briggs (born April 22, 1952 or 1954), better known as Marilyn Chambers, is an American erotic actress most famous for her first film, Behind the Green Door (1972).
Chambers was born and grew up in Westport, Fairfield County, Connecticut. She had a career as a model in New York, appearing in advertisements for soft drinks, shampoo and on an Ivory Snow detergent box. She headed to Los Angeles but had little success (only a minor role in The Owl and the Pussycat (1970)) and was dismayed at the 'casting couch' mentality she found.
Responding to an advertisement in a small newspaper, she auditioned for producers Jim and Artie Mitchell and reluctantly accepted the lead role as Gloria Saunders in the pornographic Behind the Green Door. The film was a significant cinema success in the 'porno chic' era and the following year she starred in the similarly successful The Resurrection of Eve. The two films made around $30 million. She then starred in Sexual Ecstasy of the Macumba and the pseudo-documentary Inside Marilyn Chambers in 1975.
In 1976 she starred as Rose in Rabid, directed by David Cronenberg. She did not return to pornography until 1980 (Insatiable), appearing on stage and in caberet as well as making a country record. She abandoned hardcore in the mid 1980s turning to softer adult films for the video and cable markets, in the Angel of H.E.A.T style she had tried in 1982. She made an unexpected return to more explicit work in 1999 with Still Insatiable. She followed that with a number of other explicit video roles.
