Page 30 - AVN October 2015

IN MEMORIAM | | By Mark Kernes
Femme Royalle
Famed actress/director Candida Royalle passes
camera, acted in nearly 70 films before deciding that she belonged behind the camera—a move
that solidified her place in the history of adult cinema. Royalle created Femme Productions,
the first adult production studio to be owned solely by a woman and to produce films from
a woman’s perspective. Among her works to be hailed by critics were 1984’s Femme, starring
Carol Cross, Sharon Kane and Rhonda Jo Petty, and Urban Heat, where she utilized the talents of
Cross, Kane, Taija Rae, Marita Ekberg and Tish Ambrose.
In all, Royalle directed 19 movies, first solely under her Femme Productions studio, and then,
after a production/distribution deal was struck with Adam & Eve Pictures in the late ’90s, under
the Femme Productions/Adam & Eve label.
But movies were hardly Royalle’s only contribution. In 1999, she partnered with Dutch
industrial designer Jandirk Groet to create the ground-breaking line of Natural Contours
vibrators—ergonomic designs that had never before been seen in an adult novelty, and ones
which is widely imitated today.
“Candice was a great lady, a visionary with her Femme movies and Natural Contours
massagers, hard working with her book, her charity and causes, and a wonderful friend,”
summarized Bob Christian, head of production for Adam & Eve Pictures.
Moreover, according to Sprinkle, “Royalle gained international acclaim as a pioneer in
female sexual empowerment and expression, and she became a sought-after speaker, lecturing
extensively at such venues as the Smithsonian Institute, the World Congress on Sexology, and
several universities and professional conferences. She’s been a guest on countless TV talk shows
and written up everywhere from The New York Times to The Times of London. In October 2004,
Royalle authored How to Tell a Naked Man What to Do (Simon & Schuster/Fireside). Royalle was a
member of the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT);
in 2014 she received a Doctorate in Human Sexuality for her life’s work from the Institute for
the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. She was a founding member of Feminists for Free
Femme movies and Natural Contours
”Candice was a great lady, a visionary with her
massagers, hard working with her book, her
charity and causes, and a wonderful friend.
Bob Christian, Adam & Eve Pictures.
WHO’S WHO
at dawn on September 7 at her home in Mattituck, Long
Award-winning director and actress Candida Royalle died
Island, after a long illness. Royalle had suffered for years
from recurrent bouts of ovarian cancer, often recovering
enough after treatment to participate in the activities she loved.
However, according to her longtime friend (and fellow Club 90
member) Annie Sprinkle, “A few weeks ago she had to go to the
hospital for a few days. Her doctor, whom she loved a lot, told her
she had run out of treatment options and to begin basic hospice care.
She had planned to move to Manhattan this fall to be closer to more
friends in what she thought would be her last few months or year.
Then just about five days ago, Candice started slipping away quickly
and it became evident that it was unlikely to recover.”
Candida Royalle, born Candice Vadala, was born on October 15,
1950, in Brooklyn, and spent most of her life and career in the New
York City area, though she lived in San Francisco for a time in the
1970s. She entered the adult industry in 1975, starring in the VCX
movie The Analist, and over the course of her nine years in front of the
30 | AVN.com | 10.15
Expression, [and] a long time animal rights champion. In 1985, Candice co-founded the first
porn star support group, Club 90, of which she was an active core member until her death, and
will continue to be a member in spirit.”
In 2003, Royalle was featured in the 30th anniversary issue of Playgirl magazine, wherein she
discussed on the sexual revolution and creating female-friendly porn with Sprinkle, and in 2006,
Royalle won one of the first Lifetime Achievement Awards from Good For Her’s Feminist Porn
Awards, and in 2009, also took home one of the first European Feminist Porn Awards. She also
received kudos from the sex researchers who authored The Porn Report, and in 2012, she was
one of the primary speakers at the first International Film Festival of Female Directors of Erotic
Cinema, held in Mexico City.
More recently, Royalle started a Kickstarter campaign to fund an autobiographical
documentary of herself, to be titled While You Were Gone: The Untold Story of Candida Royalle, which
she was in the process of filming with Canadian filmmaker Sheona McDonald. Although the
campaign did not generate the funds requested, the film may still be released as almost all of
the footage for it had been shot before Royalle’s death.
Since her passing, Royalle’s Facebook page has been filled with applause for her film and
other work, as well as memories shared by her many friends.
“Rest in peace to one of the women who made my career possible,” wrote actress and sex
educator Jessica Drake. “Candida Royalle was not only inspiring from afar, but when I had the
pleasure of meeting her at Catalyst, her words were exactly what my soul needed. Grateful to
have had the chance to talk to her and thank her for leading the way.” (Continued on page 32)