The curse of the Playmate

THE selection of Anna Nicole Smith as a Playboy Playmate in 1992 made her a member of an exclusive club.

Her death at 39 put her in a more grisly club – Playmates who haven't reached a 50th birthday.

Automobile accidents, drug overdoses, homicides, a plane crash – all have claimed the lives of Playmates, while the cause of Smith's death is still unclear.

"It's sad how many girls we've lost," says Peter Gowland, who photographed a number of centrefolds for Playboy in the 1950s and '60s with the help of his wife.

In 1968, he photographed Paige Young. In 1974 she was found dead of a drug overdose.

Jayne Mansfield, another Playmate he photographed, died in a crash in 1967 at 34.

"It's a curse to be beautiful," Gowland says.

More than 600 women have been Playboy's centrefold since the magazine began publishing in the 1950s.

Their limited number, and Playboy's wide circulation, means the death of one can be a bombshell.

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.

Eve Meyer, a 1955 Playmate, was killed when two airliners collided in 1977. She was 46.

In 1997 Ellen Louise Maligo was found murdered in Coral Springs, at the age of 40.

Marilyn Monroe, the cover girl for the magazine's inaugural issue, famously died at 36.

Tonya Crews, Carol Willis and 1970 Playmate of the Year Claudia Jennings all died in their 20s.


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