Her family name is not Clearbranch
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — General Discussion
terminatethis — 10 years ago(April 09, 2015 01:34 PM)
It's very unlikely that Desiree Cousteau's real surname (family name) is/was "Clearbranch". Why, you ask? It's simple. Use your Google skills and find me anybody in the United States with the last name "Clearbranch".
Clearbranch was just a made-up stage name that Desiree/Deborah used for the 1974 Jonathan Demme movie "Caged Heat". Why use a stage name for a non-porn film? If5b4 she joined SAG for this film, her real name may not have been unique, which SAG requires. This would have caused her to choose a stage name. Or maybe, even before starting in porn, she was a little leery of having her real name attached to the women's prison film genre.
If she is really from the South, she may have gotten "Clearbranch" from some place name she knew. There are various roads and churches named "Clear Branch" in Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. There is also a small ice cream shop in Brookhaven, MS: "Clear Branch Farms Ice Cream".
I'd say the only semi-reliable information about her is that her name is "Deborah A. ______", and that she was born between 9/18/54 and 9/17/55, which is supported by the newspaper report of her arrest in Indiana on 9/17/1981 as "Deborah A. Scheer, 26" of Arvada, CO. -
marmac2768 — 10 years ago(April 12, 2015 11:55 PM)
Did you look to see if her real name is not Deborah A. Scheer? That might be it. She was one of my faves back in my younger, wilder days. I'd like to think that she didn't end up like so many other former porn stars have ended up.
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marmac2768 — 10 years ago(April 13, 2015 12:02 AM)
A followup; I did a Google search on Deborah A. Scheer and I found this on a website called Zoominfo.com.
This is copied and pasted here:
"Desiree Cousteau was born Deborah A. Scheer in Savannah, Georgia, in 1956.
De Renzy later recalled in an interview: "Desiree was my all-time greatest actress, the biggest stage presence I ever had.
'Pretty Peaches' was a great success, and Desiree soon found herself starring in a string of big production movies such as 'Female Athletes' (1977), 'Ms. Magnificent' (1977), 'Daddy's Little Girl' (1977) and 'Baby Face' (1977). Although she always seemed to play the same role - that of a naive bimbo, it earned her the award for Best Actress in 1978 and an appearance in Playboy magazine.
Perhaps the most hostile comments came from other actresses such as Annette Haven with whom Desiree appeared to have an ongoing feud. Annette recalled in an interview: "I was doing a menage-a-trois with Desiree Cousteau. We were supposed to eat each other and fondle each other's pussies, you know. The director was giving us instructions and Desiree would not let me touch her body! It was awful! I would not want to? work with her again."
Desiree claimed that her husband was in love with Annette, and this was one of the reasons she decided to quit the industry in late 1980.
Richard Pachenco, who also worked with her, later commented: "Desiree Cousteau was a wonderful person early in her career then hit big time trouble.
Cousteau started out in the early 70's as a mainstream actress, landing a small part in the 1974 "girls-in-prison" B-movie Caged Heat. Her mainstream career never quite took off, though, and soon she found herself drawn into the burgeoning world of sex films. She worked steadily in adult movies from the mid-1970s through the late 1980s.
She received the Adult Film Association of America "Best Actress" award in 1978 for her performance in the movie Pretty Peaches, a film director Alex de Renzy considered to be one of his best. Cousteau played "Peaches", described as "a daffy carefree female who cheerfully plunges through life without any worries". In the film, she has a car accident after attending her father's wedding and is rendered unconscious. Two guys find her and take advantage of her; then offer to help her when it becomes apparent that she has amnesia. Peaches resolves to keep smiling through all the silly schemes and circumstances the guys come up with.
In addition to "Peaches", many of the characters Cousteau portrayed were somewhat ditsy, leading some viewers to assume that the actress herself was similarly dim-witted.
Inside Desiree Cousteau, a (somewhat) semi-autobiographical film, she plays a reporter trying to dissuade the men who are interested in her her charms rather than her place in the workforce. She obtains the scoop of a lifetime from a presidential candidate, and then tries a stint as a door-to-door saleswoman, where she has some unusual encounters. Trying to avoid more of the same, she finds a job on a luxury yacht, but gets involved with two porn stars. She finally accepts the fact that sex is the outcome of any job she tries; she sets her sights on a career as a porn star and "lives happily ever after".
Although little is known about Cousteau's life after she retired from the adult film business, three wildly varying rumors persist. The first claims that she got married and settled down into an anonymous family life. The second and more widespread rumor reported in several adult film magaz16d0ines, states that she was institutionalized in the mid-80's after a mental breakdown. The final rumor, that she became an accredited psychologist in her home state of Georgia, is favored by those who knew her. All are partially true; she was married briefly, sought care for emotional and substance abuse, and became a successful child psychologist, which she continues to practice.
Porn Star Desiree Cousteau is an adorable brunette with big brown eyes that can malt at a glance and a cute, shy smile. Her busty, butt-licious body sets off her cutie-pie face like a sexy exclamation point. Blessed with some of the most wondrous natural breasts ever seen in hardcore, Desiree Cousteau was one of the biggest stars of 70's and early 80's porn. She had a bubbly, effervescent personality that made her come across as huggable and playful as a new-born puppy. But in her sex scenes, Desiree Cousteau was pure sensual energy, delivering strong and sweaty performances in virtually every film she appeared in.
Desiree Cousteau started out in the early 70's as a straight actress, landing a small part in the 1974 girls-in-prison B-movie 'Caged Heat.' Her mainstream career never quite took off, though, and soon she found herself drawn into the burgeoning world of sex films. Desiree Cousteau capitalized on her natural breathless quality and cornered the market on 'beautiful but ditsy' roles, like a porn version of actress Jennifer Tilly.
It's in her sex scenes, though, that it becomes clear -
DrBiffCornstach — 6 months ago(September 21, 2025 10:16 PM)
I followed up on the psychologist theory, Deborah Kearny PhD wrote a book called “sand in your sandpile”. Can’t find any images of Deborah, but her daughter (possibly granddaughter?) illustrated the book. Emily Kearny Williams was pretty easy to find on fbook, and that’s clearly her daughter. Desiree can be seen in a few family pics.
Has another daughter/grand daughter who is also clearly hers, there seems to be family medical professional history, much in addiction services, which is what got Désirée into the medical field to begin with.