Lisa DeLeeuw is not dead. In fact, she lives in Asheville, North Carolina. She is married and has 2 children. The AIDS story was used to get her out of the industry for good. I spoke to her the other day, and she was very sad about the death of Marilyn Chambers.
Liza De Leeuw | Lisa De Leewu | Lisa De Luew | Lisa DeLeeue | Lisa DeLeeuw | Lisa DeLeuew | Lisa Deleeuw | Lisa Deleuw
Lisa DeLeeuw admits she was not attractive as a teenager. "I was overweight and wore my hair like my mothers… when I dropped 40 pounds the whole picture changed… Before I lost the weight, all I had was enormous breasts, they were the only really attractive thing about me. Guys would stare at them, and when they got my top off they'd dive right onto my tits. It made me wish they weren't so big." By the time she was 17 Lisa had also experimented with women, but admits, "It was only one time"
After finishing high school she began working for a used car dealer, while her boyfriend worked in the local adult movie theatre. It was through him that she first became introduced to pornography, but later remembered finding it un-arousing: "I wondered in one day to see what a porn film looked like and practically fell asleep in five minutes." Her life soon changed though as "I got fired because I wouldn't give backseat test drives."
Lisa and her boyfriend decided to move to Los Angeles and start a new life.
"I decided that I liked California and I wanted to stay here. It was a lot more expensive than living in Illinois, so I figured that I had to make big bucks quick and modelling sounded like a way to do it… I was eighteen at the time and I just turned nineteen when I started modelling… I started doing girlie modelling in August of 1978." "I didn't know it was going to be nude modelling, but my tits were so big they didn't mind if I was still a little overweight. I was working everyday for a month; then there were so many sets of me at the magazines that I had to look elsewhere. Someone told me I could make good money in porno, so I did a loop… It was the first and only time that a partner had an accident and came inside me too soon. We had to wait a while and do it again… It made me feel good in a way, because the guy was experienced, and he came with me right away."
According to Lisa, she and her boyfriend Doug "had talked about it before, and he said 'Movies are fun, but I don't want you to cheapen yourself by doing something sleazy in the backroom of some dingy hotel'". Under the pseudonym Lisa De Leeuw, she began appearing in numerous hardcore Swedish Erotica loops. She later admitted: "I did come out [to California] with the intention of acting, but not in X-rated films. I'm sure nobody plans on that when they first come out here. It's not one of those life long dreams - 'Oh boy, I want to be a porno star'. I just hit LA, it was there, and I happened to fall into it."
Although Lisa didn't mind having sex in front of the camera, she remembered being quite inexperienced at the time. "I'd only started giving head a year before, so how was I to know that lip service was required when they would bark, "Get the guy up!' Learning how to use garter belts was also a treat. I know even experienced performers who still occasionally will put the panties on under the garter belt, which makes for a good deal of unintentional comedy when you're trying to remove them on camera."
Lisa Trego was born on 3 July 1959 in Moline, Illinois.
She had an unremarkable childhood, describing herself as a "Midwestern farm-girl."
"I was a tomboy as a kid, played with the boys. Still do, only it's different now. I think it was good for me growing up there. You had to develop your imagination, because there was nothing really to do." She eventually lost her virginity just before her 16th birthday. "I was mad at my boyfriend at the time I lost my virginity, but his two best friends were available. They did me in the back seat of a Firebird for about three hours. They'd take turns driving and fucking me over the country roads, bumping and humping."
Lisa admits she was not attractive as a teenager. "I was overweight and wore my hair like my mothers… when I dropped 40 pounds the whole picture changed… Before I lost the weight, all I had was enormous breasts, they were the only really attractive thing about me. Guys would stare at them, and when they got my top off they'd dive right onto my tits. It made me wish they weren't so big." By the time she was 17 Lisa had also experimented with women, but admits, "It was only one time".
After finishing high school she began working for a used car dealer, while her boyfriend worked in the local adult movie theatre. It was through him that she first became introduced to pornography, but later remembered finding it un-arousing: "I wondered in one day to see what a porn film looked like and practically fell asleep in five minutes." Her life soon changed though as "I got fired because I wouldn't give backseat test drives."
