# Jean Bell > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Jean_Bell > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Jean_Bell.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Bell > Source revision: 1337954892 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) African-American model and actress Jean Bell Playboy centerfold appearance October 1969 Preceded by Shay Knuth Succeeded by Claudia Jennings Personal details Born Annie Lee Morgan (1944-11-23) November 23, 1944 (age 81) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. Height 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m) **Jean Bell** (born **Annie Lee Morgan** on November 23, 1944), also known as **Annie Judis**, is a former *[Playboy](/source/Playboy)* [Playmate of the Month](/source/Playboy_Playmate), and one of the first African American women to feature in this role. She later had a career as an actress in movies, most prominently in *[TNT Jackson](/source/TNT_Jackson)*, in which she played the title character, and supporting roles in *[Mean Streets](/source/Mean_Streets)* and *[The Klansman](/source/The_Klansman)*, as well as occasional TV appearances. She is now a fitness influencer, with over 100,000 followers on instagram. ## Biography Bell grew up in [Houston, Texas](/source/Houston%2C_Texas), along with three younger sisters and attended [Texas Southern University](/source/Texas_Southern_University), majoring in business administration. Jean was the first [African American](/source/African_American) woman to participate in the Miss Texas Pageant, which is part of the [Miss Universe](/source/Miss_Universe) competition. She aspired to professional bowling or acting.[1] When she appeared in the October 1969 issue of *Playboy*, Bell was only the second African-American woman to be the [centerfold](/source/Centerfold) (the first being [Jennifer Jackson](/source/Jennifer_Jackson_(model)), in March 1965). Her centerfold was photographed by Don Klumpp. A few months later, Bell became the first black person to grace the magazine cover. [Darine Stern](/source/Darine_Stern), who is often erroneously credited with this distinction, was actually the first black woman to appear alone on the cover of *Playboy*, in the October 1971 issue. Bell was featured with four other playmates on the January 1970 cover. After Bell's appearance in *Playboy*, she enjoyed a brief acting career, working on such films as *[Mean Streets](/source/Mean_Streets)* and *[The Klansman](/source/The_Klansman)* (for some roles she was credited as **Jeanne Bell**). Her most popular role was the title character in 1975's *[TNT Jackson](/source/TNT_Jackson)*. Bell dated [Richard Burton](/source/Richard_Burton) and helped him quit drinking, thus being credited with reuniting him afterwards with [Elizabeth Taylor](/source/Elizabeth_Taylor). An [Earl Wilson](/source/Earl_Wilson_(columnist)) column in September 1975 revealed Bell's three-month friendship with the actor. She visited Burton at his villa in [Céligny, Switzerland](/source/C%C3%A9ligny%2C_Switzerland), during her effort to help him "dry out". With his assistance Bell acquired a place of her own in [Geneva, Switzerland](/source/Geneva%2C_Switzerland). Around that time, Bell worked at Splendors Gentlemen's Club in Houston as "Bunny". [2] Bell posed nude again for *Playboy* in the December 1979 pictorial "Playmates Forever!", and subsequently disappeared from public life. In 1986 she married Gary Judis, then-Chairman of the Board of the California Independent Mortgage Brokers Association, after an eight-year courtship.[3] They were married for 44 years until he died in 2022.[4] Now known as Annie Judis, she still regularly works out at the gym and is a strong advocate for a healthy active life style at any age. On Feb. 23, 2019, she was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the World's Oldest Competitive Rope Skipper at the age of 75[5] and has since broken that record multiple times.[6][7] She also paints and has designed illustrations for children's books by Cal Wilson.[8] She is considered a fitness influencer, and has over 100,000 followers on instagram. She set another world record in November 2024 by holding a dead hang position for two minutes at age 81.[9] ## Film and television work ### Films - *[The Choirboys](/source/The_Choirboys_(film))* (1977) .... Fanny Forbes - *[Casanova & Co.](/source/Casanova_%26_Co.)