Spelvin was born in Houston, Texas at 2:24 pm on March 1, 1936 as Shelley Bob Graham. Her father was a geophysicist, and the family moved frequently. She often took dancing lessons during childhood. She graduated from high school in 1954.
"At first, I wanted to be an opera singer but my voice wasn't good enough. My second choice was ballerina. After that, it was a series of compromises."" - Georgina Spelvin
Spelvin began her professional career as dancer and later as a chorus girl in Pajama Game, and was featured in the Broadway productions of Cabaret, Guys and Dolls, and Sweet Charity,. During that time she changed the spelling of her name to "Chele Graham" but kept the pronunciation the same as Shelley Graham. When performance offers dwindled, she worked in theater production as a choreographer, director, and lighting technician in a number of musicals, which led to underground film scene.
"I took the role very seriously. I was doing Hedda Gabler here! The fact that there was hard-core sex involved was incidental as far as I was concerned. I was totally deluded. I had made myself believe that I was an actress. I was showing true life as it really was, including actual sex as it really happened, instead of the phony stuff that you got from Hollywood. That was my raison d'etre throughout the whole thing. It was okay; I was okay; I wasn't a slut." - Georgina Spelvin
"The Devil in Miss Jones. This was the "birth" of Georgina Spelvin in 1974. From there it was, again, all downhill. This descent spiraled into the pits of sleaze-bag strip joints and alcoholism. Sobriety came November 11, 1981." - Georgina Spelvin
In 1974, while living in Maine, she was charged with transporting obscene materials across state lines for her film Devil in Miss Jones in Tennessee. The charges were eventually dropped in 1977. In 1975, she moved to El Cajon with Claire Lumiere, met Vince Miranda and appeared in Take it Off at his Off Broadway. Spelvin appeared in over 70 adult films before retiring from the industry in 1982.
Later life
Spelvin made cameo appearances in Police Academy and . She later had film roles in Bad Blood, in which she was credited as "Ruth Raymond," and Next Year in Jerusalem as well as guest-starring roles on the television shows Dream On and The Lost World. Spelvin learned desktop publishing and worked for the Los Angeles Times till she retired from its staff in 2004. In 2004, she made a cameo appearance in Vivid Video's remake of The Devil in Miss Jones, which is titled The New Devil in Miss Jones. Her role is not believed to have involved any sex acts. In 2005, she was interviewed for the documentary filmInside Deep Throat. In 2006, she was interviewed for the documentary film Devil In Miss Spelvin, a special feature intended for inclusion with Devil in Miss Jones, The Definitive Collector's Edition. In 2009, she appeared as herself in the video for Massive Attack's song "Paradise Circus." In 2011, Spelvin was a guest on an episode of the Showtime series Dave's Old Porn, in which she viewed and discussed clips from a number of her films with host Dave Attell and guest Adam Carolla.
Personal life
Spelvin met her husband, actor John Welsh, in 1983 and married January 16, 2000.
Autobiography
In May 2008, she published her autobiography, The Devil Made Me Do It, and appeared on camera in a short web clip announcing its release on the internet. A self-published work, the book is available through her official website, Georgiespelvin.com.
