Claudia Jennings (born Mary Eileen Chesterton, December 20, 1949, Saint Paul, Minnesota — died October 3, 1979, Malibu, California) was an American model and actress. Claudia Jennings was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month in November 1969 and later Playmate of the Year 1970. Her original pictorial was photographed by Pompeo Posar.
Claudia Jennings on the cover of Playboy.
Her father was a sales manager and her mother was a college professor. She was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and later moved to Evanston, Illinois, where she graduated from high school in 1968. Later that year, she joined the Hull House theater company in Chicago and got a job as a receptionist at the offices of Playboy magazine.
After her appearances in Playboy, Claudia became a popular actress in 1970s "drive-in" movies (for which many dubbed her the "Queen of the B's") and in television. In 1973, she had a guest appearance on The Brady Bunch. From 1970 to 1975, she lived with singer/songwriter Bobby Hart. After their breakup, Claudia's life began to unravel, and she began using hard drugs.
In 1979, Claudia tried out for the role of Kate Jackson's replacement on Charlie's Angels. Executives at the television network were put off by Claudia's Playboy work, and Shelley Hack was chosen for the role. That same year, she also entered into a stormy relationship with Stan Herman, a Beverly Hills realtor.
Early in the morning of October 3, 1979, Claudia Jennings died in a car accident while driving her Volkswagen Beetle convertible. She was on her way to Herman's house in Malibu to collect her things. Although she had a history of drug use, she was clean and sober at the time of her death. She was 29 years old.