* (1977) .... Fatme - *[The Muthers](/source/The_Muthers)* (1976) .... Kelly - *Disco 9000* (1976) (as Jeanie Bell) .... Karen - *[TNT Jackson](/source/TNT_Jackson)* (1975) .... Diana "TNT" Jackson - *[Policewomen](/source/Policewomen_(film))* (1974) .... Pam Harris - *[The Klansman](/source/The_Klansman)* (1974) .... Mary Anne - *Negro es un bello color* (1974) .... Joyce - *[Three the Hard Way](/source/Three_the_Hard_Way_(film))* (1974) .... Polly - *[Mean Streets](/source/Mean_Streets)* (1973) .... Diane - *[Black Gunn](/source/Black_Gunn)* (1972) .... Lisa - *[Trouble Man](/source/Trouble_Man_(1972_film))* (1972) .... Leona - *[Melinda](/source/Melinda_(film))* (1972) .... Jean ### Television - *[Starsky and Hutch](/source/Starsky_and_Hutch)* - "Starsky and Hutch Are Guilty" (1977) .... Kate - *[Baretta](/source/Baretta)* - "Carla" (1977) .... Midge - *[Kolchak: The Night Stalker](/source/Kolchak%3A_The_Night_Stalker)* - "Primal Scream" (1975) .... Rosetta Mason - *[That's My Mama](/source/That's_My_Mama)* - "Clifton's Big Move" (1974) .... Ginger - *[Police Woman](/source/Police_Woman_(TV_series))* - "Seven-Eleven" (1974) .... Marie - *[Sanford and Son](/source/Sanford_and_Son)* - "Lamont, Is That You?" (1973) .... Judy Ann - *[The Beverly Hillbillies](/source/The_Beverly_Hillbillies)* - "Hotel for Women" (1970) .... Sugar Jean Bell - "Three-Day Reprieve" (1970) .... Sugar Jean Bell - "Shorty Spits the Hook" (1970) .... Sugar Jean Bell - "Marry Me, Shorty" (1970) .... Sugar Jean Bell ## Trivia In [Quentin Tarantino](/source/Quentin_Tarantino)'s *[Kill Bill](/source/Kill_Bill)* movies, [Vivica A. Fox](/source/Vivica_A._Fox)'s character uses the [alias](/source/Pseudonym) "Jeannie Bell", a reference to Jean Bell. ## See also - [List of people in Playboy 1960–1969](/source/List_of_people_in_Playboy_1960%E2%80%931969) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-PlayBoyOnline_1-0)** ["MISS OCTOBER 1969:JEAN BELL"](https://web.archive.org/web/20180323060342/http://www.playboy.com/jean-bell). *www.playboy.com*. Playboy. Archived from [the original](http://www.playboy.com/jean-bell) on 2018-03-23. Retrieved 2015-11-01. I would love to bowl in a professional tournament or pursue a career in acting. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Earl Wilson (1975-09-01). "Earl Wilson Says". Syracuse Herald-Journal. p. 18. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [Actress Jeannie Bell, Multi-Millionaire Wed](https://books.google.com/books?id=3rADAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22gary+judis%22&pg=PA54), [Jet](/source/Jet_(magazine)), November 24, 1986, p. 54 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** [Blaxploitation Legend Wins Another Guinness World Record at 79](https://lasentinel.net/blaxploitation-legend-wins-another-guinness-world-record-at-79.html), [LA Sentinel](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=LA_Sentinel_(newspaper)&action=edit&redlink=1), November 24, 2022 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [Multi-talented Jean Bell Judis Still Blazing Trails at 76](https://lasentinel.net/multi-talented-jean-bell-judis-still-blazing-trails-at-76.html), [LA Sentinel](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=LA_Sentinel_(newspaper)&action=edit&redlink=1), January 23, 2020 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** [JEAN BELL SPEAKS!](https://thenewbev.com/blog/2022/02/jean-bell-speaks/), [New Beverly Cinema](/source/New_Beverly_Cinema) blog, February 4, 2022 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** [Blaxploitation Legend Wins Another Guinness World Record at 79](https://lasentinel.net/blaxploitation-legend-wins-another-guinness-world-record-at-79.html), [LA Sentinel](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=LA_Sentinel_(newspaper)&action=edit&redlink=1), November 24, 2022 1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** [Multi-talented Jean Bell Judis Still Blazing Trails at 76](https://lasentinel.net/multi-talented-jean-bell-judis-still-blazing-trails-at-76.html), [LA Sentinel](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=LA_Sentinel_(newspaper)&action=edit&redlink=1), January 23, 2020 1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** [81-year-old fitness influencer back in records book for oldest to hold dead hang position](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2025/1/81-year-old-fitness-influencer-back-in-records-book-for-oldest-to-hold-dead-hang-position), Guinness World Records, 30 January 2025 ## External links - [Jean Bell](https://www.playboyplus.com/profile/jean-bell) at [Playboy Plus](/source/PLBY_Group) - [Jean Bell](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0068270/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) v t e Playboy Playmates of 1969 Leslie Bianchini Lorrie Menconi Kathy MacDonald Lorna Hopper Sally Sheffield Helena Antonaccio Nancy McNeil Debbie Hooper Shay Knuth Jean Bell Claudia Jennings Gloria Root Playmates of 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND WorldCat National United States Spain Israel Other IdRef Yale LUX --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Jean Bell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Bell) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Bell?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.