LOS ANGELES – The legendary adult performer Marilyn Chambers was found unconscious in her Canyon Country home Sunday night by her daughter. She was pronounced dead by the Los Angeles County Coronor’s office, which reported no initial signs of foul play.

Chambers was 56.

Chambers, whose real name was Marilyn Taylor, became a sensation in the 1970s, when she

starred in Behind the Green Door, one of the great hits of the golden age of pornography. The film created a storm of controversy in part because it was distributed nationally, but more scandalously for the time because Chambers performed a 45-minute sex scene with African-American performer Johnny Keyes.

Chambers also was renowned for having made what at the time seemd like an inconceivable transition from modeling for Proctor & Gamble’s Ivory Snow detergent to performing sex on camera. Amazingly, she only appeared in about 25 adult films over a career that spanned decades, a piddling number compared with the careers of her more contemporary countarparts, such a porn star Jenna Jameson.

Chambers enjoyed some mainstream success, a few roles here and there in movie and television productions, but she never was able to cross back from whence she had come as the babyfaced Ivory Snow cover girl. At the time of her death, she was scheduled to perform in a role specially written for her in Deep Throat The Play, which was to open in New York in July. According to AVN, Chambers was expected to sign the final contracts the day after she died.

“I’m shocked to hear that she passed away,” said the play’s producer, David Bertolino. “I was just notified this morning. She was starring in our show.”

The results of an autopy are pending, as are funeral and memorial arrangements.