Interview
The Legendary Hyapatia Lee
When you talk about true legends in the triple-XXX business, names like Christy Canyon, Amber Lynn, Annette Haven, Ginger Lynn and Marilyn Chambers , and the lovely Hyapatia Lee come to mind.
She’s been a fan favorite since her 1982 film debut in Let’s Get Physical and she retains an aura of superstardom even today. Hyapatia’s been hard at work lately with her band, W4IK (Double-Euphoric), working on their second CD release and also juggling a road schedule for feature entertaining.
I was very appreciative of her complete cooperation in arranging this exclusive interview. She spoke to me live via telephone from her home in the Midwest and the conversation went something like this....
Go-Go: Welcome Hyapatia and thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk with us.
Hyapatia Lee: Oh, my pleasure. Thank you.
Go-Go: First off, could you tell me what is new and exciting in the life of Hyapatia Lee?
Hyapatia Lee: Well, I’ve got a new 1-900 line, which is about how to get in touch with me, where I will be appearing, where my band is playing. Also native American medicine stories, their hidden secret meanings and herbal healing. You can call that number if you like at 1-900-287-8414.
I’ve also been working on a book about my life in the X-rated business and what prompted me to get into the business. It also deals with the life experiences I had beforehand and what I’ve been doing since I retired a few years ago.
My CD with the band (Double-Euphoric) is going into its second pressing and we are working on a new CD with brand new material and have been playing around the country quite a bit. We played Pittsburgh a couple of years ago at the Metropol, as a matter of fact.
Recently I was in LA interviewing with the Playboy Channel and talking about doing some things for their “Hot Rocks” and trying to get a video together. We also talked about their “Stripsearch” show where they would be dancing to the music of the band. I also did a few local TV shows there as well, but now I’m basically working out of the Midwest touring around that area with the band.
Go-Go: So there doesn’t seem to be any adult videos in your immediate future?
Hyapatia Lee: Well, you never say, never, but I don’t believe so. I’ve retired from the X-rated movie business for about four years ago. I’ve done a couple of R-rated movies, The Whacky Adventures of Doctor Boris and Nurse Shirley, with Paul Bartel of Eating Raoul, and Karen Black. That was kind of a cult film about Necrophilia and it’s playing the theater circuits around the country. It’s held over in Los Angeles for two months. It’s kind of a whacky show and they like whacky things like that. I also did Killing Obsession with John Savage from the Deerhunter and The Godfather and that’s on Cinemax and HBO, and it’s released on video now.
Go-Go: It seems your band is a very important thing in your life right now.
Hyapatia Lee: Yeah, that’s one of my major things right now. I’m pretty busy right now, as a matter of fact we are playing this Friday and Saturday at a club opening for The Little River Band.
Go-Go: There’s a name out of the past, what style of music is your band into?
Hyapatia Lee: Pretty much straight ahead rock n’ roll with a little bit of Native American influence.
Go-Go: One of your fans here wanted to know about your Native American roots and if you practiced in it.
Hyapatia Lee: That is really cool. I am 3/4 Cherokee and very much into my heritage. I study with a medicine man named Swift Deer out of Phoenix, Arizona, before that, I studied with Gladys Tantaguideon, whose brother Harold Tantaguideon, was the last chief of the Mohicans. She’s also one of the last full-blooded Mohicans. I studied herbal healing with her. Now with Swift Deer I studied more of the psychological thought process’s. Like the native American medicine stories. There are so many hidden meanings and they’re very educational for your spirits. They help you get power from some inner-wisdom. The 900-line is basically about that. There are s0 many stories from so many different aspects of life. The 900-line talks about those hidden meanings.
Go-Go: Does going out on the road and featuring still hold the same excitement as it once did?
Hyapatia Lee: Absolutely, absolutely! ! I’m going to San Jose next week and I just love to get out and dance, anything to do with music of course. When you’re on stage with the band, you can’t move around as much because there is more people up there with you!! (laughing) It kind of spoils it, you know. So I love to get out and dance and be as erotic as I can. It’s a lot of fun to meet the people and get to talk to them too.
Go-Go: Do you think that the business has changed much over the past 10 years?
Hyapatia Lee: Absolutely. From the time I got into the business until now, it’s gone through so many changes that it doesn’t even seem like the same business anymore. When I first got into it, everything was shot on film. There was no video. A $70,000 budget movie was cheap. It took three days to shoot, they called it “The Three Day Wonder.” About two years after that, video started to be the big contender and everything was shot in video and it became a one day wonder and a $40,000 dollar budget was cheap. Well when I retired from the business a few years ago, it seemed like they were shooting two movies in a day, pretty standardly and a $20,000 budget was pretty much average. So it’s changed a lot in those respects. It translates in front of the camera. In meaning you have less time to get a good script together, to have a variety of actors and actresses and a variety of sets and types of sexual scenes. You don’t have the time to develop your script enough to motivate yourself and make the dialogue realistic. You’re shooting what is written so quickly, because of the budget. You find a lot of glitches and mistakes. You have to have the attitude on the set that, “Oh, it doesn’t matter, it’s only a $20,000 X-rated movie.” Which is very frustrating and definitely one of the reasons that I quit the business, because I really wanted it to be the best product that it could be when I was shooting. If I flubbed a line or if I didn’t say it a way that I felt good about it, I wanted to be able to do it again. With that kind of money it was hard. Also the aids issue.
