Erica Gavin

Born and raised in Hollywood--her father was veteran character actor 'Fred Graff' (qv)--'Erica Gavin' (qv) spent her teenage years as, she says, "a stoned-out hippie", and at 19 was dancing at a topless bar called Losers (with future colleagues 'Haji' (qv) and 'Tura Satana' (qv)). One day while waiting at her dentist's office she saw an ad in "Variety" for girls to audition for a new 'Russ Meyer' (qv) movie. She applied, and found herself cast in the title role in the soft core classic _Vixen! (1968)_ (qv), the first mainstream (non-porn) X-rated film. Audiences had never seen anything quite like the film, or Erica, and the movie was a financial (and, surprisingly enough, critical) smash and propelled her into virtually instant stardom. However, after only two more films--Meyer's _Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)_ (qv) and _Caged Heat (1974)_ (qv), a 'Roger Corman' (qv) women-in-prison picture--she abruptly left Hollywood and stayed away for almost 30 years. She has only recently taken some tentative steps at re-entering the movie business, attending a retrospective of "Vixen", setting up her own website and being scheduled to attend fan conventions.::[email protected]