Georgina Spelvin

Spelvin was born in Houston, Texas, at 2:24 pm on March 1, 1936, as Shelley Bob Graham.{{cite book|author=Michael Varhola|title=Texas Confidential: Sex, Scandal, Murder, and Mayhem in the Lone Star State|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0gTdiowLJhYC&pg=PA23 |access-date=14 September 2015|year=2011|publisher=Clerisy Press|isbn=978-1-57860-459-3|pages=24–27}} Her father was a geophysicist, and the family moved frequently. She often took dancing lessons during childhood. She graduated from high school in 1954.

{{quote|At first, I wanted to be an opera singer, but my voice wasn't good enough. My second choice was ballerina. After that, it was a series of compromises.|Georgina Spelvin{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SpiLAgAAQBAJ&q=opera&pg=PA24|title=Texas Confidential: Sex, Scandal, Murder, and Mayhem in the Lone Star State|first=Michael|last=Varhola|date=19 July 2011|publisher=Clerisy Press|isbn=9781578604586|access-date=29 April 2018|via=Google Books}}}}

Graham began her professional career as dancer and later as a chorus girl{{cite web|url=http://georgiespelvin.com:80/page5/page5.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100904161028/http://georgiespelvin.com/page5/page5.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 September 2010|title=Photos|date=4 September 2010|access-date=28 April 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://famousdude.com/12645-georgina-spelvin@imagegeorgina-spelvin-09.jpg.html|title=image: Georgina Spelvin; FamousDude.com - Famous people photo catalog.|website=famousdude.com|access-date=28 April 2018}} in Pajama Game, and was featured in the Broadway productions of Cabaret, Guys and Dolls, and Sweet Charity.[http://www.therialtoreport.com/2013/05/19/podcast-011-georgina-spelvin-the-devil-miss-jones-and-the-new-york-years/ 'Georgina Spelvin: The Devil, Miss Jones, and the New York Years'], [http://www.therialtoreport.com The Rialto Report]: Audio interview with Georgina Spelvin{{cite magazine |last=Corliss |first=Richard |title=That Old Feeling: When Porno Was Chic |url=http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1043267,00.html |date=March 29, 2005 |magazine=Time |access-date=January 27, 2016 }} During that time, she changed the spelling of her name to "Chele Graham", but kept the pronunciation the same. When performance offers dwindled, she worked in theater production as a choreographer, director, and lighting technician in a number of musicals,{{cite news|last1=Robinson|first1=Johnny|title=Chele Graham Released On 10,000 Bail|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IZ8gAAAAIBAJ&sjid=hWgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3164%2C3560971|access-date=2 October 2015|publisher=Lewiston Evening Journal|date=July 26, 1974}} which led to the underground film scene.

The stage name she adopted is a variation on George Spelvin, traditionally used as a pseudonym by stage actors for the second billing, when playing two roles.{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19730509&id=N4dQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vhEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7302,2256206|title=The Milwaukee Sentinel - Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com|access-date=29 April 2018}}{{Dead link|date=May 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

She made her first movie, The Twilight Girls, a softcore film, in 1957, and appeared in a few sexploitation features during the late 1960s.

Graham moved into porn when her friend, actor Marc Stevens, introduced her to adult film director Gerard Damiano. She became one of the best-known figures in hardcore pornography for her starring role in The Devil in Miss Jones in 1973.

{{quote|I took the role very seriously. I was doing Hedda Gabler here! The fact that there was hard-core sex involved was incidental as far as I was concerned. I was totally deluded. I had made myself believe that I was an actress. I was showing true life as it really was, including actual sex as it really happened, instead of the phony stuff that you got from Hollywood. That was my raison d'etre throughout the whole thing. It was okay; I was okay; I wasn't a slut.|Georgina Spelvin, on Devil in Miss Jones{{cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1043267-2,00.html|title=That Old Feeling: When Porno Was Chic|first=Richard|last=Corliss|magazine=Time |date=29 March 2005|access-date=29 April 2018|via=content.time.com}}}}

In 1973, Robert Berkvist, writing in The New York Times, commented that "'Miss Jones' is as familiar in [the respectable and well-to-do New York suburb of] Scarsdale as she is on Broadway."{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}

In 1974, she appeared in the low-budget exploitation film Girls For Rent (aka I Spit on Your Corpse), for which she also served as costume designer.

