# Merle Pertile

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{{Short description|American model and actress (1941–1997)}}
{{Infobox Playboy Playmate
| name        = Merle Pertile
| image       = Merle pertile.jpg
| caption     = 
| issue       = January 1962
| birth_name  = 
| birth_place = [Whittier, California](/source/Whittier%2C_California), U.S.
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1941|11|23}}
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1997|11|28|1941|11|23}}<ref name=TPB/>
| death_place = [Lake Arrowhead, California](/source/Lake_Arrowhead%2C_California), U.S.
| height      = 5 ft 5 in
| preceded    = [Lynn Karrol](/source/Lynn_Karrol)
| succeeded   = [Kari Knudsen](/source/Kari_Knudsen)
}}

'''Merle Pertile''' (November 23, 1941 – November 28, 1997)<ref name=TPB/> was an American model and actress.  She was ''Playboy'' magazine's Playmate of the Month for its January 1962 issue.<ref name=jankingly>{{cite web|url=http://wekinglypigs.com/cgi-bin/nand/search/pmstat?browse=%3A%3ACONFIG%3A%3Amodelbrowse&key=pertile%2C+merle&limit=0|title=January 1962 Playmate Data|access-date=March 11, 2018}}</ref>

==Biography==
Pertile was born on November 23, 1941, in Whittier, California, and grew up in [Indiana](/source/Indiana) and [Illinois](/source/Illinois). She attended and graduated from Hammond High School, [Hammond, Indiana](/source/Hammond%2C_Indiana) in 1959.<ref name=HHS>{{cite web |url=http://hhs59.com/merle_pertile.htm |title=Merle Pertile Profile |website=[Hammond High School](/source/Hammond_High_School_(Indiana)) |access-date=March 11, 2018}}</ref> Following graduation, she moved to Los Angeles, where she became a contract player with [Universal Pictures](/source/Universal_Pictures) and had guest spots on several TV shows. During the second season of the ''[Playboy's Penthouse](/source/Playboy's_Penthouse)'' TV series (1960–61), Pertile became a regular cast member. It was there that she first met [Hugh Hefner](/source/Hugh_Hefner).{{cn|date=June 2023}}

She was married to Jed S. Levitt, with whom she had a son, Krishna Joseph Levitt,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0506227/bio|title=Krishna Levitt|website=[IMDb](/source/IMDb)}}</ref>{{Better source|reason=IMDb is not sufficient source as freely edited by users w/o refs, see [WP:RSP](/source/WP%3ARSP) and [WP:Citing IMDb](/source/WP%3ACiting_IMDb)|date=June 2023}} and a daughter, Kenya Johanna Levitt.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1306162/bio|title=Kenya Pertile-Levitt|website=[IMDb](/source/IMDb) }}</ref>{{Better source|reason=IMDb is not sufficient source as freely edited by users w/o refs, see [WP:RSP](/source/WP%3ARSP) & [WP:Citing IMDb](/source/WP%3ACiting_IMDb)|date=June 2023}} She also had a daughter, Christi, by actor [Peter Brown](/source/Peter_Brown_(actor)).<ref>{{cite book |last=Aaker |first=Everett |title=Television Western Players, 1960-1975: A Biographical Dictionary |url={{Google books|yXAkDwAAQBAJ|page=1844|plainurl=yes}} |year=2017 |publisher=[McFarland & Company](/source/McFarland_%26_Company) |isbn=978-1476662503 |page=70}}</ref> According to ''The Playmate Book'', Pertile died on November 28, 1997, aged 56,<ref name=TPB>{{cite book |first=Gretchen |last=Edgren |title=The Playmate Book: Six Decades of Centerfolds |publisher=[Taschen](/source/Taschen) |year=2005 |isbn=978-3822848241}}</ref> in Lake Arrowhead, California, from complications following heart surgery.<ref name=HHS/>

==See also==
* [List of people in Playboy 1960–1969](/source/List_of_people_in_Playboy_1960%E2%80%931969)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{playmate|merle-pertile}}
* {{IMDb name|id=1150455}}

{{playmates of 1962}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pertile, Merle}}
Category:1941 births
Category:1997 deaths
Category:1960s Playboy Playmates
Category:Actresses from Whittier, California
Category:20th-century American people

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Merle Pertile](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merle_Pertile) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merle_Pertile?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.