Harry Reems obit

Harry Reems, Deep Throat Star, Dies at 65 

He was not on the list.

Harry Reems, the Bronx-born, boy-next-door porn star of the 1970s, died Tuesday after a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 65.

Reems, who had been living in Park City, Utah, passed away in a VA hospital in Salt Lake City, a longtime pal confirms.

Born Herbert Streicher, the superstud of a dozen major hard-core movies made over 40 years ago, including the groundbreaking Deep Throat, was the only American actor ever to be convicted of obscenity.

As Reems told PEOPLE in 1976, "I only did the movies as a hoot. I don't feel guilty of any crime. I certainly don't want to be a convicted felon."

Yet a federal jury in Memphis convicted him of conspiracy for his role as the doctor in Deep Throat, even though the movie – which grossed some $250 million – only earned him $100 for his appearance.

The making of Deep Throat and the legal woes surrounding it are the subject of an upcoming movie, Lovelace, starring Amanda Seyfriend as leading lady Linda Lovelace, and Adam Brody as Reems. (Lovelace died in 2006.)

The youngest of three children, Reems attended the University of Pittsburgh for a year, joined the Marines, then studied theater in New York before dabbling in B-grade movies and finally graduating to porn, which he then gave up in the 1980s.

According to Reuters, he survived a bout of alcoholism and poverty before getting sober and becoming a successful Park City real-estate agent. He is survived by his wife of two decades, Jeannie, and a brother.

Reems' appearance in Deep Throat led to his arrest by FBI agents in New York City in July 1974 and his indictment in Memphis, Tennessee, in June 1975 on federal charges of conspiracy to distribute obscenity across state lines. Reems called it forum shopping. He was convicted in April 1976 with 11 other individuals and four corporations.

Reems' conviction was overturned on appeal in April 1977, as his activities in making the film took place before a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on obscenity in 1973 (Miller v. California), and Reems was granted a new trial. The charges against Reems were dropped in August. The defense argued he was the first American actor to ever be prosecuted by the federal government merely for appearing in a film, and he received considerable support from established Hollywood and New York celebrities during his trial, including Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Shirley MacLaine, Richard Dreyfuss, Colleen Dewhurst, Rod McKuen, Ben Gazzara, Mike Nichols, Julie Newmar, Dick Cavett, George Plimpton and Stephen Sondheim. Nicholson, Beatty, and Louise Fletcher were reportedly ready to testify on his behalf at his trial. Reems' successful appeal was handled by Alan Dershowitz. His autobiography Here Comes Harry Reems was published in 1975, in which he reported extensively on his first experience as an actor in adult movies.

Reems was cast in the 1978 musical film Grease as Coach Calhoun, but, out of fear that his notoriety would jeopardize the film's box office in the Southern United States, he was replaced by Sid Caesar

Reems returned to the stage in the plays The Office Murders (1979) and What the Butler Saw (1981)

In 1982, after an eight-year hiatus from porn, Reems returned to the industry and performed in the film Society Affairs, and reportedly received a six-figure salary. In 1984, he starred in Those Young Girls with the notoriously then 16 year old Traci Lords (who had lied about her age). Reems retired from performing in porn in 1985. In the same year, he was included in the XRCO Hall of Fame; also included in the AVN Hall of Fame