Traci Lords
Traci Lords (born Nora Louise Kuzma on May 7, 1968), also known as Traci Elizabeth Lords and Tracy Lords, is an American film actress. She first achieved notoriety for her underage appearances in pornographic films and Penthouse magazine (she was 15 years old in her first film), later becoming a television and [-movie actress.
Early life
Nora Louise Kuzma was born in Steubenville, Ohio to Louis and Patricia Kuzma (born name Briceland). Her stage name is said to be in tribute to Katharine Hepburn's character Tracy Lord from The Philadelphia Story[1] or from the first name of her high school best friend Traci; and the last name of her favorite actor from Hawaii Five-0, Jack Lord. At twelve she fled from her abusive, alcoholic father to Lawndale, California, with her mother and three sisters. [2] In 1983 she began Redondo Union High School, and she had an abortion which she paid for by herself. She also had a nervous breakdown and ran away from home. While living with her mother's ex-boyfriend, who posed as her stepfather, she used a friend's birth certificate to obtain a driver's license indicating that she was twenty-two years of age to fake her way into the porn industry at the age of fifteen, starting with Jim South at the World Modeling Agency Website in Sherman Oaks, while assuming the name Kristie Elizabeth Nussman.
Shortly after, she was modeling for widely distributed adult magazines, most notably Penthouse, in the same September 1984 issue that exposed Miss America 1984, Vanessa Williams. She quickly became one of the most popular starlets in town, and by now ventured into adult movies. Her first movie was "What Gets Me Hot!" followed by "Those Young Girls", both made in the first half of 1984. Lords' youthful appearance and enthusiastic sexual performances propelled her to stardom and she is considered by many to be one of the first porn queens. By the time she was 18, she'd appeared in 100 Pornographic films. (According to Lords in her autobiography, however, approximately 80 of those films were composed from leftover and re-edited footage from the original 20 films that were shot.)
But in 1986, authorities discovered she was underage while making movies and they arrested her, as well as the owners of her movie agency and X-citement Video, Inc. See United States v. X-Citement Video. The ensuing prosecution against the agencies cost the pornographic film and distribution industry millions of dollars as they were obliged by law to remove hundreds of thousands of her videotapes, films and magazines from store shelves to avoid the risk of prosecution for trafficking child pornography. In her book, Lords suggested hypocrisy on the part of the movie producers and the news media, arguing that the porn industry got richer from the scandal's publicity even as they complained of losing a lot of money after destroying her illegal movies. She complained that the reporters that condemned her in their news stories used censored pictures from her films in their reports. Lords herself was never charged with a crime, since as a minor she was unable to give informed consent to perform sex acts on film for money. Instead, the agents and producers who accepted her fake IDs were charged and people affiliated with the films in question experienced legal troubles for years.
Only one of her films, Traci, I Love You, was actually produced after her eighteenth birthday, and is the only one legally available in the United States. This is also the only film of hers that she owns. This has led to claims that it was Lords herself who tipped off the authorities, and gain immunity from prosecution while profiting from the movie. The theory behind this was that she waited until she made one film when she was of age because she knew all her others would be pulled off the market immediately. Traci, I Love You was a huge hit after the truth came out. While many duped associates in the porn industry believe or point to this theory, nothing has ever been proven to substantiate it. Lords denies this notion in her 2003 autobiography, asserting that she knew nothing of people's real names or who produced which film and did not provide such information to the FBI. The FBI agents, she wrote, "appeared annoyed" when she could not provide the information they wanted. In parts of Europe and other regions where the minimum legal age for involvement in pornographic films is lower, Lords' films and images in a variety of formats are still legally available.
The controversy still sparks debate. Government prosecutors declared that Lords was a victim of a manipulative industry, maintaining she was drugged and made to do non-consensual acts. But industry insiders, like Ron Jeremy, Ginger Lynn and Tom Byron, as well as boyfriends say they never saw her use drugs and that she was fully aware of her actions even if, as a minor, she could not legally consent. While Lords decries the pornographic film industry, she continues to use the stage name she gave herself as a minor, and ultimately made it her legal name. She wrote, "I chose to stop running from it. Instead, I won it, legally changing my name to Traci Elizabeth Lords. That's who I was, and that's who I was going to be." Lords stated that she is not trying to hide from her past. She told Oprah Winfrey: "I found you can run but you cannot hide".
The Justice Department was forced to drop all charges when it was revealed that the fake ID which Lords had used to dupe the pornographic film industry was a U.S. passport in the name of Traci Lords - the government had been duped, and any defendant would simply have been able to hide behind the government's error.
