Claudia Jennings

Career Mary Eileen Chesterton (known as "Mimi" to friends and family) was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1949, later moving to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and then Richmond, Indiana. When her family moved from Richmond to Evanston, Illinois, as a result of her father becoming the advertising director with Skilsaw, she transferred at the start of her sophomore year to Evanston Township High School (ETHS) where she graduated in 1968. She was featured in a silent, plotless movie titled after her nickname which was shot on Super 8 film by fellow ETHS classmate Todd McCarthy. She worked as a receptionist at Playboy and then posed for the magazine in 1969. She adopted the name Claudia Jennings because she did not want to embarrass her family and that she thought "Mimi" sounded too girlish. Her original pictorial was photographed by Pompeo Posar.

After her appearances in Playboy, Jennings became an actress in exploitation movies and in television. In 1973, she had a guest appearance on The Brady Bunch episode titled "Adios, Johnny Bravo". Jennings was widely rumored to be in line for the role as Kate Jackson's replacement on the hit television show Charlie's Angels, but the role was awarded to Shelley Hack.

Death On October 3, 1979, Jennings died in an automobile collision on the Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu, California. She was 29.

Filmography

Film

Television