- Born
- Died
- Birth nameCandice Marion Vadala
- Height5′ 3″ (1.60 m)
- Candida Royalle was born on October 15, 1950 in New York City. Candida was raised by her father and stepmother after her biological mother abandoned her when she was only eighteen months old. Royalle trained in music, dance, and the arts in New York City: She not only studied dance and music at New York's High School of Art and Design, but also attended both the Parsons School of Design and the City University of New York. She was active in the women's movement of the late 1960's and early 1970's.
Royalle moved to San Francisco, California in 1970. She was a singer in clubs and theaters prior to becoming involved in the adult entertainment industry. Candida did her first explicit hardcore movie in California in the mid-1970's. After acting in a handful of X-rated features, Royalle returned to her native New York City in 1980 and subsequently founded the production company Femme Productions in 1984 with the specific intention of making erotica based on female desire as well as producing hardcore fare aimed at helping couples therapy. An early feminist pioneer in what later became known as the "couples" market, Candida's work was notable both for its admirable refusal to depict sex in a remotely degrading and/or misogynistic fashion and its equally laudable emphasis on showing sex in the broader context of women's social and emotional lives. Royalle signed the Post Porn Modernist Manifesto in 1989. In addition, Candida was not only a member of the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists, but also was a founding board member of the group Feminists for Free Expression. Royalle published the book "How To Tell a Naked Man What to Do" in 2004. She died at age 64 from ovarian cancer on September 7, 2015.- IMDb Mini Biography By: woodyanders
- SpousePer Sjostedt(1980 - ?) (divorced)
- Founder of Femme Productions [us], through which she wrote, produced, and directed adult videos geared towards female renters.
- Attended the High School of Art and Design, the Parsons School of Design and City University in New York.
- Profiled in the book "Golden Goddesses: 25 Legendary Women of Classic Erotic Cinema, 1968-1985" by Jill C. Nelson.
- Was a much sought after public speaker who gave lectures at such venues as the Smithsonian Institution, the American Psychiatric Association's national conference, and the World Congress of Sexology as well as at various colleges that include Princeton, Columbia, Wellesley College, and New York University.
- Her father, Louis R. Vadala, was an accomplished professional jazz drummer who played with Louis Prima, Raymond Scott, Orrin Tucker, Paul Lavalle, Lester Lanin and Emil Coleman.
- Everyone assumes I was probably given a hard time by the adult film biz but they always treated me fairly, even if they at first doubted me. They've come to respect that I was the first one with vision and recognition of what would become the "couples" market.
- When I made my choice to start into production, it was a great way to embrace my name and everything I had done and just say, "You know what? I'm not going to run for it. I'm going to take my fame and do something I'm proud of."
- [from an interview in 2012] I've sacrificed pieces of my life. I have very little relationship with the Italian side of my family any longer, a whole piece of my family that was a major part of my life when I was growing up. While it sometimes makes me sad to think about the huge family I lost, I accept it as an unavoidable consequence of choosing to break the rules and live according to my own beliefs.
- I think that pornography itself is a reflection of how we have perverted our sexuality and, for the most part, what would be described as "male" pornography makes sex look rather dirty, mechanical, and loveless. I think it's a reflection of what we've done to our sexuality through positioning it as something dangerous and bad, needing to be controlled and suppressed. I spent all those years looking into my soul and trying to look objectively at having been in the movies, and whether or not this was good or bad -- was this bad for society? I had to flesh it out for myself and I couldn't live with this burning question in my mind, "Oh, my god, did I take part in something horrible?". I don't think it was, but I don't think we'll see in our lifetime a society that doesn't condemn it while millions of people consume it.
- I worry about all of the young women coming into the adult industry now, and not having the wherewithal to go into therapy. I'm sorry, you can't do something that's this controversial and taboo without having some conflict about it, and in some way, it stays with people for the rest of your life. Even though we know that there's nothing wrong with what we did, a lot of people are going to judge you for it. If I had the wherewithal and the inclination, I would start some kind of place for women to come and get counseling because they're going to need it. It's not as if I'd be telling them "You're a sick person" or "You're a bad person." Just talk about it and make sure you're OK with it because it's the only way to stand-up to people's judgments. You've got to have self-respect, self-love, and self-understanding.
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