- Traci Lords
from "Cry Baby"
A new beginning
Leaving her porn past behind her, Lords moved into mainstream films. She has played roles in a number of B-movies. At 18, Lords began studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, and soon after, starred in a remake of Roger Corman's cult favorite Not of This Earth. Then in 1990, Lords' mainstream career was legitimized when she was added to the cast that included Johnny Depp, Ricki Lake, and even Iggy Pop, in John Waters' Cry Baby, playing the role of Wanda Woodward. Other movies on her resume include Blade, Extramarital, Black Mask 2: City of Masks, and Chump Change, the latter of which won her a Best Actress Award at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival.
In addition to movies, Lords has also made many appearances in various TV shows, including Married... with Children, MacGyver, Highlander, Tales from the Crypt, Hercules, Gilmore Girls, and Will & Grace among others, along with recurring roles in Profiler, Roseanne, and Melrose Place.
From late in 2000 to 2001, Traci Lords appeared in the Francis Ford Coppola produced sci-fi series First Wave, playing "Jordan Radcliffe", the newest member of a group called Raven Nation that combats extraterrestrial aliens.
In the 1990s, Lords began developing a career as a singer, performing vocals for Manic Street Preachers on the single "Little Baby Nothing", and also appearing in the music videos of other performers and groups. In 1995, Lords made her solo debut, in collaboration with Juno Reactor and Jesus Jones' Mike Edwards, called 1000 Fires. The album was a hit with critics and club audiences. The Juno Reactor-produced first single "Control" proved a smash, reaching a peak of #2 on the Billboard Dance Charts. "Fallen Angel", the second single off the album, earned a lot of attention because one of its remixes ("Honeymoon Stitch Mix") was produced and remixed by Chad Smith and Dave Navarro, with a strong indie and "alterna-chick" sound. The lavishly-produced video for "Fallen Angel" was directed by Stéphane Sednaoui, who had also directed such high-profile videos as the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Give It Away", and Madonna's "Fever". "Father's Field", from 1000 Fires, may be the best example, in which a very suffocating musical framework gives place to a harrowing, personal account of sexual molestation as a child. After a couple of years of musical silence, Lords returned to the music scene in 2004 with a new, independently-produced recording, the double A-side "Sunshine".
In 2003 she published her autobiography, Traci Lords: Underneath It All (ISBN 0-06-050820-5), which made the New York Times bestseller list. In December, 2003, Traci wrote and directed a short film with Fox Searchlab entitled Sweet Pea, released and shown at film festivals in 2005. Loosely inspired by an experience recounted in her autobiography, it's about a teenage girl who finds herself overcome with doubt after being raped by her boyfriend.
Acting credits
Film
- Crazy Eights (currently in production) (2006) - Gina Conte
- Novel Romance (2005) - Max
- Frostbite (2005) - Naomi Bucks
- Home (2003) - Lorna
- Black Mask 2: City of Masks (2002) - Chameleon
- You're Killing Me... (aka: The Killing Club) (2001) - Laura Engles
- Chump Change (2001) (as Traci Elizabeth Lords) - Sam
- Certain Guys (2000) - Kathleen
- Epicenter (2000 film)|Epicenter (2000) (as Traci Elizabeth Lords) - Amanda Foster
- Extramarital (1999) - Elizabeth
- Me and Will (1999) - Waitress
- Stir (1998) - Kelly Bekins
- Blade (1998) - Racquel
- Boogie Boy (1998) - Shonda Lee Bragg
- Nowhere (1997) - Valley Chick #1
- Underworld (1996 film)|Underworld (1996) - Anna
- Blood Money (1996 film)|Blood Money (1996) - Wendy Monroe
- Virtuosity (1995) - Media Zone Singer
- Skinner (1995) - Heidi
- Ice (1994) - Ellen Reed
- Serial Mom (1994) - Carl's Date
- Plughead Rewired: Circuitry Man II (1994) - Norma
- Desperate Crimes (1993) - Laura
- Intent to Kill (1993) - Vickie Stewart
- Laser Moon (1992) - Barbara Fleck
- The Nutt House (1992) - Miss Tress
- Raw Nerve (1991) - Gina Clayton
- A Time to Die (1991) - Jackie
- Cry-Baby (1990) - Wanda Woodward
- Shock 'Em Dead (1991) - Lindsay Roberts
- Fast Food (1989) - Dixie Love
- Not of This Earth (1988) - Nadine Story
- Traci, I Love You (1987)
Television
- Celebrity Paranormal Project (2006) (as herself)
