Marilyn Cole

Last updated

Marilyn Cole
Playboy centerfold appearance
January 1972
Preceded by Karen Christy
Succeeded by P. J. Lansing
Playboy Playmate of the Year
1973
Preceded by Liv Lindeland
Succeeded by Cyndi Wood
Personal details
Born (1949-05-07) 7 May 1949 (age 74)
Gosport, Hampshire, England [1]
Height5 ft 8 in (173 cm) [1]

Marilyn Cole (born 7 May 1949) [1] was Playboy magazine's January 1972 Playmate of the Month. She was the magazine's first full-frontal nude centerfold. [2] [lower-alpha 1] She also became 1973's Playmate of the Year, becoming the only Briton to hold that title. Her original pictorial was photographed by Alexas Urba. [1]

Contents

Career

Cole worked at a Post Office punched card unit in Portsmouth Central Telephone Exchange, before working, for £12 weekly, at the Portsmouth Co-op Fuel Office, when she was interviewed to be a Playboy Bunny at the London Playboy Club. [4] She worked as a bunny from 1971 to 1974, and, within a few days of starting work there, was noticed by Victor Lownes and test-photographed for the magazine. [2] Marilyn also worked as a barmaid at the Auckland Arms Hotel in Southsea during the late 60s.

She appeared on the cover of the Roxy Music album Stranded, having been noticed by Bryan Ferry after winning Playmate of the Year. She had previously appeared on the covers of various Top of the Pops albums. [5]

Personal life

She was married to former Playboy executive Victor Lownes, [5] over 20 years her senior, until his death in 2017, and now works as a journalist. [2] Among the subjects she writes about is professional boxing, which she began covering in 2000. [6]

Her interests include the tango, which she studied under Paul Pellicoro, [7] and has partnered with actor Brian Cox. [8]

Filmography

Notes

  1. ↑ Since her pubic hair was partly covered by the shadow cast from the book in her hand, Bonnie Large, the Playmate of the Month for March 1973, is often regarded as the first Playmate of the Month to appear clearly full frontal nude. [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Playboy</i> American mens lifestyle and entertainment magazine

Playboy is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.

<i>Playboy</i> Playmate Female model featured in a centerfold of Playboy magazine

A Playmate is a female model featured in the centerfold/gatefold of Playboy magazine as Playmate of the Month (PMOTM). The PMOTM's pictorial includes nude photographs and a centerfold poster, along with a pictorial biography and the "Playmate Data Sheet", which lists her birthdate, measurements, turn-ons, and turn-offs. At the end of the year, one of the 12 Playmates of the Month is named Playmate of the Year (PMOTY). Every Playmate of the Month is awarded a prize of US$25,000 and each Playmate of the Year receives an additional prize of US$100,000 plus a car and other discretionary gifts. In addition, Anniversary Playmates are usually chosen to celebrate a milestone year of the magazine. The use of the word "Playmate" in a sexual sense did not originate with Playboy, and was seen at least as early as 1950 in Vue magazine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Playboy Bunny</span> Waitress at a Playboy Club

A Playboy Bunny is a waitress who works at a Playboy Club and selected through standardized training. Their costumes were made up of lingerie, inspired by the tuxedo-wearing Playboy rabbit mascot. This costume consisted of a strapless corset teddy, bunny ears, black sheer-to-waist pantyhose, a bow tie, a collar, cuffs and a fluffy cottontail. In more recent Playboy Clubs, such as Sin City that was re-opened in 2006, Playboy bunnies wore slightly altered costumes that were based on the original bunny suit.

Neva A. Gilbert was an American model. She was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for its July 1954 issue.

Victor Aubrey Lownes III was an executive for HMH Publishing Company Inc., later known as Playboy Enterprises, from 1955 through the early 1980s. Soon after he met Hugh Hefner in 1954, Hefner founded Playboy magazine, and Lownes eventually joined his publishing company, serving as vice president. Lownes was a close confidant of Hefner and gained a reputation for dating Playboy Playmates.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Playmate data" . Retrieved 8 November 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 Van Praagh, Anna, "Playboy bunnies 50 years on" Telegraph (23 May 2010)
  3. ↑ Playboy Playmate of the Month Archived 28 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Jenkins, David (15 May 2010). "50 years of the bunny girl:Hugh Hefner on a life with controversial pop icon". The Independent. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  5. 1 2 Barrell, Tony, "Cover Stories", Sunday Times (11 November 2007)
  6. ↑ Lownes, Marilyn Cole, "How I fell in love with the fight game", The Observer (30 November 2003)
  7. ↑ Scott, Janny, "Flirting with the tango", New York Times (11 June 1999)
  8. ↑ Grove, Valerie, "Brian Cox plays Humbert Humbert in Lolita", Sunday Times (29 August 2009)
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