Actress/Former FSC President Gloria Leonard Seriously Ill

KOHALA, HI—Friends and relatives of High Society publisher and former Free Speech Coalition President Gloria Leonard are reporting that the retired adult actress has suffered a massive stroke and is being treated in the intensive care unit of the North Hawaii Community Hospital near her home.

Leonard was born in The Bronx, NY in 1940, and is currently 73 years old. She was married for a time to the late adult producer/director Bobby Hollander, and is a veteran of 64 adult films, directing eight of them. As publisher of High Society magazine for nearly 15 years, Leonard was the main plaintiff in a lawsuit whose outcome legalized the adult phone sex business.

Longtime friend Veronica Vera, who was a member with Leonard of early adult actress society Club 90, posted the following on Facebook: "Gloria Leonard needs our prayers. Just learned from her daughter Robin that Glo is in the hospital in Hawaii and has suffered a massive stroke. Robin on the way to Hawaii first available flight in the a.m. Best way to keep in touch is to FB friend Robin Leonardi (lives in Sarasota)."

Robin herself wrote, "It is with a heavy heart that I report that my mother Gale Leo [as Leonard is currently known] had a massive stroke. She is now in ICU at North Hawaii Community Hospital. Roger and I are on a plane first thing tomorrow. Please say a prayer and hold the image of Gale skipping in an open field, the sun shining, with butterflies aflutter and the wind caressing her smiling face."

In recent years, Leonard had become more interested in her Jewish heritage, and her most recent Facebook entry, dated January 5, lauded Chiune Sugihara, whom she described as the "Japanese Oskar Schindler," who, as a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania during World War II, saved 6,000 Jews by issuing unlawful travel visas to them.

Leonard's granddaughter, Roxanne Nai'a, informed many of Leonard's friends of her grandmother's condition, saying, "Her case is very serious. She is non responsive and heavily sedated. At this point half of her body is paralyzed and she only has slight movement in the other half."

Check back for updates to this article as they become available.