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 ,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 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, 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.