Barbi Benton (born 28 January1950) is an American model, actress and singer. She became famous for being the girlfriend of Playboy founder and publisher Hugh Hefner. She is often misperceived as having been a PlayboyPlaymate since she was featured on the Playboy cover several times.
By the time she met Hugh Hefner in 1968, she was getting regular work on television shows including Playboy After Dark which filmed A-list entertainers performing in Hugh Hefner's mansion surrounded by Playboy Playmates. Benton said she pretended to be Hefner's girlfriend for a couple of episodes and soon found herself living the role full time. She was on her way to becoming a multifaceted icon of 1970s glamor.
Shortly after meeting Hefner, at his suggestion, she changed her name to the more showbiz-friendly Barbi Benton. "When he asked me out," Barbi recalls, "I was 18 and he was 42. I said I'd never gone out with anyone older than 24, and he said, 'That's all right. Neither have I.' We hit it off right away, and it lasted for eight years!"
Benton was Hugh Hefner's girlfriend throughout the 1970s. She also became a recording star, a Las Vegas headliner and a movie actress, with credits including Deathstalker, The Naughty Cheerleader and Hospital Massacre. Although none of the films were particular box office successes, they enjoy a cult status among fans of B-movies.
Besides the Hefner connection, Benton is best known for her years as a regular on the country music series Hee Haw as a scantily clad country cutie trading gags and appearing in comic skits with other regulars. She left the program after four seasons to concentrate on a more Hollywood-oriented career. She also starred in the short-lived ABC-TV comedy series Sugar Time! about an aspiring female rock group in 1977. That show's greatest claim to fame may have been its inspiring one television critic to call it "jiggle tv", a term that was then frequently used to describe the many television series of the era starring attractive, sexy young women.
Barbi Benton was also a recording artist with some success. Her 1975 record, "Brass Buckles", 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", which was also a major hit for Lutricia McNeal in the 1990s.
She left Hefner when she eventually realized that he was not interested in starting a new family. Benton married George Gradow, a successful real estate developer on October 14, 1979. The couple now has two children, 16 and 18 years old. Benton mostly concentrates on building and designing homes now. They split their time between their homes in Aspen, Colorado and Oahu.
Trivia
While being perhaps the best known woman whose fame derives from appearing in Playboy magazine, contrary to popular belief, Barbi Benton has never been featured as a Playmate of the Month centerfold in the magazine. She also never worked as a Playboy Bunny.
Relevant quality search results and fast easy navigation throughout the
different sections of the site, make Americola.com
a great entertainment
search engine offering
celebrity biographies, high resolution
celebrity photos, videos and more.
