Claudia Jennings(1949-1979)
- Actress
Born Mary Eileen "Mimi" Chesterton (nicknamed Mimi by her friends and
family) in St. Paul, Minnesota, titian beauty Claudia Jennings was
raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1966, she moved to Evanston,
Illinois, the first suburb north of Chicago just south of the Wisconsin
state line, where she graduated high school in 1968.
After joining the Hull House theater company in Chicago, she took a job
as a receptionist at the offices of Playboy magazine in September 1968.
Photographer Pompeo Posar asked her to
test, and with a potential $5,000 check at stake -- enough for a ticket
to Hollywood -- she agreed. She eventually appeared as a Playmate in
November 1969, and later as 1970 Playmate of the Year. Re-naming
herself Claudia Jennings to avoid family embarrassment due to posing in
the nude, she became the most perennially popular Playmate of the
1970s, as well as the number one female star of "Drive-In" movies such
as The Unholy Rollers (1972)
and 'Gator Bait (1973). Her first film role was with the film Jud (1971), a low-budget, socially
conscious, independent film about a Vietnam soldier's return home.
While the film came and went without much notice, it encouraged Claudia
to go into the acting business full time.
From 1970 to 1975, she lived with songwriter/producer
Bobby Hart but, after their split,
her personal life began to spiral. She began using drugs and soon got a
reputation for being unreliable. As her cocaine use began to escalate,
her career from this point began to flounder.
One of her last theatrical film roles was a co-starring part in the
little-seen Canadian racetrack drama Fast Company (1979). After
narrowly missing the role of
Kate Jackson's replacement on
Charlie's Angels (1976) to
Shelley Hack in May 1979, she began a
tumultuous relationship with Beverly Hills realtor
Stan Herman. Following their split
later that summer, Jennings turned her life around and tried to quit
drugs and drinking, but sadly died before she could continue performing
in better films. On the morning of October 3, 1979, she was at the wheel of her VW convertible in Malibu on the Pacific Coast Highway, and drifted across the center divider, colliding head-on with a pickup truck near the intersection of Topanga Canyon Boulevard. She died a few minutes later before paramedics could arrive and get her to a nearby hospital. She was 29.
family) in St. Paul, Minnesota, titian beauty Claudia Jennings was
raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1966, she moved to Evanston,
Illinois, the first suburb north of Chicago just south of the Wisconsin
state line, where she graduated high school in 1968.
After joining the Hull House theater company in Chicago, she took a job
as a receptionist at the offices of Playboy magazine in September 1968.
Photographer Pompeo Posar asked her to
test, and with a potential $5,000 check at stake -- enough for a ticket
to Hollywood -- she agreed. She eventually appeared as a Playmate in
November 1969, and later as 1970 Playmate of the Year. Re-naming
herself Claudia Jennings to avoid family embarrassment due to posing in
the nude, she became the most perennially popular Playmate of the
1970s, as well as the number one female star of "Drive-In" movies such
as The Unholy Rollers (1972)
and 'Gator Bait (1973). Her first film role was with the film Jud (1971), a low-budget, socially
conscious, independent film about a Vietnam soldier's return home.
While the film came and went without much notice, it encouraged Claudia
to go into the acting business full time.
From 1970 to 1975, she lived with songwriter/producer
Bobby Hart but, after their split,
her personal life began to spiral. She began using drugs and soon got a
reputation for being unreliable. As her cocaine use began to escalate,
her career from this point began to flounder.
One of her last theatrical film roles was a co-starring part in the
little-seen Canadian racetrack drama Fast Company (1979). After
narrowly missing the role of
Kate Jackson's replacement on
Charlie's Angels (1976) to
Shelley Hack in May 1979, she began a
tumultuous relationship with Beverly Hills realtor
Stan Herman. Following their split
later that summer, Jennings turned her life around and tried to quit
drugs and drinking, but sadly died before she could continue performing
in better films. On the morning of October 3, 1979, she was at the wheel of her VW convertible in Malibu on the Pacific Coast Highway, and drifted across the center divider, colliding head-on with a pickup truck near the intersection of Topanga Canyon Boulevard. She died a few minutes later before paramedics could arrive and get her to a nearby hospital. She was 29.