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| Barbi Benton (born 28 January 1950) is an American model and actress. Benton was born Barbara Klein to a Jewish American family in New York City, New York. In 1952, her family moved to Sacramento, California when her father, a military doctor, was assigned new duties there. Benton attended Rio Americano High School in Sacramento before heading for Los Angeles at age 16, where she began modeling to supplement her allowance. 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 about an aspiring female rock group, Sugar (series) 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 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. |
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