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Annette Haven (Martin), born around 1953, was porn's first gorgeous woman. The Jane Seymore lookalike was a solid actress and a cool sex performer. She still looks good, and along with many other ex-porn stars, lives in the liberal San Francisco Bay Area. A computer whiz and expert gardener, she's married to a rich man.

"None of today's porn girls are classy like Annette," says Bill Rotsler. "She's a rarity in this genre."

The brunette beauty (a former model and cabaret dancer) has an entire group of performers named after her by Jim Holliday. "It's the Annette Haven school of acting. I'm a 10 and I know I'm a 10, and so I'm just going to lie here and allow myself to get penetrated."

Haven's body was in the soft '70s mold rather than the sculpted '90s look.

Annette grew up a Mormon but soon rebelled against her religiously and politically conservative upbringing.

"A classic beauty and a mind as sharp as a stiletto set her apart," says AFW. "Haven's roles ranged from innocent virgin to bitchy executive, and her commitment to excellence is apparent in her unwavering concentration on the task at hand, whether it be delineating a character or pumping a dick. (3/87 p.59)

"In Lust At First Bite her beauty draws the eye and holds it. Her slender form, transparent like alabaster, seems pristine, as the evil Dracula (Jamie Gillis) schemes to sully her purity.

"In Seven Seductions of Madam Lao she demonstrates her remarkable range, playing both the imperious Lao and the innocent Lucy. Watch her shivering with passion as she rides Pacheco's ridgepole. Then observe the radical shift to innocent neophyte, bedazzled by her first sexual experience."

Annette created and directed 1975's Once Upon A Time which is shot entirely outdoors and uses the time machine premise. Haven plays an anthropologist studying the sexual behavior of Cro-Magnon man and other early men and women who appeared on earth several million years ago. "It's all tongue-in-cheek, but the sexmaking is caring and believable and there are no caveman antics such as might appear in a 1980s film. Annette proclaims at the end that the film was made to change American sexual attitudes. Her concession to the raincoat crowd is printed intercuts to some of the action such as: "Man who screws on grass has piece on earth," or "Don't talk with your mouth full," or "Watch the tool, fool." (Guide, p.114-115)

Haven plays the title role in 1977's Visions of Clair. The film ranks among the most abstruse adult films ever. Even filmmaker [Zachary] Youngblood confesses that he got too cryptic for his own good. "As daring and innovative as Clair is, it is judged harshly as the single film [out of hundreds] that lost money for the distributor." (Holliday)

Annette Haven lists her favorite movie as 1979's For The Love of Pleasure because she gets to play God. "Simon Black (Jamie Gillis), a down-and-out bum, steals a car, breaks into an apartment and is about to get away when a woman turns on the light, points a pistol at him and demands that he strip. Her husband arrives home. Simon gets dressed but he's still in the bedroom. What can she do? She shoots him dead.

"Next scene, Simon is in heaven - he thinks - and an angel in the form of Annette Haven, called Shiva, teaches him how to make love to a woman in what is the best porno sex-education sequence you've ever seen. Simon is condemned to satisfy his lust for women and food. In the process...he enjoys a virgin and discovers that he's in a nonstop sex marathon culminating in an orgy in which five women wear him a frazzle. "I used to love food and sex," he pleads with Shiva, "but I'm exhausted. I can't take it anymore. Get me out of heaven." To which she replies, "What makes you think this is heaven?" (Guide, p.92)

In later years, Haven often played professional women who are unafraid of their own sexuality. Annette's best movie maybe Tower of Power where she plays a high level executive involved in the struggle for control of a major corporation. Claudia is a tough, manipulative woman, regal as a queen and just as demanding. Even as the man she is keeping (Herschel Savage) f---s her savagely, Claudia maintains complete control, screaming ecstatically while Herschel slams it home.

"The script called for him to submit," remembers Annette, "but he wouldn't. He wouldn't budge, so I threw him to the floor, which wasn't in the script. It surprised the hell out of him."