Lisa and her boyfriend decided to move to Los Angeles and start a new life. "I decided that I liked California and I wanted to stay here. It was a lot more expensive than living in Illinois, so I figured that I had to make big bucks quick and modelling sounded like a way to do it… I was eighteen at the time and I just turned nineteen when I started modelling… I started doing girlie modelling in August of 1978." "I didn't know it was going to be nude modelling, but my tits were so big they didn't mind if I was still a little overweight. I was working everyday for a month; then there were so many sets of me at the magazines that I had to look elsewhere. Someone told me I could make good money in porno, so I did a loop… It was the first and only time that a partner had an accident and came inside me too soon. We had to wait a while and do it again… It made me feel good in a way, because the guy was experienced, and he came with me right away."
According to Lisa, she and her boyfriend Doug "had talked about it before, and he said 'Movies are fun, but I don't want you to cheapen yourself by doing something sleazy in the backroom of some dingy hotel'". Under the pseudonym Lisa De Leeuw, she began appearing in numerous hardcore Swedish Erotica loops. She later admitted: "I did come out [to California] with the intention of acting, but not in X-rated films. I'm sure nobody plans on that when they first come out here. It's not one of those life long dreams - 'Oh boy, I want to be a porno star'. I just hit LA, it was there, and I happened to fall into it."
Although Lisa didn't mind having sex in front of the camera, she remembered being quite inexperienced at the time. "I'd only started giving head a year before, so how was I to know that lip service was required when they would bark, "Get the guy up!' Learning how to use garter belts was also a treat. I know even experienced performers who still occasionally will put the panties on under the garter belt, which makes for a good deal of unintentional comedy when you're trying to remove them on camera."
The following year Lisa starred in her first full-length movie, when film director Svetlana offered her a role in '800 Fantasy Lane' (1979). Before filming began, however, she was told to lose weight, "Svetlana put me on a strict diet, no food, just vitamins." This fight to keep her weight down was to continue throughout her career as a porn star. However, according to Lisa, the atmosphere on the set was terrible. "She's [Svetlana] a tyrant… we worked twenty hour days. We were fed cold hot dogs and drank cold coffee… I worked with her in my third film, which was 'Ultra Flesh' with Seka. I thought for sure that Svetlana would have changed her ways because '800 Fantasy Lane' was her first feature also. I made excuses for her, I thought, well, she just didn't know what she was doing… So by the time 'Ultra Flesh' came around, I thought she would have straightened up her act, but she really hadn't." Despite the unpleasant surroundings of her first porn film, Lisa De Leeuw never considered quitting the business. "I really don't know why I continued. I think it was probably because the money was good and I enjoyed the acting aspects of it."
According to Lisa, her boyfriend Doug enjoyed watching her have sex with other men on screen, but her family back in Moline had no idea what their daughter was doing for a living. In 1980 she admitted: "I don't think they know about it. Well, they might. I talked to them about a month ago, and they asked questions, but in a kind of a roundabout way, about what I was doing. But they wouldn't ask me outright. And if it ever comes down to it, I'll tell them. But right now, well, they're so redneck farmer, you know, you don't dare shock them, especially when they are older people. Because my parents are in their fifties. And they've been raised with one standard, and you don't come out and say, 'Mom, I'm doing this!' I wouldn't want them to keel over."
The first film she actually enjoyed making was 'Pro-Ball Cheerleaders' (1979), although she caught pneumonia during the filming after having sex for three hours in a rain-soaked field. "After that everyone decided that they liked me wet. They kept putting me in these water scenes." One such scene was in 'Garage Girls' (1980), where she had sex with John Leslie in a shower. It was not only the best sex scene of the film, but also one of the best of her career. The highpoint, however, came with her appearance in 'Amanda By Night' (1981), when, after numerous previous nominations she finally won the Award for Best Supporting Actress. Lisa was cynical about the awards though, claiming: "it was a lot like the Academy Awards - a lot of it was political… After that, I received two Erotica’s which was nice, but I wasn't even invited to the awards those years. I thought that was kind of funny! I didn't even know I was nominated. I read about it later."
By late 1980 Lisa had made about 18 porn films in which she had sex with about 35 different men and perhaps 20 women. In her private life, however, she had only had sex with 15 partners. "A lot of people think that when you're in porno films that you're very loose, that you'll screw anybody, photographers, directors, that you go to swing parties every night, and I don't! I've had several photographers come into the business and they think automatically that if they're shooting a girl they're going to get her into bed. And it's not true. Most girls that I know and respect in this business come in, they do their job, they get paid, they leave… If they wanted to be hookers, they'd stand down on Sunset Boulevard, or something."
