Barbi Benton

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Barbi Benton
Barbi Benton 1977.JPG
Benton in 1977
Born
Barbara Lynn Klein

(1950-01-28) January 28, 1950 (age 74)
New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s) Playboy model, singer, actress
Years active1968–1986
Spouse
George Gradow
(m. 1979)
Partner Hugh Hefner (1969–1976)
Children2

Barbi Benton (born Barbara Lynn Klein; January 28, 1950) [1] [2] is an American retired model, actress, television personality, and singer. She appeared in Playboy magazine, as a regular on the comedy series Hee Haw , and recorded several moderately successful albums in the 1970s. After the birth of her first child in 1986, Benton retired from show business.

Contents

Early life

Benton was born Barbara Lynn Klein in New York City to a Jewish family. [3] [4] Her father was a gynecologist and her mother worked as an investment counselor. [1]

She grew up in Sacramento and attended Rio Americano High School. She pursued many interests, including scuba diving and playing piano. She also did tearoom modeling of department store clothes while in school. Benton enrolled in veterinary school at UCLA, but decided against that career option after realizing she had an aversion to the sight of blood. [1]

Career

Bill Dana (dark jacket), Don Adams (center), Benton, and Hugh Hefner from the TV program Playboy After Dark Hugh Hefner Don Adams Playboy After Dark 1970.JPG
Bill Dana (dark jacket), Don Adams (center), Benton, and Hugh Hefner from the TV program Playboy After Dark

At the age of 16, she began to model. Following high school, while attending UCLA, Benton took a job with Playboy to appear on their entertainment show Playboy After Dark at age 18. She began as an extra on the show, but after host Hugh Hefner fell in love with Benton, her role was quickly elevated to co-host. After recording two episodes, Hefner asked the young co-ed for a date. Upon being asked, she reportedly demurred to the then-42-year-old Hefner: "I don't know, I've never dated anyone over 24 before." To which Hefner replied, "That's all right, neither have I." The two began a relationship that lasted several years, and placed Benton in the center of the Playboy enterprise. Hefner persuaded her to change her name from Barbara Klein to the more "marketable" Barbi Benton. She is credited with persuading Hefner to buy the Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills in 1974.

Benton (initially credited as Barbi Klein) appeared on the cover of Playboy four times: July 1969, March 1970, May 1972, and December 1985 and in additional nude photo layouts in the December 1973 and January 1975 issues. Though she was featured in a number of photo-essays, she was never a Playmate of the Month. She landed a spot on television's Hee Haw doing short comedy sketches, and often appeared as a dancer on some of the last series of the Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In shows, and subsequently enjoyed a career as a country singer. She also began acting, and appeared in the West German comedy film The Naughty Cheerleader (1970), before appearing as a featured repeat performer on a number of popular television series, including The Bobby Vinton Show in 1976, The Love Boat and Fantasy Island . Benton lived with Hefner from 1969 until 1976 and is known for discovering the Playboy Mansion West, where Hefner resided until his death in 2017. [5] Years later, when the television series The Girls Next Door visited her in Aspen, Colorado, she expressed gratitude that the two had remained friends.

Benton left Hee Haw after four seasons to concentrate on a more Hollywood-oriented career. She also starred in the short-lived 1977 ABC-TV comedy series Sugar Time! about an aspiring female rock group and in films including the slasher Hospital Massacre (1982).

Benton achieved some success as a recording artist. Her record "Brass Buckles" (1975) was a top-five hit on Billboard's country singles chart. Benton has recorded eight albums, the last of which she personally produced in 1979. She also composed the songs, sang them, and played piano. One of her better-known songs was "Ain't That Just the Way" (1976). It was a number one hit in Sweden for five weeks, was also a major hit for Lutricia McNeal in 1996, and was recorded by the Dutch singer Patricia Paay under the title Poor Jeremy in 1977.

Personal life

Benton married real estate developer George Gradow on October 14, 1979. [1] They have two children, Alexander and Ariana. They divide their time between homes in Aspen and Los Angeles. Their Aspen home, known as ”The Copper Palace” was designed by architect Bart Prince [6] and featured on MTV's ’’Extreme Cribs’’. [7]

Discography

Albums

YearAlbumChart PositionsLabel
US Country US
1975Barbi Doll17 Playboy
Barbi Benton18
1976Something New39208
1978Ain't That Just the Way (No U.S. Release)
1988Kinetic VoyageTakoma

Singles

YearTitlePeak positionsAlbum
US Country US
[8]
CAN Country
1975"Brass Buckles"56Barbi Benton
"Movie Magazine, Stars in Her Eyes"61
"Roll You Like a Wheel" (with Mickey Gilley)3219non-album
"Ain't That Just The Way (That Life Goes Down)"74Barbi Benton
1976"Staying Power"108Something New
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Filmography

Television appearances

Theater appearances

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Buchalter, Gail (April 7, 1980). "Former Playmate Barbi Benton Is Heels Over Head in Love with Tycoon George Gradow". People . Archived from the original on June 23, 2013. Retrieved July 20, 2013. She grew up in Sacramento, where her father was a gynecologist and her mother worked as an investment counselor.
  2. "Today's Birthdays". The Wisconsin State Journal . The Associated Press. January 28, 2020. p. B4. Actress Barbi Benton is 70.
  3. Eastman, Janet (June 1980). "Barbi: Discussing the Growing Pains of Life After Hef". Orange Coast . 6 (6): 12. ISSN   0279-0483.
  4. Lambert, Josh (February 24, 2010). "My Son, The Pornographer". Tablet . Retrieved October 20, 2012.
  5. Hinant, Cindy (Winter 2012). "Grids Next Door". Gnome. 1 (1): 48–53. The California Mansion, or Playboy Mansion West, is a Tudor Gothic mansion in Los Angeles found by then girlfriend, Barbi Benton.
  6. "Barbi Benton's Dream House".
  7. "Barbi's dream house gets star treatment". August 5, 2011.
  8. Whitburn, Joel (2011). Top Pop Singles 1955–2010. Record Research, Inc. p. 70. ISBN   978-0-89820-188-8.
  9. "A tribute to Barbi Benton". Barbibenton.nu. Retrieved September 15, 2023.