a.k.a. Wendy Orlean Williams

Wendy O. Williams was never really a Porn Star, although she did make a couple brief forays into the skin biz. She was more of an out-there performance artist, living her life as an on-going experiment in pushing limits and testing society's boundaries. Wendy O. Williams was a rough-edged, hard-bodied freak who took things to the extreme no matter what she was doing.

Wendy O. Williams was born in Rochester, New York on May 28, 1949. She made her first television appearance at the age of six, tap-dancing on a local program. She made a few more brief appearances on TV, including a one-shot on the 'Howdy Doody Show.' Wendy O. Williams' public image would never again be so wholesome.

She dropped out of school in the ninth grade, then ran away from home and moved to Europe. When she returned to the States several years later, she moved to New York City, where she made ends meet -- so to speak -- by working in live sex shows. It was during this time period that she showed up in some hardcore magazine layouts and occasional sexvids, most notably 1979's 'Candy Goes to Hollywood.' In the film, Wendy O. Williams displayed one of her old sex show tricks -- shooting ping-pong balls with her over-developed pelvic muscles. It was quite a stunt.

In the late 70s, Wendy O. Williams was approached and asked to join a band that local scenester Rod Swenson was putting together. The band was a high-concept punk/metal outfit called the Plasmatics, and Wendy O. Williams jumped at the chance to take her outrageousness to a whole new level. The band created shockwaves where ever they performed, with an over-the-top stage show that included everything from blowing up Cadillacs to putting sledgehammers through TVs.

Between 1979 and 1987, the Plasmatics were known as one of the most controversial bands in the world. Wendy O. Williams often performed on stage wearing nothing more than shaving cream and electrical tape, and was arrested numerous times for lewd conduct and indecent exposure. During one such bust in Milwaukee in 1981, Wendy O. Williams was beaten into unconsciousness by local police when she refused to gently accede to their demands.

Wendy O. Williams was a woman who couldn't easily be pigeonholed. Even as she was cultivating an image as a punk rock sex bomb, she campaigned for animal rights and vegetarianism. She even nabbed a Grammy nomination in 1982 as Best Female Rock Vocalist! (She didn't win.)

Wendy O. Williams left the Plasmatics in 1987, and turned to some solo recording and acting work. Among her most notable acting roles was that of the butch lesbian cell-block terror Charlie in 'Reform School Girls,' and in a one-shot appearance on an episode of 'MacGyver' as Big Mama. She eventually left show-biz altogether, moving to rural Connecticut and working in a health food co-op and as an animal rehabilitator. Wendy O. Williams died on April 6, 1998, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. She was 49 years old.