Roberta Pedon, a biography
by Charles L. Smith



Trying to tell the story of the short, unhappy life of Roberta Pedon becomes
more difficult each year. Those of us who knew her use that name, although it
certainly was not her "real" name. Separating reality from the fictions
Roberta created about herself is almost impossible. Very few things about her
are certain: she was born in 1954 in the United States, either in California
or Ohio; she had one credited motion picture role; she had serious drug and
alcohol abuse problems; she was hospitalized at least twice for overdoses; she
was arrested at least once; she worked by turns as a model, actress, and
prostitute; she was bulemic and suffered from one or more mental health
problems known as personality disorders; and her adult life was a repetitive
pattern of short, unstable, intensely sexualized relationships.

Many things about her we know only from faded memories of things she told us,
and she was not the most reliable of sources, especially about herself. Each
of us knew only a small part of her complex and deeply troubled personality,
and she went to great lengths to appear to be what she thought each of us
expected her to be. She was professional and organized to some, vulnerable and
careless to others. She was a bold sexual adventurer to some, masochistic
victim to others. The longest sustained intimate relationship she had was
about six months, but she would drop into the lives of former lovers months or
years later, ask a favor, a loan, a fix, a place to crash. And then she would
be gone again, into an endless cycle of sex, drugs, sleep, and starting all
over.

She seldom spoke of her early life. She was fond of her paternal grandmother,
with whom she spoke Portugese. She repeatedly expressed rage toward her
mother. She sometimes referred to a sister; other times she said she was an
only child. She rarely spoke of her father or step-father, but did call him
"Robert". It is true that "Apedon" is a not-uncommon name in Portugal, and it
is tempting to think that she fashioned her famous alias from that name. The
only "Robert Apedon" living in California in 1980 refused to discuss anything
about her.

She said that her mother constantly insisted that she lose weight, told her
that her body was "freakish", and her mother made it clear that she was
disappointed in Roberta. She said that she was introduced to sex at the age of
twelve, and that one of her first sex partners referred to her as a "lousy
lay". She alternately spoke of her adolescence as an adventure of sex and
drugs, or an extended grasping for attention from men who used and rejected
her. She told several lovers that she had developed her considerable skill at
fellatio as a way of avoiding pregnancy in her teens.

She said that she graduated from high school in 1972 in "The Bay Area", which
could include much of Northern California. She once claimed to have attended
the UCLA film school, but one graduate who remembered her said that all she
attended was parties, and was best known for her sexual adventures.

By the winter of 1972-73 she was 18 and living with a college student in San
Francisco. In December, 1972, they attended a party in Sausalito at the home
of a minor film figure. After taking drugs and drinking, Roberta went with a
couple into a bathroom for a threesome. After they left, and semi-conscious,
she "entertained" a dozen or so of the guests before being hospitalized for an
overdose. In an effort to change her life she moved to Renton, Washington, for
a few months. She soon decided that her fate lay in California She separated
from her lover and in March, 1973, moved to Venice, California, not far from
Hollywood. By June, 1973, she was involved with American Art Enterprises which
was at the center of the "porno-industrial complex" in Chatsworth and North
Hollywood, California. Her modeling career lasted from June, 1973, to
December, 1975, two and a half years.

One of the photographers who worked with her, Bob Ellison, claimed to have
"discovered" her, although he worked much of the time for AAE. The earliest
verifiable publication of her photos was in a magazine called "The Swinger" in
the February, 1974, edition which would have gone to press the prior November.
In a recent (2002) interview published by Score Group, Ellison described her
as living in a "hippie" apartment in Venice, California, with a boyfriend.

During that period she had brief, stormy "affairs" ranging from a night to a
few weeks, including Gus Hasford, a part-time editor for American Art and the
tormented author of a novel, The Short Timers, which was the basis for Stanley
Kubrick’s "Full Metal Jacket". She claimed to have worked as a dancer at The
Classic Cat, a high-end topless bar in Hollywood, but no record exists of her
employment and none of the women who worked there remembers her. She also
claimed to have been involved with a number of minor celebrities including Bob
Crane and Charleton Heston.

She had a credited role in one movie, "Carnal Madness", released on video as
"Delinquent Schoolgirls", where her attempt at an accent in her few on-screen
lines led to all kinds of imaginative stories about her ethnic origin. She
tried out, but was rejected for the female lead in the Jan-Michael Vincent
movie, "Buster and Billie". Aside from a few nude 8mm "loops", that was the
end of her film career, although she kept trying to get roles.

Larry Shaw, a lead editor for American Art publications who would win a Hugo
Award in 1984, felt that she had enough talent to make a living as an actress
except that her body and her self-destructive life style kept getting in the
way. Several times he spotted her on L.A.’s prostitution "strolls".

She was arrested at least once, in September, 1975, in San Francisco, for
prostitution. Shortly after that A.A.E. quit using her as a model. Although
she posed a number of times after that for various photographers, her last
known contact was in late 1979 when she called a former lover for a ride to a
hard-core shoot in Pacific Palisades, south of Los Angeles. She was homeless
and her weight had dropped below 90 pounds and years of drug use had taken a
serious toll.

Several reports about her fate after 1979 are floating around. One "john
board" mentioned her working as a prostitute in San Francisco in 1982. Another
rumor suggests she was involved in a robbery, changed her identity, and
disappeared. Several sources report that she died in 1983 or 1984. But none
can be confirmed.

Unlike many of her contemporaries who are having "second careers" with fan
sites and Glamourcon tours, no trace remains of the troubled young woman who
was probably the most popular nude model of the 1970s.

If you can add anything, please contact: pedonbio@36th.org.