Although never as popular as other porn stars of her time, such as Seka or Veronica Hart, Lisa De Leeuw was, by this point, one of the most successful actresses in the industry. Furthermore, despite sometimes clashing with her on a personal level, her co-stars enjoyed working with her. In his autobiography Jerry Butler recalls: "Lisa De Leeuw is an abundant, extreme personality… For some reason I also found her to be sexy. No matter how much of a primadonna she was, no matter how demanding she was, Lisa transformed from a big, bold, untouchable landmark into a flesh and blood woman when my dick was going in and out of her."
By this time Lisa had also married her boyfriend. "He did a few films… He really didn't get too many roles though. He encouraged me because I was young and everybody wanted me and he could sit home and collect the money and then harass me to find him parts in films! So we just had a parting of the ways because of that." Following the divorce she took a year out in 1984 and later married a musician. "I had been doing so much I was getting emotionally exhausted. It was right when everybody was wanting to do kinky sex. If you wouldn't do it, they wouldn't hire you… I was very close to a nervous breakdown." However, the fact is that by 1984 Lisa De Leeuw had put on an enormous amount of weight. Her beautiful full-breasted figure of 1980, when she made 'Ultra Flesh', 'Upstairs Downstairs' and 'Garage Girls', was transformed into an overweight mass by the time 'Bodies In Heat' (1983) and 'Ten Little Maidens' (1984) were released. Quite often she would not even have sex in these films.
After her hiatus, Lisa slowly began to return to the porn industry in the mid-1980's. "I got back into films and personal appearances and things. I co-produced a few films with Ginger Lynn and found that that was more bother than it was worth, plus I wasn't getting laid." By the late 1980's, however, the US porn industry was in a quagmire. Budgets had dropped, and as a result so had standards. The elaborate settings and scripts that had existed when Lisa first entered porn was a thing of the past. She was overweight, and as acting was no longer a necessity, she could not hope to compete with new younger porn stars of the era such as Kascha or April West. Lisa De Leeuw began to slowly fade from public view.
Although by her own admission she entered porn in order to make money, Lisa never condemned the industry. "I will never look down on it… there's so many people like Linda Lovelace who now makes her money by degrading the business and I don't think I would ever do that because it has been very good for me. It's given me more self-esteem, more confidence. I've gotten to see a lot of the world. I've made a lot of money. I've made a lot of great friends. Vanessa Del Rio, Samantha Fox… There are just a lot of really good people in the industry. Most people on the outside look at it and go 'Oh yeah, they're all tramps and sluts - instead of having dinner they're having orgies' - and we're really not like that… I'm not saying I don't like sex, but my all time fantasy has been to do it in a bed without high heels and a nylon garter belt… without having to yell, 'Oooh, I'm coming, I'm coming'. And in the missionary position too, which they never do!"
Lisa never understood the public's negative attitude towards porn. "I confess that I'm baffled by the ratings system. Dragonslayer depicted baby eating, and it was rated PG. Rape, maiming, killing are only rated R, but sex... I saw all these previews for the reissue of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' on primetime TV. Usually followed by the news with a big headline: Porno Bust! They can't decide which is more obscene - death or sex?" Lisa also admits that she has no time for anti-porn feminists: "I'm proud of my body; I got my weight down from 165 to 120 [pounds], and I should have the right to put my best foot forward. If a club owner hires a singer, he's giving her an 'opportunity', but if he hires a topless dancer, it's called 'exploitation'. In both cases the performer is combining her natural beauty with the craft and artistry she has developed."
In 1988 she said in an interview: "Ten years from now, I can't see myself actively involved in acting or stripping or anything like that. It's just that it comes to a point in your life where you gotta say, 'This is what I want to do and I don't want to keep nickel and diming in the business.'" Unfortunately Lisa De Leeuw became heavily involved with drugs, through which she became infected with the HIV virus. Various sources claim that she eventually died of AIDS on 11 November 1993, thereby becoming the only renowned female porn star from the Golden Age to ever to die of the disease. According to former porn director David Jennings, however, she was still alive in 2000. The case remains open. Regardless, she remains one of the best-loved stars of the early 1980's, and has since been inducted into the 'X Rated Critics Hall OF Fame'
Date of Birth
3 July 1958, Moline, Illinois, USA
Date of Death
11 November 1993, (complications arising from AIDS)
Birth Name
Lisa Trego
Trademark
Besides her red hair, big breasts and freckles, a lion-head pendant which she wore around her neck in almost all her films and pictorials.
