Shauna Grant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Shauna Grant | |
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| Birthdate: | May 30, 1963 |
| Birth location: | Bellflower, California |
| Birth name: | Colleen Marie Applegate |
| Date of death: | March 21, 1984 |
| Eye color: | Brown |
| Hair color: | Blonde |
| Natural bust: | Yes |
| Orientation: | Hetero |
| Ethnicity: | Caucasian |
| Alias(es): | Callie Aimes, Callie Aims, Colleen Applegate, Shauna Grant |
| Shauna Grant at IMDb | |
| Shauna Grant at IAFD | |
| Shauna Grant at AFDB | |
Shauna Grant (born Colleen Marie Applegate on May 30, 1963 – March 21, 1984) was an American nude model and pornographic actress. She was sometimes credited as Callie Aimes, Callie Aims, or Colleen Applegate.
Grant was active in the adult industry from 1982-1984. She died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound when she was 20 years old.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Born in Bellflower, California, Applegate grew up in the small town of Farmington, Minnesota, population 3,562 in 1984. Her family moved there from California in 1973 when her father took a managerial position with the Central Telephone Company. She was a cheerleader in high school. Applegate graduated from Farmington High in 1981, but eschewed her job as a repair clerk with the phone company. Later that year she consumed a handful of prescription sinus pills in a suicide gesture; sessions at a counselling center did not provide much assistance for her. Applegate ran away from home and moved to California in March 1982, accompanied by her high school sweetheart, Mike Marcell. She left behind her parents, a brother, and three sisters.
[edit] Adult industry
The couple arrived in Los Angeles, California. Applegate and Marcell looked into a number of jobs in the first month. Little came of this until one of them saw an ad for World Modeling, an agency in Van Nuys. This business diligently sought attractive new recruits for "figure modeling". Accompanied by Marcell, Applegate visited agent Jim South, who set up a photo session with photographer J. Stephen Hicks. The pictorial's theme featured a mock camping set and was to be published by Club. Hicks reflected on Applegate's appearance and personality by saying, I deal with a lot of girls who are new in the business, a lot of young girls and a lot of girls from out of town. Colleen was so incredibly young and naive. She was completely un-hip and non-L.A. Her wholesome, "girl next door" looks soon landed her work posing for other magazines such as Hustler and Penthouse.
Applegate's relationship with her boyfriend did not endure two months in California, as Marcell joined the U.S. Army. Before his induction he informed his family that Applegate had become a nude model. Soon she progressed to filming "hard-core" scenes for Suze Randall. Veteran porn producer Bobby Hollander launched Applegate's movie career and suggested what he felt was a "classy" stage name, Shauna Grant. As a fast-rising adult film personality she was featured in Virginia, Suzie Superstar, and Flesh and Lace, among many others. Her pay rose from $300 a day to nearly $1,500. Off-screen she traveled in limousines and stayed in first-class hotels. Grant was provided with her own make-up artist, Laurie Smith, age 27. Her popularity earned her three acting nominations at the March 1984 Erotic Film Awards. Despite her beauty she had some difficulty getting work due to her cocaine addiction and lack of "enthusiasm" during sex scenes. In some circles she acquired the nickname "Applecoke". She became "flaky", cancelling appointments, forgetting others, and skipping more.
[edit] Retirement
In 1983, Grant retired from the adult film industry after less than a year and just over 30 movies. She disliked the industry, although she regarded Joey Silvera well. Through Hollander she found a new boyfriend, Jack "Jake" Ehrlich, age 44. Ehrlich had "eased her out" of adult films and the two settled in Palm Springs, California. He owned a leather goods store, Pelle, in downtown Palm Springs, which Grant began to manage. According to Palm Springs Police, Ehrlich made his living supplying cocaine to tenants of an upscale condominium park close to his house. He had compiled an extensive record of arrests in California which included such varied offenses as selling narcotics and possession of stolen property. In the summer of 1983, Ehrlich was sentenced to a five-year prison sentence which he began serving in the State Institution for Men in Chino, California. The charges related to Ehrlich's 1981 arrest for possession of what detectives described as "several" pounds of cocaine.
