- NEW: Larry Flynt: "He was an icon from the beginning of the erotic film industry"
- Reems was a pioneer in the fight for First Amendment rights for porn actors, Ron Jeremy says
- His obscenity conviction for "Deep Throat" was overturned on appeal
- He "found Jesus" and sold real estate in Utah after leaving the adult film industry
(CNN) -- Harry Reems, the porn star best known for playing Dr. Young in the 1972 adult film classic "Deep Throat," died Tuesday, according to a spokeswoman at a Salt Lake City hospital. Reems, whose real name was Herbert Streicher, was 65.
Reems, who appeared in numerous pornographic films in the 1970s and '80s, was a pioneer whose battle for First Amendment rights paved the way for the adult film industry to enter the mainstream, said fellow actor Ron Jeremy.
Jill Atwood, spokeswoman for George E. Wahlen VA Medical Center in Salt Lake City, would not disclose the cause of death for privacy reasons.
Rena Golden, who held top positions at CNN, died at age 51 after battling lymphoma for two years on March 21.
Harry Reems, the porn star best known for playing Dr. Young in the 1972 adult film classic "Deep Throat," died March 19, according to a spokeswoman at a Salt Lake City hospital. Reems, whose real name is Herbert Streicher, was 65.
Bobbie Smith, who as a member of the Spinners sang lead on such hits as "I'll Be Around" and "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love," died on March 16 at age 76. Pictured clockwise from left, Spinners band member Pervis Jackson, Billy Henderson, Jonathan Edwards, Bobbie Smith and Henry Fambrough, 1977.
Sweden's Princess Lilian, the Welsh-born model who lived with her lover Prince Bertil for 30 years before they were married, has died at the age of 97, the Swedish Royal Court said in a statement.
Alvin Lee, the speed-fingered British guitarist who lit up Woodstock with a monumental 11-minute version of his song "I'm Going Home," died on March 6, according to his website. He was 68.
Hugo Chavez, the polarizing president of Venezuela who cast himself as a "21st century socialist" and foe of the United States, died March 5, said Vice President Nicolas Maduro.
Bobby Rogers, one of the original members of Motown staple The Miracles, died on Sunday, March 3, at 73. From left: Bobby Rogers, Ronald White, Smokey Robinson and Pete Moore circa 1965.
Actress Bonnie Franklin, star of the TV show "One Day at a Time," died at the age of 69 on March 1 of complications from pancreatic cancer.
Actor Dale Robertson, who was popular for his western TV shows and movies, died at age 89 on Thursday, February 28.
Richard Street, former member of the Temptations, died at age 70 on February 27. Street, second from the left, poses for a portrait with fellow members of the Temptations circa 1973.
Van Cliburn, the legendary pianist honored with a New York ticker-tape parade for winning a major Moscow competition in 1958, died on February 27 after a battle with bone cancer, his publicist said. He was 78.
Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop died on February 25. He was 96. Koop served as surgeon general from 1982 to 1989, under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
Damon Harris, former member of the Motown group the Temptations, died at age 62 on February 18. Harris, center on the stool, poses for a portrait with fellow members of The Temptations circa 1974.
Lou Myers, a stage, film and TV actor who memorably portrayed Mr. Gaines on the comedy "A Different World," died on February 19 at the age of 75.
Los Angeles Laker owner Jerry Buss died February 18 at age 80. Buss, who had owned the Lakers since 1979, was credited with procuring the likes of Earvin "Magic" Johnson, James Worthy, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. The Lakers won 10 NBA championships and 16 Western Conference titles under Buss' ownership.
Country singer Mindy McCready was found dead on February 17 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said. She was 37. During her career, McCready landed 14 songs and six albums on the Billboard country charts.
Ed Koch, the brash former New York mayor, died February 1 of congestive heart failure at 88, his spokesman said.
Patty Andrews, center, the last surviving member of the Andrews Sisters, died at her Northridge, California, home on January 30, her publicist Alan Eichler said. She was 94. Patty is seen in this 1948 photograph with her sisters Maxene, left, and Laverne.
Baseball Hall of Famer and St. Louis Cardinals great Stan Musial died on January 19, according to his former team. He was 92.
Baseball Hall of Fame manager Earl Sidney Weaver, who led the Baltimore Orioles to four pennants and a World Series title with a pugnacity toward umpires, died January 19 of an apparent heart attack at age 82, Major League Baseball said.
