Top 7 Most Famous Playboy Playmates

Marilyn Monroe (Playmate of the Month – December 1953)

This blonde bombshell is the woman that most models strive to emulate and has been used as a proverbial yardstick to which all others are compared. With marriages to the likes of Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller and relationships with John F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe was the archetypal sex symbol throughout her professional career despite her lackluster success at relationships. Her pictures in Playboy were actually taken long before the debut of the magazine in which she premiered not as the first Playmate, but as the Sweetheart of the Month in December 1953.

And that centerfold not only helped launch “Playboy” but helped further her career as she gained A-List status as an actress in movies like “Some Like It Hot” and “How to Marry a Millionaire.” However, her career and life were ended abruptly at the age of 36 when she was found dead in her home. To this day, the cause of her death is a topic of contention – was it a suicide or was it murder? Either way, the first Playmate has had a lasting impression on “Playboy,” movies and popular media in the half century after her death.

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