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10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Candida Royalle.md

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+---
+category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
+tags:
+  - Person
+  - AdultFilm
+  - FemmeProductions
+  - FreeSpeech
+  - RCHorsch
+alias:
+  - Candice Vadala
+  - Candice Marion Vadala
+summary: "Adult film actress who in 1984 founded Femme Productions to make adult films from a woman's perspective, and a founder of Feminists for Free Expression."
+died: 2015-09-07
+location: "Mattituck, New York"
+relations:
+  - type: founded
+    with: "[[Femme Productions]]"
+    start: 1984
+    fn: 1
+  - type: founded
+    with: "[[Feminists for Free Expression]]"
+    start: 1992
+    role: "founder, per Reason; founding member, per The Suffolk Times"
+    fn: 2
+created: 2026-09-23
+updated: 2026-09-23
+---
+
+Candida Royalle (born Candice Marion Vadala in [[Brooklyn]]; died September 7, 2015) was an adult film actress of the 1970s who in 1984 founded [[Femme Productions]] to produce "adult films from a woman's perspective." She died of ovarian cancer at her home in [[Mattituck, New York]], at 64.[^1]
+
+### Career
+
+Royalle performed in the mid-1970s in [[San Francisco]] and appeared in adult films including *Thoroughly Amorous Amy* and *Fascination* before moving to writing, producing and directing.[^1][^2] Femme Productions released 18 films between 1984 and 2007, 13 of them directed by Royalle; its best known included *Three Daughters* (1986) and *Sensual Escape* (1991). Two others, *Lovers* (1993) and *Lovers 2* (1994), were directed by [[R.C. Horsch]] under the name "RC Hürsch."[^2][^3] In the 1990s she arranged distribution of Femme titles through the adult-goods company [[Adam and Eve (company)|Adam and Eve]], with a line of vibrators. Her 1992 film *Revelations* she described as "my response to the right-wing attacks on the adult industry."[^2] According to the performer [[Annie Sprinkle]], she co-founded Club 90, a support group of adult film performers, in about 1985.[^1]
+
+### Free Expression
+
+In 1992 she founded, according to *Reason,* or was a founding member of, according to *The Suffolk Times,* [[Feminists for Free Expression]], a nonprofit that opposed censorship legislation and defended free speech in courts, on campuses and in the press.[^1][^2] Femme was founded, *Reason* noted, at the time [[Andrea Dworkin]] and [[Catharine MacKinnon]] were testifying to legislators that pornography was abusive by nature. Royalle wrote *How to Tell a Naked Man What to Do* (2004) and in 2014 received a doctorate in human sexuality from the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality.[^1][^2]
+
+### Footnotes
+
+[^1]: Young, Rachel. "Candida Royalle, feminist erotic filmmaker, dies in Mattituck at 64," *The Suffolk Times,* September 12, 2015. https://suffolktimes.archive.timesreview.com/2015/09/candida-royalle-feminist-pornographic-filmmaker-dies-in-mattituck-at-64/
+[^2]: Brown, Elizabeth Nolan. "Feminist Porn Producer and Free-Speech Advocate Candida Royalle Dies," *Reason,* September 14, 2015. https://reason.com/2015/09/14/rip-candida-royalle/
+[^3]: Internet Adult Film Database, "RC Hürsch," director credits *Lovers* (Femme Productions, 1993) and *Lovers 2* (Femme Productions, 1994). https://www.iafd.com/title.rme/id=b609e8df-4df6-46c4-8925-639ed9e91852