Tina Russell (September 23, 1948 – May 18, 1981) was the stage name of an adult film actress active in New York City between about 1970 and 1975. She also performed in some of the earliest "live sex shows" to appear in New York in the early 1970s (the shows actually featured simulated sex).Tina Russell was born Linda Marie Mintzer in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to John H. and Margaret Ditzler Mintzer. She grew up in Williamsport and graduated from high school there in 1966. Her senior photo shows a mature brunette with a "Laura Petrie" hairstyle, looking more like a future nurse than a porn star. She became one of the best-known adult film performers of the "Golden Age" of porn, admired for her fresh looks and evident enthusiasm for her on-screen couplings. The Williamsport city directories of 1968–1970 show Russell living at home and listed as a student, but she moved to New York City to attend New York University shortly thereafter.In the late 1960s, she married photographer John Sanderson (later called Jason Russell - who was several years her senior), and the couple moved to New York City, where Russell enrolled in New York University. Under the pseudonyms Jason and Tina Russell, the couple began their film careers appearing in "loops", very short, plotless pornographic films which were shown in peepshows in New York's Times Square. They appeared in a number of "marriage manual" films during the early 1970s, and Tina Russell was a featured actress in some of the earliest hardcore pornographic feature films to be produced in New York. The two also modeled in sexually oriented photographs and performed in so-called "live sex shows" (the "sex" of the period was usually pantomimed). After appearing in 16mm "stag" loops, Russell began to take small roles in feature films during the early 1970s. Russell only really acquired star status, however, after the publication of her 1973 memoir, Porno Star, in which she described (in often glowing terms) her life in the New York adult film industry. She and Jason separated shortly thereafter, and Tina's star sank as quickly as it had risen. Rumors of alcohol abuse haunted her later years.Sometime in the mid-1970s, the Russells' relationship ended. Tina Russell became depressed and alcoholic. She was visiting her brother in San Diego in May 1981 when she collapsed and was hospitalized. She died several days later of renal failure. Russell is buried in Resurrection Cemetery, Montoursville, Pennsylvania, under her birth name.In 1985, Russell was posthumously inducted into the X-Rated Critics Organization Hall of Fame.
[from a newspaper interview in the early 1970's] I do not feel that I am sexually sick because I have been made love to in the presence of as many as 20 or more people. I am not a dirty-minded pervert simply because I feel that sex and other natural and basic functions should be in the cinema.
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Fact
1
Had issues with anorexia and an addiction to pills later in her life.
2
Both her parents were alcoholics.
3
Originally planned on being a nurse.
4
Was a member of the student council in high school. Moreover, Russell was a straight A student in grade school.
5
Had a younger brother, John.
6
Met her husband Jason Russell while attending college in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
7
Husband Jason became involved with Jean Jennings. This broke up their marriage and Tina became a chronic alcoholic, which led to her early death.
Actress
Title
Year
Status
Character
Not Just Another Woman
1974
Sister Conception
Dutch Girls
1973
The Birds and the Beads
1973
Cherry
Madame Zenobia
1973
Marcia (as Christina Russel)
All in the Sex Family
1973
Cousin Susan
Sleepy Head
1973
Tracy Wyatt (uncredited)
Whatever Happened to Miss September?
1973
Barbara 'Barbie' Hamilton
Honeymoon Suite
1973
Maryanne (uncredited)
Linda Can't Stop
1973
Linda (uncredited)
The Sexualist: A Voyage to the World of Forbidden Love
1973
Girl in Rocking Chair
The Erotic Memoirs of a Male Chauvinist Pig
1973
Susan
Hypnorotica
1973
Mrs. Smith
The New Comers
1973
Joe Rock Superstar
1973
Rabbit (uncredited)
The Whistle Blowers
1973
Bedroom Bedlam
1973
Sylvie (uncredited)
Devil's Due
1973
Cult Member
Filthiest Show in Town
1973
Doris (segment "Game Show")
Campus Girls
1973
Linda (as Dianna Baker)
The Hooker Convention
1973
Big Thing
1973
Barbara Simpson
Keyholes Are for Peeping
1972
Blonde in 4-way (uncredited)
Meatball
1972
Miss Carridge (as Linda Sanderson)
Rivelazioni di un maniaco sessuale al capo della squadra mobile
1972
edited American version
Morning After...
1972
Girl on Stage (uncredited)
Sexual Customs in Scandinavia
1972
Mrs. Stenvig (as Judy Gringer)
A Time to Love
1971
Cathy (uncredited)
Is There Sex After Death?
1971
Magic Act Contestant
Feel
1971
uncredited
The Magical Ring
1971
Girl with Magical Ring (uncredited)
Millie's Homecoming
1971
The Maid
Dark Dreams
1971
Jill (as Lina Russell)
Sex USA
1971
First Girl Having Sex (uncredited)
Side Street Girls
1971
The Girls in 7-C
1970
The Oral Generation
1970
Hal's Wife (uncredited)
The Debauchers
1970
May (as Angela Snenck)
Bacchanale
1970
Hardcore inserts (uncredited)
Sensuous Vixens
1976
Photographer
The Presidential Peepers
1975
Haldebug (as Tina Russel)
The Blowhard
1974
Girl with Indian Maiden (uncredited)
The Hardy Girls
1974
Peep Show Performer (uncredited)
Doctor's Teenage Dilemma
1974
Girl Locked in Bathroom (uncredited)
A Touch of Genie
1974
Janet Geckel
Deep Throat Part II
1974
Aunt Juliet
Make Up Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Taking of Christina
1976
makeup artist
Expose Me, Lovely
1976
makeup artist
The Defiance of Good
1975
make-up assistant
Editorial Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Taking of Christina
1976
assistant editor
Miscellaneous
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Defiance of Good
1975
commissary
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Personals
1972
Documentary
Swinger / Linda
All About Sex of All Nations
1971
Documentary
Herself
Making the Blue Film
1971
Documentary
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
42nd Street Forever: The Peep Show Collection Vol. 5
2014
Video
Girl in Bath (segment "Wet Dream") / Threesome Girl (segment "Tina Russell Makes Friends") (uncredited)
Sleazy Stags from Dad's Secret Stash!
2008
Video
Girl in Shower (segment "The Plumber") (uncredited)
8mm Madness!
2006
Video
Inside Deep Throat
2005
Documentary
Miss Carridge (uncredited)
Blue Vanities S-560
1994
Video
Blue Vanities S-533
1993
Video
True Legends of Adult Cinema: The Golden Age
1992
Video
Legends of Porn
1987
Video documentary
Loving Spoonfuls
1987
Video
A Night for Legends: First Annual XRCO Adult Film Awards