Quotes

[on dating Jerry Maren] . . . a very nice man and one of the last surviving OZ [The Wizard of Oz (1939)] Munchkins I met on some dreadful little-people-as-gangsters movie [Little Cigars (1973)]. We went out once, but I was young and couldn't handle even the idea of anybody going up on me.

[on "sexploitation" director Bethel Buckalew, with whom she worked several times in the 1970s] Buckalew was the perfect director. He was very even-tempered, mellow. I think he was good at editing in his head while he was shooting. These movies were so low budget raw stock was a major expense, so shooting efficiently was a valuable skill. He was also arguably the best looking director doing sexploitation in the '70s.

[on Henri Pachard] . . . he was a genuinely nice guy. A horndog, but a funny, positive and respectful horndog.

[on John Leslie] John was monogamous in his private life. He was a truly handsome guy who women often described as a "gentleman". I don't remember hearing a single negative about him from the ladies.

[on the possibility of writing her autobiography] I haven't given much thought to writing a book but you know if Jerry Butler for Christ's sake can "write" a book--although I remain skeptical he can read one--maybe I should consider it.

[on why she didn't do hardcore movies until the 1980s] I wasn't interested in doing hardcore back then . . . I thought it was sleazy. I really just wasn't ready to go there . . . It was still very underground. I'm talking about '72, '73, '74. It had a bad reputation you know. I just wasn't comfortable with it. I didn't work in a hardcore movie till I was, like, 32.

[on hazards of softcore sex outdoors] I remember having a scene with Patrick Wright where we were rolling around in . . . well, it turned out to be poison ivy. He got a horrible, horrible case of poison ivy. It didn't bother me.

[on her acting pseudonyms] I picked the name Sharon Kelly for movies. Basically, that's when I became Sharon Kelly, in the early '70s . . . it was from the Tom Kelly Studios - he took those famous red background pictures of Marilyn Monroe. On the way to wherever I was going - I don't know if it was the Screen Actors' Guild or audition or something, I don't know, I picked the name because I thought, you know, hey, I look Irish. So when I went into hardcore I had been using Sharon Kelly as my real name and I wanted some layer of privacy between me and the hardcore performer name so that was when I wound up with Colleen Brennan. I think it was a mistake. I think it had too many Ns. It was between Colleen Brennan and Maggie something. I think I would've liked Maggie better; I don't know.

[on how she decided to go into hardcore films] I was kind of getting bored (of working in a phone sex call center) and I had met a couple of girls who worked in hardcore movies that were bright and made pretty healthy decisions. Their experiences didn't sound terrible and I was like, 32, maybe; I was kind of thinking of getting a television commercial agent but I just wasn't ambitious enough . . . I saw being in hardcore movies as kind of an alternative. I figured I could whip it in a few months, you know, be successful very quickly. And I was.

[on Russ Meyer as a film-maker] I thought his movies were mean. That movie in particular - I was in Supervixens (1975) - had a recurring theme you saw in a lot of his work: Bitches got what they had coming to 'em. And I thought that was just a misogynistic, ugly way to make a movie with women showing their titties. You know, there were so many fun ways you could have women showing their titties.