Claudia Jennings
{{Use American English|date=July 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{short description|American actress and model (1949–1979)}}
{{Infobox Playboy Playmate
| name = Claudia Jennings
| image = Claudia Jennings.jpeg
| issue = November 1969
| birth_name = Mary Eileen Chesterton
| birth_place = Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
| birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1949|12|20}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1979|10|03|1949|12|20}}
| death_place = Malibu, California, U.S.
| height = {{height|ft=5|in=6}}
| preceded = Jean Bell
| succeeded = Gloria Root
| pmoy-year = 1970
| pmoy-preceded = Connie Kreski
| pmoy-succeeded = Sharon Clark
| website =
}}
Mary Eileen Chesterton (December 20, 1949 – October 3, 1979),{{cite web|url=http://wekinglypigs.com/cgi-bin/nand/search/pmstat?browse=%3A%3ACONFIG%3A%3Amodelbrowse&key=jennings%2C+claudia&limit=0|title=Playmate data|accessdate=January 29, 2010}} known professionally as Claudia Jennings, was an American actress and model. Jennings was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for November 1969, later becoming Playmate of the Year for 1970. She subsequently pursued a career in acting, becoming known as the "Queen of the B movies".[http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1979/10/04/page/45/article/b-movie-queen-dies-in-crash 'B' movie queen dies in crash], Chicago Tribune, October 4, 1979 She died in an automobile accident at age 29 in 1979.
Career
Mary Eileen Chesterton (known as "Mimi" to friends and family) was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1949, later moving to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and then Richmond, Indiana. When her family moved from Richmond to Evanston, Illinois, as a result of her father becoming the advertising director with Skilsaw, she transferred at the start of her sophomore year to Evanston Township High School (ETHS) where she graduated in 1968. She was featured in a silent, plotless movie titled after her nickname which was shot on Super 8 film by fellow ETHS classmate Todd McCarthy. She worked as a receptionist at Playboy and then posed for the magazine in 1969. She adopted the name Claudia Jennings because she didn't want to embarrass her family and that she thought "Mimi" sounded too girlish.[https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/but-she-was-a-cheerleader/ Williams, Albert. "But She Was A Cheerleader," Reader (Chicago, IL), September 21, 2000.] Retrieved September 2, 2021{{cn|date=January 2020}} Her original pictorial was photographed by Pompeo Posar. She was Playmate of the Year in 1970, and was awarded a pink Mercury Capri.[https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/1971-1978-capri-ponycar-reborn/ CC Easter Bunny Special: The Cars Of The Playboy Bunnies Of The Year 1964 – 1988], Curbside Classic, March 27 2016
After her appearances in Playboy, Jennings became an actress in exploitation movies and in television. In 1973, she had a guest appearance on The Brady Bunch episode titled "Adios, Johnny Bravo". Jennings auditioned for the role as Kate Jackson's replacement on the hit television show Charlie's Angels, but the role was awarded to Shelley Hack.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hgHWBCVndpkC&q=Claudia+Jennings+Charlie%27s+Angels&pg=PA198|title=Boys and Toys: Ultimate Action-Adventure Movies|isbn=9780806523811|accessdate=10 June 2013|last1=Brode|first1=Douglas|year=2003|publisher=Citadel Press }}
Death
On October 3, 1979, Jennings died in an automobile collision on the Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu, California. She was 29.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UhSvgzCav9wC&q=Claudia+Jennings+Pacific+coast+highway&pg=PA75|title=Hick Flicks: The Rise and Fall of Redneck Cinema|isbn=9780786482122|accessdate=10 June 2013|last1=Doviak|first1=Scott Von|year=2015|publisher=McFarland }}
Jennings was featured in a 2000 episode of E! True Hollywood Story in which several of her friends and acquaintances were interviewed. The episode was made without the cooperation of her family, who considered the show too "tabloid" in style.Albert Williams, [http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/but-she-was-a-cheerleader/Content?oid=903362 But She Was A Cheerleader], Chicago Reader, September 21, 2000
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year ! Title ! Role |
| 1971
|Sunny |
| 1971
|{{sortname|The|Love Machine|The Love Machine (film)}} |Darlene |
| 1972
|Trampa mortal | |
| 1972
|Rita |
| 1972
|Karen Walker |
| 1973
|Elaine |
| 1973
|Gabriella |
| 1974
|Jennifer |
| 1974
|Rose |
| 1974
|{{sortname|The|Single Girls}} |Allison |
| 1974
|Desiree Thibodeau |
| 1976
|{{sortname|The|Man Who Fell to Earth}} |Peters' Wife |
| 1976
|Judy |
| 1976
|{{sortname|The|Great Texas Dynamite Chase}} |Candy Morgan |
| 1977
|Betty Hammer |
| 1978
|Deneer |
| 1979
|Sammy |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Episode |
| 1971
|Maralyn |"The Professionals" |
| 1973
|Denise Frazer |"To Denise, with Love and Murder" |
| 1973
|{{sortname|The|Brady Bunch}} |Tami Cutler |"Adios, Johnny Bravo" |
| 1974
|{{sortname|The|F.B.I.|The F.B.I. (TV series)}} |Judith Grinnell |"Deadly Ambition" |
| 1974
|Leona Wilson / Susan Williams |"Bobby Loved Me", "Lady in Red" |
| 1974
|{{sortname|The|Manhunter}} |Peggy |"The Truck Murders" |
| 1975
|Ann |"Ransom" |
| 1975
|Jean Benedict |"School for Killers" |
| 1976
|{{sortname|The|Streets of San Francisco}} |Evie |"Underground" |
| 1978
|"Nightmare" |
| 1979
|Barbara Rice |"Bank Job" |
See also
{{Portal|Biography|Film|Television}}
Further reading
- Claudia Jennings –The Authorized Biography. Midnight Marquee Publishing, 2018, by Eric Jonathan Karell {{ISBN?}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{cite magazine|date=July 21, 2000|url=https://archive.org/details/Femme_Fatales_v09n02/page/n39|magazine=Femme Fetales|volume=9|number=2|page=39|first=Ari|last=Bass|title=Claudia Jennings Lost Highway}}
- {{IMDb name|0421128|Claudia Jennings}}
{{PMOYs}}
{{Playmates of 1969}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Claudia}}
Category:American film actresses
Category:Road incident deaths in California
Category:American television actresses
Category:Actresses from Evanston, Illinois
Category:Actresses from Milwaukee
Category:Evanston Township High School alumni
Category:1960s Playboy Playmates
Category:Playboy Playmates of the Year