A Life Way too Brief!

She was born Colleen Applegate on May 30, 1963 in Bellflower, California, but was raised in Farmington, Minnesota after her folks moved there due to her father’s job with the phone company. At Farmington H.S. Colleen was very involved in both cheerleading and softball, but with her blonde hair, great looks and curvy body she became involved with a boyfriend and hung out with the party crowd. After graduation she went to work for her father at the phone company, but she just couldn’t adapt to the small town, country life.

With her boyfriend Mike, and against her parents wishes, they packed up and headed to Hollywood where they were both determined to make Colleen a star. While they knew the chances were slim, they held the belief that with her looks and body it wouldn’t be that difficult. They both felt that Shauna had what Hollywood wanted and they were determined for her to make it in the world of mainstream films. However, like most who come to Hollywood looking for instant stardom and fame, it didn’t come Colleen’s way and before long their money was very scarce.

Colleen answered an ad for figure models and got hired. With her natural beauty it didn’t take very long before she was being seen in layouts in a number of men’s magazines including Club and Hustler. Within a few months her modeling career was beginning to take hold, the money was very good and her relationship with Mike had come to an end. Colleen was making as much as four figures a day for some shoots.

Her blonde, fresh scrubbed look took hold and it was suggested to her that maybe she should try a few porno shorts. Coupled with a new found career and money Colleen also found herself a new high with cocaine. Her work in those porn loops brought her in contact with well known adult film producer Bobby Hollander. He came up with the new name of Shauna Grant and got her into full length porn films.

Her first film was “Paper Dolls” and she was an instant star with not just her looks, but very healthy and voracious appetite for sex. The offers kept rolling in as did the money. Other films she starred in included “Sex Games”, “Summer Camp Girls”, “Flesh and Laces”, “Golden Girls” and a number of others. Shauna was living the high life with money, first class travel, being a star and enjoying and indulging in her new hobby, cocaine.

She broke off with Hollander and got involved with a coke dealer named Jake Erlich who wanted her to get out of porn. They went to Palm Springs and she took over managing a leather goods store he owned. She had changed her life to a point and all seemed to be going well until Erlich was arrested and convicted on drug charges. Suddenly Shauna was cut off from his money, the life she had, the supply of cocaine and became frantic.

Still remembered for her big splash in porn, she was asked to go to San Francisco to shoot a new film that would pay her extremely well. Once again cocaine came into the picture even though she was regaining her star status having been nominated for 3 awards in 1984. By now the cocaine use had become too much and she was having visions of people stalking her.

On the night of March 21, 1984, Shauna Grant took a .22 caliber rifle to her head, pulled the trigger and in an instant her life was over at the very young age of just twenty one. Her suicide sent shock waves through the adult industry for days and weeks. All the years of insecurity, failed relationships and heavy cocaine use had finally taken its toll on the young beauty who never got the help she was in such desperate need of.

While she did only about 50 films during her short time in porn she made a huge impression with her performances. She was, without question, one of the most beautiful young stars to appear in front of the camera. Her loss was tragic and many veterans of the adult industry still shake their head about it today. In 1999 Ms. Grant was posthumously inducted into the XRCO Hall of Fame. Be sure to check out some of her films and you will understand why she became an instant hit. Who knows what might have been had Shauna Grant been able to stay clean and get the help she needed during her young life.

Art Koch, National Features & DVD Editor, NightMoves Magazines and AAN