Lisa DeLeeuw is the only adult female film-star known to have died from AIDS.
Lisa DeLeeuw contracted AIDS exactly how you think she contracted it..
Nickname
Miss 52
Mini Biography
Illinois-born Lisa De Leeuw got into porn because of a boyfriend who managed a movie house that showed X-rated films. At first reluctant, she eventually decided to give it a shot, and made her debut in the classic 800 Fantasy Lane (1979). She quickly became a favorite with fans, who appreciated her lush body, wild mane of red hair and voracious performances. She appeared in many films from what is now called the "Golden Age" of porn, and was one of the first performers to sign an exclusive contract with major adult production company Vivid Video.
She won the Adult Film Critics Award for Best Actress in Amanda by Night (1981) and again for Blonde Heat (The Case of the Maltese Dildo) (1985), and was inducted into the X Rated Critics Hall of Fame. She left the business in 1987. Sadly, she passed away in 1993, one of the first in the industry to fall victim to AIDS; she was known to be an IV drug user, and reportedly contracted the disease from contaminated needles.
Interview
| Erotic X-Film Guide (USA) | December 1988, Vol. 6, Iss. 12, pg. 40-43+102-105, by: Richard Pacheco, "Porn's Hottest Redhead Returns!" |
| Adult Cinema Review (USA) | April 1984, Vol. 3, Iss. 7, pg. 15-16+20, by: Dorothy Allen, "Lisa De Leeuw: The All Pleasure No Pain Girl Proclaims 'Bang My Box, Not My Poop Chute!'" |
| Porn Stars (USA) | April 1983, Vol. 4, Iss. 3, pg. 12-19, "Lisa Deleeuw" |
| Partner Sex Stars (USA) | Winter 1982, Vol. 3, pg. 48-49+56+60, by: Tiffany Clark, "Tiffany Clark: A Couple of Porn Stars Just Sittin' Around Talkin'" |
| Gent (USA) | July 1980, Vol. 21, Iss. 7, pg. 26-28+90, "Lisa DeLeeuw: The shocking conclusion to our interview with the X-rated film world's brightest new star" |
| Gent (USA) | June 1980, Vol. 21, Iss. 6, pg. 36-39, by: Bob Ellison, "Interview With Lisa DeLeeuw: Part II of our candid conversation with the D-cupped porn star." |
| Gent (USA) | May 1980, Vol. 21, Iss. 5, pg. 21-23, "Interview with Lisa De Leeuw Part 1" |
Article
| Stag's Original Porn Legends (USA) | October 1995, pg. 6, "Lisa DeLeeuw" |
| Big Boobs (USA) | February 1985, Vol. 3, Iss. 1, pg. 26-29, "Hangin' Out: Big Boobs' Guest Chat" |
| Knave (UK) | 1984, Vol. 16, Iss. 6, pg. 40, by: Jim Dawson, "Hard to Swallow" |
| Partner (USA) | January 1983, Vol. 4, Iss. 8, pg. 18-19, by: Lester Bloom, "Sinemascope: Anna Ventura vs. Lisa De Leeuw" |
Pictorial
| Stag's Original Porn Legends (USA) | October 1995, pg. 6-11, "Lisa DeLeeuw" |
| Nude Readers' Wives (UK) | 1995, Iss. 91, pg. 43-50, "Lara" |
| Gent's Nostalgia (Gent Special) (USA) | 1995, Iss. 95-4, pg. 45-52, by: Caesar Guest, "Round 3 for Margret" |
| Porn Stars in Action (Erotic X-Film Guide Special) (USA) | March 1989, pg. 36-37, "Pioneer Pussies Of Porn: We Salute Sex Sirens Of The Past! Lisa De Leeuw" |
| Erotic X-Film Guide (USA) | December 1988, Vol. 6, Iss. 12, pg. 40-41+43+102-105, "Porn's Hottest Redhead Returns!" |
| Big Boobs (USA) | March 1986, Vol. 3, Iss. 4, pg. 51-53, by: Larry Delaney, "Wet Sex! Lisa 38-D & Vicky 36-C" |
