From porn to pillar of society

PARK CITY — The one thing Harry Reems hasn't changed from his seedy past is his stage name.

Most people who meet the white-haired Reems probably don't know he starred in the controversial X-rated movie "Deep Throat" nearly 35 years ago. They don't know he made hundreds of adult films spanning three decades. They don't know he nearly drank himself to death.

And that's fine with him. He's not that way anymore.

"The only thing I had to change about myself was everything," says Reems, 59.

Getting sober, finding God and marrying a good woman are the highlights of his transformation from a hard-living porn star to a mild-mannered real estate agent.

"Living the public life I had lived was my downfall," he said. "I'm a private person now."

In his heyday, Reems had black hair, a black mustache and tight abs. He hobnobbed with movie stars and partied in the Caribbean. That has given way to white hair, a clean-shaven face, the hint of a belly and quiet nights at home with his wife.

Reems was the first actor ever prosecuted for his work, due to his appearance in "Deep Throat," which co-starred Linda Lovelace. The federal government in 1976 indicted him on charges of conspiracy to distribute obscenity across state lines. He was convicted, but the conviction was overturned on appeal a year later. During that time, alcohol became his escape.

Reems made it clear during an interview in his Park City home, with its Currier & Ives view of a red barn in a snow-covered field, that he didn't want to talk about his days in what he calls a "nefarious industry." The only reason he said he agreed to an interview was to let alcoholics know that they can change.

"I literally should be dead. I know a lot of people who drank a lot less than me, and they are dead," he said. "God has left me on this Earth for a reason, and I think it's to save lives."

Reems once spent 32 days in a New York hospital, including 16 days in the intensive care unit, for internal bleeding, ulcers and cirrhosis. During his stay, he collected quarters from visitors for "telephone calls." On his discharge day, he bought a bottle of vodka with the money. Eight days later he woke up 3,000 miles away in his own vomit at the Los Angeles County jail.

He remembers thinking, "I put a gun to my head or get better."

Reems bottomed out after making his last movie in 1985. At his low point, he drank a half gallon of vodka a day, leaving his Malibu home only to buy more vodka.

Reems first visited Park City in the '70s with friends to learn to ski. He came back every winter after that.

"I fell in love with the community. I knew someday I was going to live here. I didn't know it was going to be in a drunken stupor," he said.