Désirée Cousteau

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Désirée Cousteau (born 1956 or 1957) is a former pornographic film actress and striptease artist who worked mainly from 1978 to 1981. She is best known for Pretty Peaches (1978).

Early life and beginnings
She once aimed to model for Vogue but was told she wasn’t tall or thin enough. After doing some lingerie modeling, she appeared in Jonathan Demme’s 1974 film Caged Heat (also known as Renegade Girls). She also posed for Penthouse, appearing in the June 1974 issue as Deborah Clearbranch.

Film career
Cousteau began her porn career in 1978, initially using the name Désirée Clearbranch before taking a larger role in Bob Chinn’s Hot and Saucy Pizza Girls, where she has three sex scenes and a lightweight narrative. A few months later came Alex de Renzy’s Pretty Peaches, a film built around her. The role helped establish her as a porn star, and she won the Adult Film Association of America Best Actress Award the following year.

In 1979 she made around twenty features and did photo shoots for magazines like Hustler and High Society. She also worked with French director Gérard Kikoïne on three films; Aphrodesia’s Diary was shot mainly in New York and released in 1983, while the other two were shot in France with dubbed dialogue.

Retirement from pornography and stage work
Cousteau announced her retirement from porn in a Midnight Blue interview while promoting Deep Rub in late 1979, but she still appeared in a few projects in 1980 and 1981. Later films often used archival footage. She said she preferred striptease because it kept her on stage and away from filming, where she felt more isolated but secure.

Live performances and controversy
During the early 1980s she toured heavily as a burlesque performer, appearing three weeks a month at various venues. She performed a one-woman show at the Melody Burlesk in New York, combining dance and striptease with audience interaction and photos taken while sitting on patrons’ laps. She also appeared topless on The Robin Byrd Show to promote her stage work. An incident at the Parkway Theater in Milwaukee led to police involvement, but prosecutors did not pursue charges.

Legacy
Though she left the adult industry by the end of 1981, her films remained popular on the X-rated circuit, on cable TV, and in home video during the following years. She was inducted into the XRCO Hall of Fame in 1993 and the AVN Hall of Fame in 1997. She also appeared in loop collections such as Swedish Erotica and Electric Blue, with some material possibly reused.