Public Affairs presents her as an investigative reporter who exposes a corrupt candidate. Again Haven is required to be in control, yet remains sensuous and feminine.

"The first time I worked with Richard Pacheco, I was so overwhelmed by my orgasm that I fainted. When I came to, Richard was holding me in his arms. Everyone else had gone home."

AFW: "She is a strong woman, and that may be daunting to some men, but her fans love that she can be so outspoken, yet dynamically sexual. She's a thinking man's sex goddess: always sexy, ever a lady." (3/87)

All About Annette, 1982, should be called Nothing Much About Annette according to Bob Rimmer. Annette Haven spends a few minutes talking with Al Goldstein. "I cook, I sew, I clean, I knit baby booties...the only difference between me and lots of women is that I think sex is ok, and I'm not afraid to say so...The whole point of my being in the industry is to help change American attitudes and establish that sex is a good thing. I still consider myself a lady."

Unusual among porn actresses, Havens refused to accept oral cumshots on her face.

Annette retains her ice princess demeanor. She acts coolly superior. The veteran of more than 75 movies claims "I never called anyone for a role; they all called me." She says she'd still be doing videos today if everyone practiced safe sex.

This is nonsense. Persons in porn do practice safe sex, they simply don't always use condoms. Performers today are healthier than ever; if they come down with some unfortunate complaint, the doctor can usually take care of it.

Annette complains that sexvids today degrade women but the nastiest porn occurred in her day.

"I'm a strict person and you have to work within my parameters," says Anne. That is true. Just ask those who've worked with her. She wasn't easy to get along with.

"I don't care about money," is Annette's next lie in this series of statements quoted by AVN in its 9/94 issue. She's always demanded the highest pay for her work, which is no sin, but why not tell the truth? The primary motivation for most persons in porn, particularly the female performers, is money.

HEVG's Peter Green: "Annette Haven is one bitch who needed to be f---ed up the ass by ten of the most brutal-looking Negroes the California Department of Corrections had to offer."

In an interview published in the February, 2001 issue of Batteries Not Included, Haven told Richard Pacheco: "I feel that I've chosen characterizations and movies that represented women well, that represented me well, that represented women as people who have choice in their life...not as people who were run around or dominated by other people. I played strong aggressive women who know what they were doing. Because that's what I am, basically, and I think that's what most women potentially are. I thought it was marvelous and I got terrific feedback from men, from women. There's nothing that makes you feel better in the whole world than to have people come up to you and tell you how you've changed their life...and made their marriage work again."

In his superb 1998 book Sex, American Style, Jack Boulware writes: "When I visited the home of adult star Annette Haven, one of the first big names of the 1970s, she immediately threatened to kill me if I took notes, recorded our conversation or even hinted at divulging the name of the city where she lives. Once I assured her that I wouldn't endanger her privacy, she put on one of her videos (I think it was by Alex deRenzy), and we sat on her sofa for a very pleasant chat - or rather, she chatted nonstop and I listened, trying to follow her rapid-fire train of thought while sneaking peeks at the on-screen orgy out of the corner of my eye."

In a retrospective published in Screw December 21, 1998, Josh Alan Friedman wrote about Haven and Al Goldstein:

"She was in her prime and generated awe over the fact that such a stunning creature would actually do hardcore (and nothing but hardcore--she loathed "nudie-cutie" stuff). She was a woman of principle with a sexual mission. Goldstein had a mission too, and spent most of the interview whining for a blowjob. "Oh, Al," she would say, bemused. But Goldstein wouldn't let up, as if begging for his life. If he landed a part in one of her movies, could he have one? No, she declared, that would be too contrived. And not for any amount of money. She liked Al but wouldn't do it as a matter of principle. I'd never seen a human being grovel to that degree. He followed her on his knees to the elevator, and onto 14th street, until her limousine door slammed. He yelled after the limo for her to make an old Jewish man die happy. It was a heroic failure."