Harry Reems, star of the 1972 porno crossover hit Deep Throat, died yesterday of pancreatic cancer at Salt Lake City’s VA Hospital. Reems’s passing was first reported this morning by the actor’s close friend Don Schenk; a representative of the hospital confirmed his death to EW. Reems was 65.

Born Herbert Streicher, Reems initially pursued a career in legitimate theater. He began appearing in pornographic films in the early 1970s, achieving national notoriety when Deep Throat premiered in the summer of  1972. The film’s popularity led the FBI to indict Reems for conspiracy to distribute obscene material across state lines, making him the first actor to be prosecuted by the federal government on obscenity charges. Though he was convicted in April 1976, the conviction was overturned the following year.

Reems later descended into alcoholism and homelessness, recounting his downward spiral and road to recovery in the 2005 documentary Inside Deep Throat. The actor said that he took his last drink in 1989; in 1991, he married his wife, Jeannie. The couple had no children.

Reems’s death comes just months after Lovelace, a film about the making of Deep Throat, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Amanda Seyfried stars as the title character, Linda Lovelace; Adam Brody appears in the film as Reems. The movie was acquired by RADiUS — TWC for a reported $3 million, and will likely reach theaters nationwide this year.

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Teri Shields — who engineered her daughter Brooke’s rise to fame — has died at 79. The New York Times reports that the elder Shields passed away in Manhattan last Wednesday; she was suffering from a long illness related to dementia, according to a spokesman for Brooke. As a single mother, Shields found her daughter work in an Ivory Soap ad when Brooke was just 11 months old. More commercial modeling — including a provocative spot for Calvin Klein jeans released when Brooke was only 15 — followed.

Shields was accused of exploiting her daughter when the Calvin Klein campaign was released, as well as when Brooke starred as a child prostitute in the 1978 movie Pretty Baby. In interviews, the former model did not shy away from sexualizing her daughter: “They see total innocence, which is totally there,” she told TV journalist Bill Boggs after Pretty Baby was released, explaining Brooke’s appeal to audiences. “And two, they have the sexy child too, they have the sexy person — that appeals to them.”

Brooke’s relationship with her mother became strained after the actress came of age and began managing her own career. The Suddenly Susan star had no comment for the Times when contacted for their obituary of her mother.

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