Pauline Phillips, better known to millions of newspaper readers as the original Dear Abby advice columnist, has died after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. She died January 16 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at age 94.
Aaron Swartz, the Internet activist who co-wrote the initial specification for RSS, committed suicide, a relative told CNN on January 12. He was 26. Swartz also co-founded Demand Progress, a political action group that campaigns against Internet censorship.
Claude Nobs, the founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival, died aged 76 following a skiing accident.
Richard Ben Cramer, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer whose 1992 book "What It Takes" remains one of the most detailed and passionate of all presidential campaign chronicles, died January 7, according to his longtime agent. He was 62.
Director and stuntman David R. Ellis died on January 7. He directed "Snakes on a Plane."
Tony Lip, who played mob figures in the hit cable show "The Sopranos" and several critically acclaimed movies, died January 4, a funeral home official said. Lip, whose real name was Frank Vallelonga, was 82.
Character actor Ned Wertimer, known to fans of "The Jeffersons" as the doorman Ralph Hart, died on January 2. He was 89.
Pop-country singer Patti Page died on January 1 in Encinitas, California. She was 85. Born Clara Ann Fowler, Page was the best-selling female artist of the 1950s and had 19 gold and 14 platinum singles.
Photos: People we lost in 2013
Reems' big break came in 1972 on the set of "Deep Throat" when the actor cast to play the feisty Dr. Young failed to show up for filming. Reems was promoted from extra to co-star, which meant an unforgettable sex scene with leading lady Linda Lovelace.
The film's budget of $25,000 included just a few hundred dollars for Reems, but the notoriety of the movie -- highlighted by well-publicized legal troubles -- made him one of the top porn stars in the United States in the 1970s.
Reems, who grew up in the New York's Bronx, "was the original," Jeremy said. "It was Reems and John Holmes. They were the biggest names at the time."
"Everyone who has ever seen a porn film knows who Harry Reems is," Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt told CNN through his representative. "He was an icon from the beginning of the erotic film industry."
"Deep Throat" went on to make hundreds of millions of dollars after criminal investigations and the prosecution of Reems for obscenity and conspiracy brought it global attention.
His obscenity conviction was overturned on appeal, but the legal battle became an important First Amendment fight for some in Hollywood.
The battle over "Deep Throat" became a "cause celebre," said Paul Fishbein, founder of AVN (Adult Video News).
"Because Harry Reems was famous for 'Deep Throat,' I think people forget he was sort of the face of '70s obscenity," said Fishbein, who is now president of X3Sixty Network, a cable network dedicated to programming about the adult industry. "When he got indicted for that movie, it was a big deal."
Hollywood stars including Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty supported Reems' defense, Jeremy said.
"It made him a pioneer," Jeremy said.
Reems followed up in 1973 with "Devil in Miss Jones," another rare porn film remembered by many 40 years later.
Reems' Internet Movie Database page lists 139 productions in which he acted between 1970 and 1986, when he left the industry.
Although he aspired as a young man to be a mainstream actor, that goal evaded him in the wake of his porn reputation. He was initially cast to play Coach Calhoun in "Grease," the 1978 smash musical starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, but producers ultimately replaced him with Sid Caesar.
Jeremy spoke fondly of his 1980s friendship with Reems, with memories of hanging out in Bernards, a bar off New York's Times Square that attracted both Broadway and porn actors. It was a hangout where the two men would pick up women and sometimes "go to the bathroom to do a little smoochie."
"We were on a bunch of sets side by side," Jeremy said. "We did threesomes on set a couple of time."
"We were both Jewish boys with a big mustaches," he said. "We both loved doing dialogue in movies, more than just an 'uuuuhh!'"
Reems left the adult movie business in 1987 and moved to Utah, where "somehow he found Jesus and decided to go Mormon," Jeremy said.
"He said he was glad to be far away from it," Jeremey said, referring to the porn industry.
Reems' new career was real estate, which he initially sold using his birth name, Herbert Streicher.
Eventually, though, he decided to use his famous name to sell real estate. "Maybe he wasn't selling enough," Jeremy said. "He used Harry Reems, and business was booming."
Jeremy said Reems' death was not a shock because he had known his health was deteriorating.
Reems' friends plan a memorial on Saturday after a performance of a stage play that tells his infamous story -- "Deep Throat Sex Scandal" -- at the Zephyr Theatre in West Hollywood, California, Jeremy said.
People we've lost in 2013: The lives they lived
CNN's Abbey Goodman and Jim Kavanagh contributed to this report.