- Gilmore Girls (2003) (as Traci Elizabeth Lords) - Natalie Zimmermann
- Deathlands (2003) - Lady Rachel Cawdor
- They Shoot Divas, Don't They? (2002) (as Traci Elizabeth Lords) - Mira
- First Wave (2000-01) (as Traci Elizabeth Lords) - Jordan Radcliffe
- D.R.E.A.M. Team (1999) (as Traci Elizabeth Lords) - Lena Brant
- Profiler (TV series) (1997-1998) - Sharon Lesher
- Dead Man's Island (1996) - Miranda Prescott
- As Good as Dead (1995) - Nicole Grace
- Melrose Place (1995) - Rikki
- Dragstrip Girl (1994) - Blanche
- Roseanne (TV series)|Roseanne (1994) - Stacy
- Bandit: Bandit's Silver Angel (1994) - Angel Austin
- The Tommyknockers (1993) - Nancy Voss
- Murder in High Places (1991) - Diane
- Married...With Children (1991) - Vanessa Van Pelt
Video games
- True Crime: New York City (2005) - Cassandra Hartz
- Ground Control II: Operation Exodus (2004) - Dr. Alice McNeil
- Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Video game)|Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2004) - Pestilence
- Defender (game)|Defender (2002) - Commander Kyoto
Music
- "Sunshine" (2004) (vocals)
- 1000 Fires (1995) - (vocals)
- Generation Terrorists (1991 Manic Street Preachers album) - (vocals on "Little Baby Nothing")
Notable adult videos
- What Gets Me Hot! (1984) - Lannie (Her first 'Adult' movie)
- Those Young Girls (1984) - Traci
- Electric Blue 28 (1985) - Nikki (scenes deleted)
- Future Voyeur (1985)
- The Grafenberg Spot (1985)
- Hollywood Heartbreakers (1985)
- It's My Body (1985) - Maggie
- New Wave Hookers (1985) - The Devil. (Later reissued with Lords' scenes replaced by new scenes featuring Ginger Lynn)
- Traci Takes Tokyo (1986)-Traci
- Beverly Hills Copulator (1986)-Michelle Leon (credited as Tracy Lords)
- Traci, I Love You (1987) - Traci
Tributes
- A punk rock band called Sloppy Seconds wrote a song called "Come back, Traci", which describes being a fan of Traci's underage appearance in pornography.
- Traci contributed vocals to the Manic Street Preachers song "Little Baby Nothing," from the Welsh group's Generation Terrorists album in 1992, and released as a single in November of that year. The song is about the sexual exploitation of a woman, and Traci agreed to a duet with Manic's singer/lead guitarist James Dean Bradfield after Kylie Minogue turned the song down. Bradfield said that "we needed somebody, a symbol, a person that could actually symbolize the lyrics and justify them to a certain degree. Traci was more than happy to do it. She saw the lyrics, and she had an immediate affinity with them. It was definitely easy to incorporate her personality into the lyrics. We just wanted a symbol for it, and I think she was a great symbol. She sounds like a female Joey Ramone to me." Traci said that "I listened to the tape and really identified with the character in the song...this young girl who's been exploited and abused by men all her life." In an interview some years later, Traci admitted to being distressed at the news of the disappearance and presumed suicide of Manics' guitarist/lyricist Richey Edwards.
- A German based punk/metal band is named after the actress, though the spelling of her name has been changed to "Traceelords."
- Mötley Crüe wrote about her on their 1987 Girls, Girls, Girls album. The song "All In The Name Of..." doesn't name her directly, but it is based on her underage porn career.
- Sound clips of her moaning can be heard in the song "Stone Cold Bush" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
- Country music|Country singer Ronnie Mack recorded a 1985 single called "I Love Traci Lords", which includes a spoken introduction by her. She appears on the cover of the single.
- Sexually super-charged electronic band Lords of Acid reportedly chose their name as an homage.
- A hair metal band in the 80's named themselves "Lord Tracy"
- Spanish punk band Killer Barbies recorded a song called Traci Lords.
- Brooklyn's underground rapper Necro mentions her in his porn-themed song "Get On Your Knees".
- Lords was, along with the late John Holmes, an inspiration for the character of Dirk Diggler in the film Boogie Nights.
- Right after Traci was arrested for her underage appearances in porn films, late night talk show host David Letterman quipped in his monologue, "Anyone who thinks she is a minor never saw one of her movies."
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