The Curse of Playboy Centerfolds

For most glamour models an appearance on Playboy magazine's centrefold is the pinnacle of their career.

But the title of Playmate Of The Month seems to come with a terrible curse.

Anna Nicole Smith is one of 28 women who met an untimely death after stripping naked for the mag's centre pages.

Three Playmates have been murdered, four have died from overdoses, four were victims of car accidents, 12 died from illness including cancer, and one died in a plane crash.

Anna's own tragic end mirrored that of her blonde bombshell heroine Marilyn Monroe, who died at the age of 36 - like Anna, from an overdose. Here a list of the centerfolds, the curse was set upon.

Danielle Lloyd
It wasn't long ago at all that the 23-year-old glamour model had the world at her feet.

She was named Miss Great Britain 2006 but the problems started when she agreed to appear in last December's issue of Playboy. In the accompanying article she mentioned her relationship with footballer Teddy Sheringham, who had been one of the judges of the competition, leading the organisers to strip her of the title.

She then tried to make capital out of the story by appearing on Celebrity Big Brother, but the plan backfired spectacularly when she made a string of allegedly racist remarks to fellow contestant and final winner Shilpa Shetty.

The outbursts saw her lose a series of six-figure modeling contracts despite her repeated apologies.

Jayne Mansfield
Given that Mansfield was second only to Marilyn Monroe as America's favorite sex symbol in the 1950s, it was inevitable she'd be a Playboy centrefold.

The stunning blonde actress was a Playmate of the Month in 1955, just as she made the breakthrough from TV to Hollywood. However, her film career proved to be short-lived and was already in decline by the early 1960s.

She died in a car crash while being driven through the night between engagements in 1967.

The crash quickly became shrouded in urban myth.

Marilyn Monroe
MONROE was the first centrefold of Playboy, although Hugh Hefner bought nude pictures of the star taken when she was struggling for work rather than organise a new photoshoot with her.

But the issue flew off the shelves and Monroe admitted the photos were of her - much to the annoyance of her film studio bosses.

She was the only star capable of surviving such a scandal, but her private life would quickly become the stuff of legend, and she died of a sleeping pill overdose at home in 1962, aged only 36.

Dorothy Stratten
The tragic story of the young model has been the subject of two films thanks to its mixture of glamour, jealousy and violence.

The Canadian was still a teenager when she met promoter and future husband Paul Snider, who persuaded her to send photos to Playboy.

Stratten even forged her mother's signature on the release form for the photos and became a Playmate of the Month in 1979 and Playmate of the Year in 1980. She also made five films.

But after marrying Snider things quickly went wrong, thanks to his obsessive jealousy.

Everyone, including Hugh Hefner himself, told the young model to dump him.

By 1980 the couple had separated but on August 14 that year Snider murdered his wife and before turning the gun on himself.

Claudia Jennings

The model and actress was a Playmate of the Month in 1969 and Playmate of the Year in 1970, a title which many thought would catapult her to stardom.
Unfortunately, Claudia's acting career never moved beyond the B-movies she became associated with, and when she split from Monkees songwriter Bobby Hart, her life quickly began to unravel.

She began using drugs, and an attempt at winning back her fame in 1979 failed when television executives decided against hiring her as a replacement for Kate Jackson in the hit show Charlie's Angels.

Jennings died in a car crash later that year when she fell asleep at the wheel of her Beetle convertible.

Elisa Bridges
The model was Playmate of the Month as a 21-year-old in 1994, and went on to become a regular star in a number of Playboy publications over the next few years.

However, her very successful modelling career was brought to an abrupt end in 2002 when she was found dead while staying at the Los Angeles mansion of a friend of Hugh Hefner.

In its obituary, Playboy said that the 28-year-old model had died of natural causes.

But the coroner's report revealed that she had actually died of a cocktail of drink and drugs, including heroin.

Sharon Tate
The TV actress was becoming a Hollywood A-list star when Playboy declared 1967 "the year that Sharon Tate happens".

The photos which accompanied the Playboy article were taken by her future husband, film director Roman Polanski, and the couple fast became Hollywood's hottest properties. Not long after marrying Polanski, she became pregnant.

Then weeks before she was due to give birth, she was brutally murdered at her home along with four of her friends by members of Charles Manson's religious cult. The murderers and Manson himself were later brought to justice.

Kirsten Imrie
The stunning Page Three model became Scotland's first star of Playboy after shooting to fame in the late Eighties. The world was her oyster as she rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous. But as her glamorous friends became older and wiser and left behind the days of excess, Kirsten spiralled out of control.
Constant cocaine abuse at party after party left her not only addicted to the drug but deep in debt.
By 2000, she was sleeping rough on a park bench in London, living off discarded food and hand-outs.

LINNÉ AHLSTRAND
The blonde was Playmate Of The Month in July 1958 and managed a brief movie career. But she died, aged 30, from cancer in 1967.

JEAN CANNON
The 38DD model died from cancer at the end of 2005, aged 64. She was Playmate Of The Month in October 1961.

TONYA CREWS
Brought up on native American reservations, Tonya became a Playboy centrefold in March 1961. She died in a car crash five years later, aged 28

CONNIE KRESKI
The former nurse and Playmate Of The Year once dated actor James Caan. Blonde Connie died of lung cancer in 1995, aged 48.

CHERYL KUBERT
The Playmate Of The Month in February 1958 is believed to have committed suicide in 1989. But the cause of death was not confirmed.

JONI MATTIS
Playboy chief Hugh Hefner's former lover famously refused to disrobe during her Playboy photo session. She died from cancer aged 60 in 1999.

EVE MEYER
The former wife of movie director Russ Meyer was Playmate Of The Month in June 1955. She went on to produce one of his most famous films, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! She died in a plane crash, aged 48, when two planes collided on take-off in Tenerife in 1977

DONNA MICHELLE
The Playmate Of The Year in 1964 was 17 when she first appeared nude in the magazine. Donna went on to become an actress and died from a heart attack aged 58 in 2004.

MERLE PERTILE
The redhead was a Playboy centrefold in January 1962. She died aged 56 following heart surgery in 1997.

WILLY REY
The Dutch-born model died from an overdose of sleeping pills in 1973, aged 23. In the Playboy article in February 1971 she admitted to "feelings of insecurity about my future."

GLORIA ROOT
She was jailed for smuggling cannabis into Greece in 1970, a month after her Playboy centrefold. She died, aged 57, from cancer last year.

PAT SHEEHAN
The former actress and model dated a string of famous men, including Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Elvis Presley. Playboy's Miss October 1958 died a year ago from a heart attack, aged 74. She had also suffered from cancer.

GAIL STANTON
The daughter of a deacon at a Southern Baptist church was Playmate Of The Month in June 1978. Gail died aged 42 from a colon blockage in 1996.

STAR STOWE
After appearing as a Playboy centrefold in February 1977, things went horribly wrong for Star. She started taking drugs, became a prostitute and was found strangled in 1997, aged 40.

TERRE TUCKER
The slender brunette was Playmate Of The Month in November 1963. She died in 1990, aged 46, reportedly from cancer.

SUE WILLIAMS
The shortest ever Playmate at 4ft 11in committed suicide just four years after appearing in Playboy. The actress died in 1969, aged 23.

CAROL WILLIS
The part-Cherokee model died in a car crash in California in 1971, aged 20. She was July 1970's Playmate.

LAURA YOUNG
The brunette was October 1962's Playmate. She died from cancer in 1999, aged 61.

PAIGE YOUNG
Aged just 30, Paige died from an overdose of sleeping pills in 1974. The wannabe artist was Miss November 1968.