Park City, Utah – Local Realtor Harry Reems has a modest one-line listing in the Park City telephone book. Google his name on the web, however, and within 0.09 seconds one finds 98,400 links. Not a bad network for a self-proclaimed homebody who lives at the end of a quiet cul de sac — except that these sites feature a very famous male porn star and have nothing to do with real estate.
Suddenly the name rings a far-off bell — Harry Reems, Linda Lovelace, Deep Throat, www.xxxdeepthroat.com.
Yes, Reems confirms, he is indeed the man whose stage name was a household word in the raucous ’70s. But while he is candid about his participation in the “East Village, hippie movement” and a hugely successful star in the adult film industry, he is quick to shut down questions about specifics.
“Everyone wants to tell a story of sex, drugs and rock and roll. That’s not the story I want to tell.”
In fact, for the last 18 years, Reems has not wanted to talk about his past at all, except at church and in support groups for other recovering alcoholics.
“It is a story of recovery, of success, of redemption,” he said in a rare recent interview in front of his fireplace looking out on the snow-covered Park City Municipal Golf Course.
Reems, who has made no effort to conceal his identity but manages to enjoy near-anonymity in a town that harbors lots of reclusive celebrities, realizes his cover is about to be blown. Later this month, a documentary about “Deep Throat” will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. The film, “Inside Deep Throat,” was produced by Brian Grazer, who most recently received acclaim for the film “A Beautiful Mind.” It was directed and written by Sundance veterans Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato. With narration by Dennis Hopper, cameos featuring Norman Mailer, Erica Jong and John Waters and a nationwide release scheduled for Feb. 12, the film is already generating noticeable buzz.
Reems is featured prominently in the documentary — in interviews with the filmmakers and in clips from the infamous original flick.
So, after nearly two decades of avoiding the press, Reems, once again, finds himself fielding calls from national magazines and television talk shows. This time, though, he is telling the story that he wants told.
“For 18 years I did no interviews. Everyone wanted me for sweeps week for salacious conversation. I wanted to tell the story of someone who was in the hippie movement who turned his life around. I am proud of that,” he says.
Reems’ given name was Herb Stryker. His dad was a bookie, his mom, a runway model and award winning jitterbug dancer. “They both drank heavily and encouraged me to have fun. For my 16th birthday my dad gave me two kegs of beer,” he says, adding that, in hindsight, that may not have been the best of parenting. But he says, “they did the best they could and I love them dearly.”
After high school, Reems enlisted in the Marine Corps but when his dad became ill he was given an honorable discharge to help care for the family. He used his stipend from the GI Bill to fulfill a dream — to go to acting school.
According to Reems, his serious acting career was beginning to garner moderate success but to make ends meet he took bit parts in pornography movies. In 1972 he was offered the part of a whacky doctor in an x-rated spoof about a woman with a misplaced clitoris. He was paid $100 for one day’s work and might not have given it another thought had “Deep Throat” not become a cult classic and an emblem for the sexual revolution. It also cast Reems, and his newly minted stage name, into the limelight. He was an instant star and soon began enjoying the lifestyle of the rich and famous.
“I got hung up in the culture. I’d make a movie and with the money I’d rent a private jet, I’d grab a bunch of girls a couple of guys, we’d go to a private island and party.”
In the meantime, “Deep Throat” took on a life of its own.
“If you were under 30 (years old) it was about free love, if you were over 30, it was pornography, suddenly an adult film was acceptable, Johnny Carson went to see it and talked about it …,” said Reems.
But it wasn’t acceptable to everyone. In those heated times there was ‘the establishment’ and there were the hippies. There was Richard Nixon and there were those who wanted him impeached. There were soldiers in Vietnam and there were anti-war peaceniks, and somehow Deep Throat became a line in the sand between the two camps.
The movie was banned in many towns across the country and sparked a Scopes-like court case testing the country’s obscenity laws. According to Inside Deep Throat’s filmmakers, Reems was the star defendant during the ensuing trial in Memphis.
“He is really the hero of the story. Harry Reems was charged with distributing obscene material. He is the only actor ever charged that way…,” said Barbato.
In 2002, Glazer convinced Bailey and Barbato that “Deep Throat,” one of the highest grossing films of all time, was the lynchpin of the sexual revolution. “He was obsessed with the film,” said Barbato.
Bailey and Barbato began to research a possible documentary about the film, but they were also busy promoting their Sundance entry, “Party Monster.”
By sheer coincidence, while they were in Park City, they heard a rumor that Reems was a local realtor. They looked him up in the telephone book and were astounded to find that he had not changed his name.
“The fact that he never changed his name says a lot about him. He is a proud survivor, says Barbato. Bailey adds, “Thank goodness he was as smart as he was … to take on the insane zeal of that administration. He was a fantastic advocate for free speech.
Reems, though, claims he was not a leader. “I had a sense of it, but I was not articulate enough. I was not a voice, I was more of an object.” In fact, he says, the years he spent in the adult film industry nearly killed him.
Reems quit the business in 1980, but not the lifestyle. When he arrived in Park City in 1986, he admits, “I was a low-bottom alcoholic. I was basically a blackout drinker. I would start drinking in Park City and wake up in L.A. with no idea how I got there.
Alcohol’s hold on Reems was so overpowering that at one point, he says, he celebrated being released from a 32-day stay in the hospital by walking across the street to buy a bottle of vodka.
His drinking, however, ended in the back of Park City Police officer Bruce Bennion’s patrol car.
“I was in a stupor, I was handcuffed and Bruce said to me, ‘Harry, you have no idea of how much of a help you could be to others. It was the first time anyone suggested I could help anyone …I thought maybe I wasn’t the absolute loser I thought I was.”
Soon afterwards, Reems joined the Park City Community Church. He credits then minister Mark Heiss with “turning my life around.” He has since been asked several times to speak at the church about alcoholism and substance abuse.
In 1990 he married Jeanne Sterret, who says “He is a great husband.” She admits, at first, she was worried he might relapse but in the intervening decade those fears have faded. The two live quietly, dote on each other and their dog Bingo and share an interest in maintaining a level of spirituality. Yes, she has seen “Deep Throat” and earlier this week, she and Harry were flown to Los Angeles to preview “Inside Deep Throat.”
Reems is pleased with the result. “I am very impressed with it. The story is not the Harry Reems story, it is about “Deep Throat” and its effect on our culture.”
As to whether he would take that fateful $100 if offered a chance to do it all over again, he says “I would do the same thing. It shaped my life as it is. It took me to such deep depths I had to ask for help. And it introduced me to a spiritual way of life.”
As to the sexual revolution that “Deep Throat” came to symbolize, Reems believes the bottom line has been positive.
“Our sexuality, our bodies should be discussed. There are gays who are scared to come out of the closet. The more dialog we have, the better chance we have of abandoning those feelings of fear.
“What’s better than the truth, the truth about your sexuality, about who you are,” says Reems.