Posted on 02/18/2007 7:59:57 PM PST by freedomdefender
The selection of Anna Nicole Smith as a Playboy Playmate in 1992 made her a member of an exclusive sorority. Her death at 39 put her in a more grisly club - Playmates who haven't reached their 50th birthday.
Automobile accidents, drug overdoses, homicides, a plane crash - all have claimed the lives of Playmates. The cause of Smith's death is still unclear.
"It's sad how many girls we've lost," said Peter Gowland, who photographed a number of centrefolds for Playboy in the 1950s and 60s with the help of his wife.
In 1968, Gowland photographed Paige Young. In 1974, she was dead of a drug overdose. Jayne Mansfield, another Playmate he photographed, died in a car crash in 1967 at 34.
"It's a curse to be beautiful," Gowland said.
More than 600 women have graced Playboy's centrefold since the magazine began publishing in the 1950s.
Their lives after the magazine have been both in and out of the spotlight, but their limited number and Playboy's wide circulation has meant that the death of one can become bombshell news.
Perhaps before Smith, the most headline-grabbing death of a Playmate was that of 20-year-old Dorothy Stratten. Just months after she became the magazine's Playmate of the Year in 1980, she was murdered by her jealous estranged husband.
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner has said he and others never really got over Stratten's death. The magazine ran a tribute to her and movies were made about her life.
Eve Meyer, a 1955 Playmate, was one of more than 550 people killed when two airliners collided on takeoff at Tenerife in the Canary Islands in 1977. She was 46. More recently, Ellen Louise Maligo, known in Playboy as "Star Stowe," was found murdered at 40 in Coral Springs in 1997.
Marilyn Monroe, the cover girl for the magazine's inaugural issue, famously died at 36 from a 1962 overdose of sleeping pills.
Tonya Crews, Carol Willis and 1970 Playmate of the Year Claudia Jennings all died in car accidents in the 1960s and 70s while still in their 20s. Playmate Willy Rey, pictured on Playboy's first stock certificates, was 23 when she died of a drug overdose in 1973.
Twenty-eight-year-old Playmate Elisa Bridges died in 2002 after being found unresponsive in bed. Playboy said she died of natural causes, but a coroner's report said Bridges died of an accidental drug overdose.
"There've been some that do too much booze and too much drugs, just as in the general population," said former Playboy editor Gretchen Edgren, author of "The Playmate Book: Six Decades of Centerfolds."
A page on Playboy's website is dedicated to remembering Smith.
"Perhaps Billy Joel should write a sequel to his song 'Only the Good Die Young' simply changing the last word to 'Beautiful.' We'll miss you Vicki," photo editor Gary Cole wrote on the site's blog, using Smith's real first name.
So I guess you are not in the running to be Smith's kid's father?
It's a curse to be a drug addled female with a 'career' of chasing men, money and fame. What do they expect to happen to them? When you give away the milk who wants to buy the cow?
We are probably both the better off for it though.
Come on. That is just what I say when I look in the mirror in the morning.
Has Stern been investigated to the nth degree? He had motive and opportunity. People are dropping like flies around the guy. Hmmm... the kid, who is the primary beneficiary dies rather mysteriously, and then the mother next, what, weeks later? And look who's the beneficiary now? Too much of a coincidence.
Where's Mark Furnam when you need him? Or Angela Landsbury? Matlock? Columbo? IS ANYBODY LISTENING???
Plus, the guy's a LAWYER for crying out loud!!!
> Stern <
> did <
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I think he's going to form a group with O. J., the Ramseys and Gary Condit to look for "some Puerto Rican guy" that knocked off people close to them.
For every wild girl, there are several who desperately wish to be wild - but can't.
Many good girls end up worse than the bad ones, as a result of trying too hard to be bad.
Watch your back! I think you're on to something.
I never believed you murdered your wife. How's that whole thing going anyway?
;0)
A group of nightmare mentally-disturbed sluts who engage in every high risk behavior known to man.
Who would ever imagine that this group of psychopathic losers would die off at a higher rate than normal humans?
Well maybe .... it could have helped in my school finances .... I understand they pay $10,000 for a session ....but .....
Paige Young was my favorite Playmate. Had a painting done of her centerfold when I was overseas.Didn't know she'd died. A real shame.
Just keep dancing on those clouds and you'll be OK. There came a time in many of those women's lives when they had to explain that picture to a loved one or their child. That can't be fun.
Twenty-eight-year-old Playmate Elisa Bridges died in 2002 after being found unresponsive in bed. Playboy said she died of natural causes, but a coroner's report said Bridges died of an accidental drug overdose.
not with all the drugs in her system..thats a helluva accident
You have Rebekka Armstrong who is HIV positive.
I'm very strongly inclined to agree...but proving it,if he *is* guilty,will be difficult.I've heard it said that the two best places to learn how to be a criminal are prison and law school.
But now,I recognize Heffner for what he is...a filthy,worthless pervert who's gonna have trouble explaining himself to his Creator,and the women are,well...deeply troubled and/or slimey.
#15 ... yes God puts them out of their misery.
He's a filthy pimp.
I'd hate to be him when his number is up ... .
Too true ... several friends of mine had 'questionable' pictures of them posted on the internet .....
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