CALLING DR. AVA CADELL: FROM SEXPOT TO SEXPERT by Owen Keehnen

To date Dr. Ava Cadell (born in Budpest as Ildjko Csath in 1956) has written five books on human sexuality and pleasure…and there are more tomes on the way. The buxom sex sage received her doctorate in human behavior from Newport University and an additional doctorate in human sexuality from The Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. She’s appeared on countless talk shows, radio and news programs such as CNN, Good Morning America, VH1, and Lifetime as well as in a myriad of periodicals and papers like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Playboy, The New York Times, USA Today, Glamour, Entertainment Weekly, Playgirl, Bride, Penthouse, Health and Fitness, Jane, etc. The sassy sexologist even has a website… www.sexpert.com

However, before she was Dr. Ava she was just plain Ava Cadell, an anything but plain redheaded sexpot actress with breasts as big as her head! In fact, being a celebrated sexpert with her own line of love products sounds as though it could have been the plot from one of her films. As an actress Ava starred in ‘Return to Savage Beach’ and ‘Fit to Kill’ with Julie Strain, ‘Not of This Earth’ with Traci Lords, Becky LeBeau, and Monique Gabrielle. Playboy Playmate Dona Spier was her most frequent costar, appearing with her in ‘Fit to Kill, ‘Hard Hunted’, and ‘Do or Die’ (which also costarred Pat Morita, Erik Estrada, and Pandora Peaks!). In all 3 of those preceding films (as well as ‘Return to Savage Beach’) she played a character named Ava. Hmmm…typecasting? The oh-so-good doctor’s other films include ‘Jungle Warriors’, ‘The Hot Girls’, ‘The Master Demon’, ‘Commando’ with Rae Dawn Chong, ‘Smokey and The Bandit III’, and ‘The Jerk Too’. However, my personal favorite of her performances is her role as Partha, a female space invader in search of earthmen to capture in the 1979 sci-fi parody ‘Spaced Out’. On the small screen amazing Ava has been featured on numerous series such as ‘Mike Hammer’, ‘The Fall Guy’, ‘The Love Boat’, Dallas’, ‘Thicke of the Night’, and ‘Matt Houston’.

She’s a force of nature and she’s bigger now than ever. Happily when I needed her, the doctor was in…and was kind enough to take time out from her busy schedule to answers 10 quick questions.


 
  OWEN: Was moving from genre films to your current position - sexpot to sexpert so to speak difficult in regards to getting respect?

AVA: Personally, I think moving from sexpot to sexpert is a natural progression. I was getting lots of fan mail asking my opinion on relationships and sex and I didn't have the qualifications to answer them, so that's what gave me the idea to go back to college and get a doctorate in human sexuality.

OWEN: Did your movie work teach you a lot about presence on TV talk shows and such?

AVA: Actually my TV appearances on shows like The Love Boat, Dallas, The Fall Guy, Matt Houston, Hotel, Perfect Strangers and Mike Hammer gave me good training for talking in sound bites…more so than the movies.

OWEN: I loved hearing that the Hungarian Nuns who raised you said if you kissed a boy a baby would pop out of your mouth.  Did such strange tales make you determined to get the facts out there regarding sex?

AVA: Yes, I knew that I was lied to by the nuns so my mission was to find out as much as I could about sex.

OWEN: Now that you are noted in a different field are you embarrassed or proud of your films?

AVA: I don't believe that there are any mistakes in life, only lessons so I'm neither proud nor embarrassed of my past work. It is all a stepping-stone to where I'm going.

OWEN: Some of your films include 'Lethal Ladies: Return to Savage Beach', 'Fit to Kill', 'Do or Die', 'Not of this Earth', 'The Hot Girls', 'Lunch Box', and (my personal favorite) 'Spaced Out'.   Do you have a best and worst filmmaking experience you would care to share?

AVA: My best memory was over 20 years ago when I got a call from the head of Miramax Films who had just bought Spaced Out and he asked me to go to Chicago to promote the movie with Bob Saget who was unknown at that time.

OWEN: One of my other favorites of your films was the 1988 remake of Roger Corman's 'Not of This Earth' with Traci Lords, Becky LeBeau, Kelli Maroney, and Monique Gabrielle.  What is your most vivid memory of making that film?

AVA: My most vivid memory of that film is the director Jim Wynorski yelling at Roger Lodge (now host of Blind Date) for crashing his car by accident.

OWEN: Did you have any qualms whatsoever about movie nudity or did it feel very natural to you?

AVA: I was a nude model in London at the age of 16 so it didn't bother me at all.

OWEN: Do you believe in extraterrestrials?

AVA: I do believe that there are other life forms in the Universe.

OWEN: What is something that makes you scream in real life?

AVA: A great orgasm.

OWEN: Where do you see yourself five years from now?

AVA: Running an Intimacy Institute in some exotic place like Hawaii.

OWEN: Thanks Dr. Ava and all the best to you in your amazing career.