Grant was ambivalent about her circumstances following her boyfriend's conviction, which cut off her drug supply. Her desire for work in mainstream films was not working out, so she committed to work on her first adult film in months. Matinee Idol was due to begin filming in a few days in San Francisco, California. Grant persuaded her friend and veteran porn actress, Kelly Nichols, to take the role which was intended for her. Shauna also had the option of returning to Minnesota. Grant's parents offered to pay for her college expenses, but she believed she would no longer be comfortable at home in Minnesota.
[edit] Death
On March 21, 1984, Grant committed suicide at age twenty in Palm Springs by shooting herself with a .22 caliber rifle. Shortly after 7 p.m. she lay down, placing the gun horizontally against her head and pulled the trigger. The shot passed through her right temple, out the left and into the bedroom wall, according to police reports. The gun was discharged from such close range that the bullet left virtually star-shaped holes. Brain dead, Shauna was rushed to Desert Hospital, where life support systems were disconnected after two days..
Grant's funeral was held March 28, 1984, at St. Michael's Catholic Church, a Gothic parish near the center of Farmington. Members of the adult industry were absent from the ceremony, believing their presence would only exacerbate the family's anguish. Instead they contributed both flowers and letters. Grant was buried in her favorite color, pink.
Preliminary investigations by Palm Springs police posed questions regarding the circumstances surrounding Grant's death. Weeks after the event police were still awaiting results of toxicological and gun residue tests. The possibility of a foul play investigation hung in the balance. It is known that Grant had received threatening phone calls which related to her boyfriend's business affairs. Also, detectives noted Ehrlich had avoided jail for some time by providing authorities with information. At the time of Grant's death there were two people playing pool in Ehrlich's house, Brenda Rosenow, a friend of Colleen's, and Cal Ardigo, a friend of Ehrlich's. Shortly before Grant's shooting, two unidentified visitors showed up outside the home. The back door of Ehrlich's house was a possible means of access to the bedroom and Grant.
Grant's career and death were fictionalized as the basis for a television movie called Shattered Innocence, a film that bears little resemblance to her actual life. Her parents used their proceeds from selling the rights to the movie to fund Grant's tombstone.
[edit] In popular culture
The musician Klaus Flouride honored Grant in the song "Dancing with Shauna Grant" from his 1991 album The Light Is Flickering. The song also mentions Virginia and Suzie Superstar, films which Grant starred in.
Metal band Ripping Corpse wrote a song for their 1991 album Dreaming with the Dead about Grant, entitled "Deeper Demons". Not disrespectful, it effectively asked why such a tragic fate befell "little Colleen".
[edit] Selected filmography
- Young Like It Hot (1983)
- Virginia (1983)
- Swedish Erotica #45 (1983)
- Suzie Superstar (1984)
- Summer Camp Girls (1983)
- Glitter (1983)
- Flesh & Laces (1983)
- Electric Blue #11 (1984)
- Bad Girls #4 (1986)
- All American Girls In Heat (1983)
- Suburban Lust (1983)
[edit] Notable television appearances
- Hard Copy playing "Herself" (archive footage) in episode: "Shauna Grant" 18 June 1990
- Frontline playing "Herself" (archive footage) in episode: "Death of a Porn Queen" 1987
[edit] References
- Los Angeles Times, The Death of Colleen by Michael London, May 6, 1984, Pg. R3-Pg. R9.
- McNeill Legs, Osborne Jennifer, Pavia Peter, Shattered Innocence Los Angeles/Farmington, Minnesota 1983-1984 in The Other Hollywood, The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry, Regan Books, Harper Collins, 2004, Pages 359-370.
- Riley Patrick, Shauna Grant in The X-Rated Videotape Star Index II, A Guide to Your Favorite Adult Film Stars, Prometheus Books, 1997 Pages 612-613.
- Syracuse Post-Standard, Small-Town Girl Meets Death in Porn World by Michael London, Saturday, May 19, 1984, Page A-9. Reprinted from The Los Angeles Times.
- Syracuse Post-Standard, Porn Queen Uplifting And Sad Documentary by Howard Rosenberg, June 16, 1987, Page D-7, Reprinted from Los Angeles Times.
