Susan Hart – Confidences and Confidence, Part 1: Podcast 149

Perhaps one of the less obvious aspects of The Rialto Report is that it may lead to the impression that people involved in the adult industry forty or fifty years ago are all pretty comfortable talking about their pasts and have led serene lives, free of incident, since they stopped making sex films. After all, our podcasts and interviews are filled with people talking pretty openly about their experiences.

In fact, quite the opposite is normally the case. You see, the truth is that the majority of people we approach – actors, directors, producers – are usually rather keen to not go public with their memories. And that’s understandable: despite the length of time that’s passed since their images and names were splashed across posters and theater screens, the reality is there is still a very real stigma in current day America for something they did all those years ago. The result is that, sadly, these voices are largely absent from the selection of oral histories that we present in The Rialto Report.

So all that begs the question: why on earth did Susan Hart agree to an interview?

You see, Susan was a prolific actress in the California video explosion of the mid 1980s. She appeared in a hundred or so movies and countless spreads in men’s magazines. She had an interesting backstory too : a Latina from Los Angeles, the product of a Catholic upbringing, she joined the Army to break free. Then, she became an adult film performer and later was approached to take part in a sting operation against the sex film business. She was pretty, happy-looking, popular, and I always wondered about her.

So I sent her a letter. Little did I realize that she’d spent the last 40 years terrified that her past would catch up with her, and that her biggest nightmare was someone like me contacting her and asking her to reveal who she was, and is.

But we spoke, and Sue agreed to tell all – including exploring how she feels about it today.

She still can’t quite understand why she did adult films, but I hope she’s happy about this interview.

This is April Hall – and this is Sue Hart’s story.

This podcast is 60 minutes long.

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Susan Hart: Personal Photos

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