The Faded Stars Of Yesteryear

The future ain't what it used to be, and two of the more prominent figure of days past are now historical footnotes.

First, legendary rock music producer and total lunatic Phil Spector was convicted yesterday of second-degree murder in the shooting death of "film actress" Lana Clarkson at his mansion six years ago. The verdict will send him to prison for at least 18 years barring a successful appeal. A jury returned the verdict after about 30 hours of deliberations. The jury had the option of choosing the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter, but did not do so. The panel also found Spector guilty of using a firearm in committing a crime.

The 40-year-old Lana Clarkson, "star" of the 1985 cult film "Barbarian Queen," died of a gunshot fired in her mouth as she sat in the foyer of Spector's mansion in 2003. Spector (69), who had long lived in seclusion at his suburban Alhambra "castle," was out on the town in Hollywood when he met Clarkson on Feb. 3, 2003, at the House of Blues. Clarkson, who was unable to find acting work, had taken a job as a hostess, and when the club closed in the wee hours, she accepted a chauffeured ride to Spector's home for a drink. Three hours later, she was dead as hell. Prosecutors argued (though argue may be the wrong word to describe what is basically a fact) Spector had a history of threatening women with guns when they tried to leave his presence. The defense claimed she killed herself.

Prosecutors, haunted by the acquittals of stars such as O.J. Simpson, Robert Blake and Michael Jackson, at first seemed invested in making Spector the first star to be convicted in a major criminal case. But after the first trial ended in a deadlock, public interest faded. The second six-month trial was played out in a sparsely populated courtroom with few members of the media present. As in the first trial, they presented testimony from five women who told of being threatened by a drunken Spector, even held hostage in his home, with a gun pointed at them and threats of death if they tried to leave.

Back in the 1960's Spector reigned as the hit maker supreme with such songs as the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" and the Ronettes' classic, "Be My Baby." He was the inventor of the "Wall of Sound" recording technique and producer of teen anthems including, "To Know Him is to Love Him," The Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "He's a Rebel" and Ike and Tina Turner's "River Deep-Mountain High." He also worked on the Beatles' album "Let it Be."

Also stepping out of the limelight - and for different reasons, is Marilyn "Behind The Green Door" Chambers, the former Ivory Snow girl who helped bring hard-core adult films into the mainstream consciousness.

Chambers' 17-year-old daughter found the actress' body Sunday night at her home, and Chambers (56) was pronounced dead at the scene. Along with Linda Lovelace and Georgina Spelvin, the three shot to fame at a time in the early 1970s when both American social mores and the quality of hardcore sex films were changing.

For the first time, films like "Behind the Green Door" and "Deep Throat" (also released in 1972 and starring Lovelace) had decent acting and legitimate if fairly thin plots. As the audiences for them grew to include couples, they also began to take on higher production values and to be seen in places other than sleazy theaters. While the film was still in theaters, the public learned that its star was the same young blonde smiling and holding a freshly diapered baby on boxes of Ivory Snow laundry soap (which the company touted as "99 and 44/100 percent pure"). Naturally, the manufacturer quickly replaced her.

Although Chambers was quick to point out in 2000 that she had done more R-rated films that X-rated ones, she made no apologies for the latter. "There will always be a stigma on people who do adult films," she said. "It's unfortunate that that's the way society has made it. I have to say that the adult films have been a total pleasure. They were like getting paid to live out my greatest fantasies. The rest of the stuff...sometimes got to be a real grind."