Born Mary Eileen "Mimi" Chesterton, titian beauty Claudia Jennings
was raised in Milwaukee. In 1966 she moved to Evanston, IL, the
first suburb north of Chicago, where she graduated high school in
1968. After joining the Hull House theatre 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 Playmate in
November 1969, and later as 1970 Playmate of the Year. Jennings
became the most perennially popular Playmate of the 1970s, as well
as the number one female star of "Drive-In" movies such as Unholy
Rollers and Gator Bait. From 1970-75 she lived with
songwriter/producer Bobby Hart, but after their split her personal
life began to spiral. After narrowly missing the role of Kate
Jackson's replacement on Charlie's Angels to She lley 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, but sadly fell asleep at the wheel
of her VW convertible on her way to pick up her things from
Herman's home in Malibu on the morning of October 3, 1979. She was
29.
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