{{quote|The Devil in Miss Jones. This was the "birth" of Georgina Spelvin in 1974. From there it was, again, all downhill. This descent spiraled into the pits of sleaze-bag strip joints and alcoholism. Sobriety came November 11, 1981.|Georgina Spelvin}}

In 1974, while living in Maine, she was charged with transporting obscene materials across state lines for her film Devil in Miss Jones in Tennessee.{{cite web|url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20064573,00.html|title=In Trouble|magazine=People|access-date=2 October 2015}} The charges were eventually dropped in 1977.{{cite news|title=Spartanburg Herald Making the News 4/16/1977|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ekEsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Es0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6786%2C2749128|access-date=2 October 2015|agency=Associated Press|publisher=Spartanburg Herald|date=April 16, 1977}}

In 1975, she moved to El Cajon, California, with Claire Lumiere (aka Judith Hamilton), met Vince Miranda and appeared in Take It Off at his theatre, the Off-Broadway.{{cite web|url=https://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/galleries/famous-former-neighbors/9309/|title=Famous Former Neighbors: Georgina Spelvin, Part 1 - San Diego Reader|website=www.sandiegoreader.com|access-date=28 April 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/galleries/famous-former-neighbors/9308/|title=Famous Former Neighbors: Georgina Spelvin, Part 2 - San Diego Reader|website=www.sandiegoreader.com|access-date=28 April 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2010/jun/29/pussycat-theaters-a-comprehensive-history-of-a-cal/|title=Pussycat Theaters – a comprehensive history of a California dynasty|website=sandiegoreader.com|access-date=28 April 2018}}

Spelvin appeared in more than 70 adult films, such as Desires Within Young Girls (1977), Sensual Encounters of Every Kind (1978), Honky Tonk Nights (1978), The Ecstasy Girls (1979), Ring of Desire (1981), and Center Spread Girls (1982), before retiring from the industry in 1982.

Spelvin made cameo appearances in Police Academy (1984){{cite web|url=https://outlet.historicimages.com/products/mva63863|title=1984 Press Photo Police Academy Steve Guttenberg Georgina Spelvin|first=Historic|last=Images|website=Historic Images|access-date=28 April 2018}} and Police Academy 3: Back in Training (1986). She later had film roles in Bad Blood (1989), in which she was credited as "Ruth Raymond", Return to Justice (1990), and Next Year in Jerusalem (1997), as well as guest-starring roles on the television shows Dream On and The Lost World.

Spelvin learned desktop publishing and worked for the Los Angeles Times until retiring from its staff in 2004.

In 2004, she made a cameo appearance in Vivid Video's remake of The Devil in Miss Jones, titled The New Devil in Miss Jones.{{cite news|title=Georgie Rocks The House|url=http://www.xcitement.com/blog/?p=121|access-date=2007-11-30|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215045326/http://www.xcitement.com/blog/?p=121|archive-date=2009-02-15}} Her role did not involve any sex acts. In 2005, she was interviewed for the documentary film Inside Deep Throat. In 2006, she was interviewed for the documentary film Devil in Miss Spelvin, a special feature intended for inclusion with Devil in Miss Jones: The Definitive Collector's Edition.{{cite web|url=http://www.xcritic.com/review/25503/clair-lumiere-the-devil-in-miss-jones---definitive-collectors-edition/|title=Clair Lumiere in The Devil in Miss Jones - Definitive Collector's Edition|website=XCritic.com|access-date=April 28, 2018}}

In 2009, she appeared as herself in the video for Massive Attack's song "Paradise Circus."{{cite news| title=Massive Attack - Paradise Circus|url = http://special.the-raft.com/massiveattackdvd/paradisecircus_full.swf| access-date=2009-12-14}}

In 2011, Spelvin was a guest on an episode (season 1, episode 5) of the Showtime series Dave's Old Porn, in which she viewed and discussed clips from a number of her films (including The Devil in Miss Jones) with host Dave Attell and guest Adam Carolla. In 2017, Spelvin was interviewed in the documentary After Porn Ends 2, about her career in porn.{{cite web|url=https://decider.com/2017/05/31/netflix-after-porn-ends-2-review/|title='After Porn Ends 2' Focuses On What Happens To Porn Stars When The Cameras Stop Rolling|work=The Decider|first=Kayla|last=Cobb|date=May 31, 2017|access-date=January 1, 2025}}

Spelvin met her future husband, actor John Welsh, in 1983.

