{{Use American English|date=July 2020}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}} {{short description|American actress and model (1949–1979)}} {{Infobox Playboy Playmate <!-- for more information see :Template:Infobox Playboy Playmate/doc --> | name = Claudia Jennings | image = Claudia Jennings.jpeg | issue = November 1969 | birth_name = Mary Eileen Chesterton | birth_place = Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.<ref name=wekinglypigs /> | birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1949|12|20}} | death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1979|10|03|1949|12|20}}<ref name=wekinglypigs /><ref name=HickFlicks/> | death_place = Malibu, California, U.S. | height = {{height|ft=5|in=6}}<ref name=wekinglypigs /> | 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),<ref name=wekinglypigs>{{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}}</ref> 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".<ref name=ChicagoTribune>[https://archive.org/details/per_chicago-daily-tribune_1979-10-04_277/page/n44/mode/1up 'B' movie queen dies in crash], Chicago Tribune, October 4, 1979</ref> 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 did not want to embarrass her family and that she thought "Mimi" sounded too girlish.<ref>[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</ref>{{cn|date=January 2020}} Her original pictorial was photographed by Pompeo Posar.<ref name=wekinglypigs /> She was Playmate of the Year in 1970, and was awarded a pink Mercury Capri.<ref>[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</ref>
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 was widely rumored to be in line for the role as Kate Jackson's replacement on the hit television show ''Charlie's Angels'', but the role was awarded to Shelley Hack.<ref name=BoysAndToys>{{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 }}</ref>
==Death== On October 3, 1979, Jennings died in an automobile collision on the Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu, California. She was 29.<ref name=HickFlicks>{{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 }}</ref><ref name=ChicagoTribune />
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.<ref>Albert Williams, [https://chicagoreader.com/news/but-she-was-a-cheerleader/ But She Was A Cheerleader], Chicago Reader, September 21, 2000</ref>
==Filmography==
===Film=== {| class="wikitable sortable" ! Year ! Title ! Role |- | rowspan="2" |1971 |''Jud'' |Sunny |- |''{{sortname|The|Love Machine|The Love Machine (film)}}'' |Darlene |- | rowspan="3" |1972 |''Trampa mortal'' | |- |''The Stepmother'' |Rita |- |''Unholy Rollers'' |Karen Walker |- | rowspan="2" |1973 |''Group Marriage'' |Elaine |- |''40 Carats'' |Gabriella |- | rowspan="4" |1974 |''Willy & Scratch'' |Jennifer |- |''Truck Stop Women'' |Rose |- |''{{sortname|The|Single Girls}}'' |Allison |- |'''Gator Bait'' |Desiree Thibodeau |- | rowspan="3" |1976 |''{{sortname|The|Man Who Fell to Earth}}'' |Mrs. Peters |- |''Sisters of Death'' |Judy |- |''{{sortname|The|Great Texas Dynamite Chase}}'' |Candy Morgan |- |1977 |''Moonshine County Express'' |Betty Hammer |- |1978 |''Deathsport'' |Deneer |- |1979 |''Fast Company'' |Sammy |}
===Television=== {| class="wikitable sortable" ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Episode |- |1971 |''Ironside'' |Maralyn |"The Professionals" |- | rowspan="2" |1973 |''Barnaby Jones'' |Denise Frazer |"To Denise, with Love and Murder" |- |''{{sortname|The|Brady Bunch}}'' |Tami Cutler |"Adios, Johnny Bravo" |- | rowspan="3" |1974 |''{{sortname|The|F.B.I.|The F.B.I. (TV series)}}'' |Judith Grinnell |"Deadly Ambition" |- |''Cannon'' |Leona Wilson / Susan Williams |"Bobby Loved Me", "Lady in Red" |- |''{{sortname|The|Manhunter}}'' |Peggy |"The Truck Murders" |- | rowspan="2" |1975 |''Movin' On'' |Ann |"Ransom" |- |''Caribe'' |Jean Benedict |"School for Killers" |- |1976 |''{{sortname|The|Streets of San Francisco}}'' |Evie |"Underground" |- |1978 |''Lucan'' |Debbie Kern<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0421128/|title=Claudia Jennings| website=IMDb|accessdate=25 June 2020}}</ref> |"Nightmare" |- |1979 |''240-Robert'' |Barbara Rice |"Bank Job" |}
==See also== {{Portal|Biography|Film|Television}} * List of people in Playboy 1960–1969 * List of people in Playboy 1970–1979
==Further reading== * ''Claudia Jennings –The Authorized Biography''. Midnight Marquee Publishing, 2018, by Eric Jonathan Karell {{ISBN?}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0421128|Claudia Jennings}} * [https://archive.org/details/Femme_Fatales_v09n02/page/n39/mode/2up Claudia Jennings Lost Highway] at ''Femme Fetales''
{{PMOYs}} {{Playmates of 1969}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Claudia}} Category:1949 births Category:1979 deaths 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 Category:Actresses from Saint Paul, Minnesota Category:20th-century American actresses