Go-Go: And the use of condoms.
Hyapatia Lee: Way back when it seemed like where movies being shot with condoms sporadically here and there. Then for a while you had companies saying “No, no, no, condoms,” at all. Now some companies are using them, some are not.
Go-Go: Do the actors sign a release in case of infection!
Hyapatia Lee: It goes back to the girls they are working with. It’s her choice basically, it comes down to her. The video company also has something to say about it. Most of the time they won’t let more than one or two condom scenes in the same movie, they find it to be some sort of a turnoff or something.
Go-Go: For the new fans out there, could you briefly tell us about your arrival in the adult business?
Hyapatia Lee: I started out doing musical comedy in dinner theater in the Midwest and one of the girls in the chorus was a dancer at one of the night clubs in town. I was always curious about what it would be like to be a nude dancer. I asked her a lot of questions and started working at the same club. There was this contest called the Miss Nude Galaxy at the Ponderosa Sun Club and she dared me to enter and I won! ! Some people asked me if I’d like to make X-Rated movies and pose in men’s magazines. I did pose for some of the magazines, but I was skeptical about the movies until I got to meet some of the people in the business and talked to them personally. I got kind of an insider’s point of view and thought that at that point I’d give it a try and one thing led to another.
Go-Go: How many adult videos have you appeared in?
Hyapatia Lee: I’ve always been under contract in the business, whether it was Caribbean Films, Vivid Video or Essex Video. I’ve always been under contract to one specific company, so I didn’t work for so many film companies like so many people do. Which is why there aren’t as many movies of mine out there comparatively. For example, I think Nina Hartley has something like 600 videos there and there are 48 originals of mine, not counting the compilation tapes.
Go-Go: Do you have an absolute favorite from your library of videos?
Hyapatia Lee: The Ribald Tales of Canterbury which was one of my very first movies. That was a really big budget movie, over $300,000 and we shot it in Scotland for nine days. It was a takeoff on our childhood Canterbury Tales. We even used the universal costumes from the musical Camelot in it. Those were the good old days! ! ! Most recently there was The Masseuse. I really enjoyed working with Randy Spears, he’s an excellent actor and the script was so well written.
Go-Go: Most people outside the business see the video producers and directors as people who exploit women and make a nice profit. Do you feel you were exploited in any way or were you the one in control?
Hyapatia Lee: It’s not really an exploitation of women as much as it’s an exploitation of sex, if it’s exploiting any thing and that’s a big “if.” I do not feel I was taken advantage of by the business per se in any way shape or form. As I look back, the business I’m thinking of rented me comfortable limousines and Bob Makie
When I was pregnant and still wanted to work, albeit non-sexually, they would fly me to Europe, Australia and New Zealand to appear at video stores and sign autographs. I think where the negative connotation comes from in my mind, is when I go back out into society and society has all kinds of nice little boxes they want to put me in, because what I might have done in the past. They have the idea and preconceived notions that they want to put you in and that’s while you’re in the business.
Once you get out of the business, it’s as if the entire world will never give you a chance to be anything else, even though you’ve been retired from the business for X amount of years. They assume that if they were to give you a chance to be something and put their company name behind you, it’s an endorsement on what you did in the past.
It’s so ridiculous, they don’t give you a chance to grow. I think it’s because of society’s attitude towards people who have been in this business, that have caused people in this work so much strife, and pain, and has been the major contributing factor to the suicides that we’ve had.
Go-Go: Are you satisfied that you got what you wanted to out of the adult business
Hyapatia Lee: I have no complaints about the business. I got out when I wanted to get out. I might have done better by getting out earlier. One of the main reasons I got out was I was experiencing a divorce and my ex-husband is still involved in the business. So I think as people tend to get divorces, sometimes nasty things happen and when you work together, that’s bound to carry over to the profession. Other than that I have no animosities or regrets really.
Go-Go: To wrap it up, what does the future hold for Hyapatia Lee?
Hyapatia Lee: I’m really working heavily with the band on our second CD, and playing around a lot of the Midwest. I play with a band in LA. when I go there, so virtually I have two bands. It’s keeping me busy and I’d like to do more of that. I really enjoy that a lot.
Go-Go: Do you have a fan club address that your loyal fans can reach you at?
Hyapatia Lee: I sure do. It’s 15127 Califa St. Van Nuys, Ca 91411 and you can also listen to the 1-900-287-8414 number and it gives this address also.
Go-Go: Well Hyapatia, Thanks so much again! you’ve been great and we’ll see you when you get to town.
Hyapatia Lee: You’re very welcome, it’s been my pleasure.