At a time when the United States was reeling from the shockwaves of the sexual revolution, the lifting of censorship and the liberation of morals brought pornographic cinema out of the shadows: the industry sought to reach a wider audience and gain respectability. In 1972, "Deep Throat" (Gorge profonde), a film cobbled together at breakneck speed by Gerard Damiano, a ladies' hairdresser with a passion for cinema, was released nationwide and immediately became a resounding social phenomenon, making its debutante lead actress, Linda Lovelace, the first X-rated superstar. But while this explicit and kitschy film helped to lift many taboos about sexuality, its behind-the-scenes story is far from glamorous.