| The Very Best of High Society (USA) | 1986, Vol. 1, Iss. 4, pg. 76-79, "Lisa De Leeuw" |
| Gent (USA) | March 1985, Vol. 26, Iss. 3, pg. 29-35, by: The POM Agency, "Lisa & Annie Together" |
| Swedish Erotica (USA) | July 1984, Vol. 2, Iss. 9, pg. 6-13, "Lisa's Love Slaves" |
| Swedish Erotica (USA) | June 1984, Iss. 9, pg. 26-32, "Royal Treatment" |
| Adult Cinema Review (USA) | April 1984, Vol. 3, Iss. 7, pg. 14+16-21, "Lisa De Leeuw: The All Pleasure No Pain Girl Proclaims 'Bang My Box, Not My Poop Chute!'" |
| Porn Stars in Action (USA) | March 1984, Vol. 1, Iss. 1, pg. 44-49, "Porn Stars in Action: Randy West & Lisa Deleeuw" |
| Pub (USA) | July 1983 |
| Adult Cinema Sneak Review (USA) | Spring 1983, Vol. II, Iss. 1, pg. 14-15, "ACR Best Tits of the Year: #1 Lisa De Leeuw" |
| Porn Stars (USA) | April 1983, Vol. 4, Iss. 3, pg. 12-19, "Lisa Deleeuw" |
| Gent (USA) | February 1982, Vol. 23, Iss. 2, pg. 36-39, "Spotlight On Lisa DeLeeuw" |
| Sucking Pleasure (Gourmet) (USA) | 1982, Iss. SR11, pg. 24-28, "Cunt on My Face" |
| Adult Cinema Review (USA) | August 1981, Vol. 1, Iss. 2, pg. 9-11, "De-Leeuw De-Lites De Boys at Show World: Lisa's footwork, floorwork are a runaway runway hit!" |
| Gent (USA) | May 1981, Vol. 22, Iss. 5, pg. 77-81, by: Diana Hardy, "Lisa: D-Cup Superstar" |
| Cinema-X Review (USA) | June 1980, Vol. 1, Iss. 6, pg. 19-21, "Rising Star of the Month: Lisa Deleeuw" |
| Gent (USA) | May 1980, Vol. 21, Iss. 5, pg. 16-20, by: Bob Ellison, "Show and Tell" |
| Gent Yearboook (USA) | 1980, pg. 31-35, "Hard Working Margret" |
| Gent (USA) | September 1979, Vol. 20, Iss. 8, pg. 45-53, by: Caesar Guest, "Round 3 for Margret" |
| Gent (USA) | July 1979, Vol. 20, Iss. 6, pg. 30-35, by: Hal McQueeney, "In The Red" |
Magazine covers
| Adam Film World Guide Directory of Adult Films (USA) | 1984 |
| Porn Stars (USA) | April 1983, Vol. 4, Iss. 3 |
| Sucking Pleasure (Gourmet) (USA) | 1982, Iss. SR11 |
| Gent (USA) | May 1980, Vol. 21, Iss. 5 |
| Gent (USA) | September 1979, Vol. 20, Iss. 8 |
| Gent (USA) | July 1979, Vol. 20, Iss. 6 |
Keyword index
| 114 |
Appeared in the loop "Aching Jaws" with John Holmes.
Appeared in the loop "Ass Lickers". Appeared in the loop "Birthday Plans" with Little Oral Annie for Swedish Erotica. Appeared in the loop "Burning Asshole" with Bobby Astyr. Appeared in the loop "Busty Barmaid" with Herschel Savage. Appeared in the loop "Fixing Her Faucets" with Peter North. Appeared in the loop "John Holmes' Cocktail" with Seka and John Holmes for Swedish Erotica. Appeared in the loop "One Hung Low". Appeared in the loop "Sexual Playground". Appeared in the loop "Star in Heat". Appeared in the loop "Strictly Ladies Business" with Little Oral Annie for Swedish Erotica. Appeared in the loop "Water Nymph" with John Holmes. Appeared in the solo loop "Freckles". Appeared in the wrestling loop "Brestling". Appeared in the wrestling loop "Rumbling Redheads". Appeared in the Swedish Erotica loop "Ten Day Leave" with Loni Sanders, Mike Ranger and Kevin James. Actress
Actress
Producer
Miscellaneous Crew
Self-video:
Archive Footage
hardcore
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