In May 2008, she published her autobiography, The Devil Made Me Do It,{{cite book|title=The Devil Made Me Do It|first=Georgina|last=Spelvin|date=20 March 2008|publisher=Georginas World Inc|isbn=978-0615199078}} and appeared on camera in a short web clip announcing its release; a self-published work, the book is available through her official website.{{cite news|title=The Devil Made Her Do It|url=http://newtextureblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/georgina-spelvins-devil-made-me-do-it.html |access-date=2008-05-14}}

• 1976: AFAA Best Supporting Actress for Ping Pong {{cite news|title=rame awards list|url=http://www.rame.net/library/lists/best.html|access-date=2007-11-29|archive-date=2019-04-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421220757/http://www.rame.net/library/lists/best.html|url-status=dead}}
• 1977: AFAA Best Actress for Desires Within Young Girls
• 1978: AFAA Best Supporting Actress for Take Off
• 1979: AFAA Best Supporting Actress for Ecstasy Girls
• 1980: AFAA Best Supporting Actress for Urban Cowgirls
• 1981: AFAA Best Actress for Dancers
• 1991: XRCO Lifetime Achievement Award{{cite news |title=Winners of XRCO Awards 1991 |url=http://aiwards.com/xrco/1991 }}
• 1991: Free Speech Coalition Lifetime Achievement Awardhttps://web.archive.org/web/19980611115426/http://www.freespeechcoalition.com:80/industry/news/stars.html
• AVN Hall of Fame{{cite news|title=AVN Hall of Fame |url=http://www.avnawards.com/index.php?content=halloffame |access-date=2007-11-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929000916/http://www.avnawards.com/index.php?content=halloffame |archive-date=2007-09-29 }}
• XRCO Hall of Fame{{cite news |title=XRCO Hall of Fame |url=http://www.bwdl.net/XRCO-2/hall.htm |access-date=2007-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205014232/http://www.bwdl.net/XRCO-2/hall.htm |archive-date=2012-02-05 |url-status=dead }}

• 2006: AVN Best Non-Sex Performance for The New Devil in Miss Jones{{cite news|title=AVN 2006 Nominations |url=http://www.avn.com/imagearchive/24/82/23/248223AVN_Awards_Nominations.pdf |access-date=2007-12-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051129014904/http://www.avn.com/imagearchive/24/82/23/248223AVN_Awards_Nominations.pdf |archive-date=November 29, 2005 }}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{Official website|https://web.archive.org/web/20100903202842/http://georgiespelvin.com/}}
• {{IMDb name|nm0313707|Georgina Spelvin}}
• {{IAFD name|id=Spelvin|gender=female|name=Georgina Spelvin}}
• {{afdb name|id=825|gender=female|name=Georgina Spelvin}}
• [http://www.glaws.org/cgi-bin/pmpre3/cgi/pm.cgi?action=display&login=georgina Georgina Spelvin] at The Greater Los Angeles Writers Society
• [http://www.therialtoreport.com/2013/05/19/podcast-011-georgina-spelvin-the-devil-miss-jones-and-the-new-york-years/ Georgina Spelvin: The Devil, Miss Jones, and the New York Years] (Audio interview Podcast), The Rialto Report
• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yaFCnwEACAAJ|title=Golden Goddesses: 25 Legendary Women of Classic Erotic Cinema, 1968–1985 (Hardback)|first=Jill C.|last=Nelson|date=1 July 2013|publisher=BearManor Media|isbn=9781593934071|access-date=29 April 2018|via=Google Books}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spelvin, Georgina}}

Category:1936 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century American women writers

Category:American pornographic film actresses

Category:American autobiographers

Category:Pornographic film actors from Texas

Category:American women autobiographers

Category:Los Angeles Times people