ANNETTE HEINZ (1953-2024) You may not know the name but one of the last great exotic dancers from Newport, KY has passed. Annette Saylor aka Annette Heinz, died today at a nursing facility in Campbell County after taking ill very suddenly little more than a month ago. She was 71.
Annette started out working for Hustler’s Larry Flynt in 1970 at his club in Cincinnati. Then she switched to Newport. Her acts including everything from fire eating to snake charming. (Her main boa constrictor was named Mr. Cooper.) Over time she worked her way up to the big time, working at New York’s famed Melody Burlesk for a decade.
It was there where she was spotted by adult film director Gerard Damiano, of Deep Throat fame, which led to several years in adult movies during what is now considered the Golden Age of Adult Entertainment. In the 1983 XXX political comedy/drama Public Affairs, her character is integral to bringing down a narcissistic, sexist candidate who is consistently lying to everyone about everything.
In time, though, she returned to the Midwest, where she graduated Cincinnati State College with honors in 1995 with a culinary arts degree. This eventually got her a position as chef on one of the casino boats in Indiana for a number of years.
My wife and I had known Annette only since 2016. She had much the same issues with weather that I have with my PTSD and would often alert me to weather warnings. She would also offer me recipes and cooking tips.
With her fascinating background, I had tried to talk her into letting me help write an autobiography. As her friend Jeanne Silver told me, “She always thought there’d be more time.”
We got to visit her in person a couple of times over the past few weeks, the only times we ever actually met her in person. We aren’t even sure she recognized us but she seemed to appreciate that we were there.
R.I.P. Annette Heinz, one of the nicest, sweetest people I ever knew.
My condolences.
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