town girl who loved ballet and performed at Expo 86 for the Prince and Princess of Wales before embarking on a career in pornographic movies and that Star "craved wealthy men and enjoyed fast living."
Star, aka Kathryn Gannon, was born in Prince George, B.C., as the oldest of three children born to William and Barbara Gannon. Her parents divorced when Gannon was about 12 years old and Kathryn shuttled between Prince George and her grandmother in Vermilion, lta.
As a child, Gannon performed ballet, once for members of the Royal Family at Vancouver's Expo 86. Gannon has been described as loving ballet and having been a very bright child. Gannon enrolled in the University of Alberta, but soon found it hard to juggle school and mounting student loans. In 1991, she entered an amateur night stripping contest at Rusty's, an Edmonton bar. She was an instant hit and signed a contract with Independent Artists based in Calgary. She changed her name to Marilyn Star (it became Marylin when a porn producer later misspelled it on a video cover) and did her first professional show on June 17, 1991, at the same bar. She earned $55 a show and did about 24 shows a week.
Gannon's career quickly soared. She was named Miss Nude B.C. in 1991-92 and had her picture in several men's magazines including Hustler, Live and Cheri. "You're talking about someone who was fairly well known in the industry," said Matt Jackovich, her former agent, who works for Stripper Entertainment in Burnaby, B.C. "She was earning a couple of grand a week anyway."
In 1994, Gannon met Bruce Akahoshi, 51, while stripping in a bar in Calgary. "I wouldn't call it love. I would call it lust," Akahoshi said. The two went on a holiday together in Hawaii and then got married in Lake Tahoe in April, 1994. Akahoshi became her informal agent and got her a role in a film with porn star Randy West. After that, she signed a contract with Video Team. Her first film was The Seduction of Marylin Star.
Gannon earned about $52,000 a year from the video contract. Like most porn stars she used the videos to command top dollar as a dancer. Her former Calgary agent, Independent Artists, recently tried to sign Ms. Gannon for a Canadian tour.
"She wanted $10,000 to $12,000 (US) a week," said an Independent agent who only gave his name as Ken. "She's ranked number one out there. But she was big money and you had to pay it or she wouldn't go."
In an interview with Exotic Dancer Bulletin, Gannon said of her performances: "I don't need the fancy costumes and porno movies to make my show -- it's all in the stage presence."
Star/Gannon also became a columnist for Swank magazine, and Dirty magazine. But as her fame increased, many industry players say Gannon became increasingly difficult to work with. She told Exotic Dancer Bulletin "I started at the bottom and worked my way up. It's a real power trip."
"Marylin was overwhelmed by her own sense of self-importance," said Video Team's Christian Mann. "She used to say things like 'I always thought men were there to carry my luggage.' Gannon became so difficult some producers refused to work with her. "She's a nut," said Michael Mark, a producer who works with Randy West in California.
On Dec. 27, 1996, Gannon wrote Akahoshi a brief note, "Bruce I've left," and cleaned out their California apartment. "She just packed up and left," said Akahoshi. "She took all her belongings and that was the last I saw of her." A list of her assets at the time of the divorce included a video collection, dance costumes, a red phone, zebra carpet, zebra chairs, and a 1995 BMW. She also owned a condominium in Edmonton with her father, who died in 1997. The two divorced on Halloween, 1997.
Gannon left Team Video in 1997 and headed to Miami to start her own business. She launched a Web site and started dancing in several top Florida clubs. She moved into an exclusive condominium a block from Miami Beach. The pastel-coloured building on the southern tip of Miami Beach is in one of the city's most exclusive neighbourhoods, home to movie stars, diplomats and sports figures. Anna Kournikova, the Russian tennis player, lives in the next building. Ms. Kournikova's coach, who also lives in the neighbourhood, said he has never met Gannon. The building has high security. Condo units sell for about $1-million.
Gannon also made plans to do a series of adult videos called Marylin does Miami and also planned a bizarre New Year's Eve project that involved having sex with 2,000 men, with the last at the stroke of midnight. She planned to sell a video of the event and had already signed a contract. According to the Nartional Post, Star was planning to marry her fiance Michael Gilley on St. Valentine's Day.
Gilley, 43, was chief financial officer of Cam-Net Communications Network Inc., a Vancouver Stock Exchange-listed company that became immersed in controversy in the mid-1990s. The company raised and lost more than $100 million of shareholders' money, making it one of the biggest money-losers in VSE history.
Gilley graduated from Magee secondary school in 1974 and became a chartered accountant in 1986. By his 20th class reunion, he was married, had three small children and was expecting another.
In his reunion book, he says his dream is to "retire with $$$" and lists his single greatest achievement as "Cam-Net Communications." Cam-Net, a re-seller of long-distance telephone services, was listed on the Vancouver Stock Exchange and enjoyed a lofty share price even though it was a chronic money-loser.
In early 1994, the B.C. Securities Commission cited Cam-Net president Robert Moore for alleged securities infractions, including his failure to report the sale of $2.7-million worth of Cam-Net shares.
The stock price plunged, prompting shareholders to file a class-action lawsuit in Pennsylvania alleging that Moore and Gilley had withheld material facts and artificially inflated the company's stock price.
Cam-Net eventually settled the matter by paying $2.2-million US worth of stock and $175,000 US cash to the plaintiffs. But that didn't end the drama. The commission's executive-director, Dean Holley, receipted a Cam-Net prospectus in late 1994 allowing the company to issue more stock in B.C. The move upset stock market investigator Adrian du Plessis, who was then working with the commission. He quit in disgust and complained to then-B.C. finance minister Elizabeth Cull.
Cull appointed retired judge Lloyd McKenzie to review the matter. McKenzie eventually cleared Holley's action, not on the basis of du Plessis' allegations, but on the basis that Holley had the authority to make whatever decision he wanted.
Subsequent events supported du Plessis' position, however. In March 1997, the commission banned Moore from the B.C stock market for five years for securities violations. Cam-Net consultant Don Choquer also agreed to a two-year trading suspension. Moore's successor, Daryl Buerge, was caught in an FBI sting operation in New York for allegedly bribing brokers. Charges were eventually dropped.
Although Gilley occupied a key position in the company, he was never charged with any wrongdoing.
