Vanessa del Rio: No Regrets

LT Staff

June 22, 2010

by: R. Monell

Writer, LatinTrends Magazine

How about some nostalgia to get your engine running like it did in your prime, Dad? Hold off on the blue pills, because one look at 1970s and ‘80s adult film actress Vanessa Del Rio’s erotic biography, “Vanessa Del Rio: 50 Years of Slightly Slutty Behavior” (published by TASCHEN), will more
than suffice.
On Thursday, May 5, the Harlem-born, Bronx-raised Cuban/Puerto Rican-American icon was at 107 Greene St. for a book signing.
Thirty minutes prior to the event, DTM Magazine sat down with Ms. Del Rio, born Ana Maria Sanchez, to find out what spawned the libidinous,
328-page opus that had multiple generations of fans waiting outside hours before her arrival.
“[Benedikt] Taschen, apparently, is a fan of mine, and I knew who he was as a publisher, because I loved his books,” said Del Rio, 58. “[Taschen] had my long-time friend, Dian Hanson, who was an editor for Juggs Magazine and Leg Show, tell me that he was interested in doing a book on me.”
Hanson, serving as Sexy Book editor on every sex-themed TASCHEN title since 2001, showed up at Del Rio’s home one day with a cohort of photographers to scan and remaster an entire archive of still shots from her career. The end result was an unabashed, uninhibited, rich compilation of photographs illustrating an impossibly alluring woman (in a ream of uncensored scenes) during a stretch of time that she was one of America’s top fantasy women.
The quality of the book was nothing short of HBO on print.
“The fact that he showcased this book — I mean, [Taschen] didn’t hold anything back,” said Del Rio. “He has balls.”
Del Rio’s book also took her back to a time when, during the height of her fame, people started to get wind of her work. “People” included her cousin, who took it upon himself to tell her mom…
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