http://aawomeninbe.blogspot.ca/2011/04/jeanne-bell-1943-present.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Bell
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0068270/
Jean Bell (born
Annie Lee Morgan on November 23, 1944 in
St. Louis, Missouri) was one of the first of
Playboy magazine's African-American
Playmates of the Month.
Bell grew up in
Houston, Texas, along with three younger sisters and attended
Texas Southern University, majoring in business administration. Jean was the first
African American woman to participate in the Miss Texas Pageant, which is part of the
Miss Universe competition. She aspired to professional bowling or acting.
[1]
When she appeared in the October 1969 issue of
Playboy, Bell was only the second African-American woman to grace the
centerfold (the first was
Jennifer Jackson, in March 1965). Her centerfold was photographed by
Don Klumpp. A few months later, Bell became the first black person to appear on the magazine's cover.
Darine Stern, who is often erroneously credited with this distinction, was actually the first black woman to appear on the cover of
Playboy on her own, in the October 1971 issue. Bell was featured with four other playmates in the January 1970 cover of the magazine.
After Bell's appearance in
Playboy, she enjoyed a brief acting career, working on such films as
Mean Streets and
The Klansman (for some roles she was credited as
Jeanne Bell). Her most notable role was the title character in 1975's
T.N.T. Jackson.
Bell dated
Richard Burton and helped him quit drinking and as a result was credited with getting him back together with
Elizabeth Taylor afterwards. An
Earl Wilson column in September 1975 revealed Bell's three-month friendship with the actor. She visited Burton at his villa in
Céligny, Switzerland, during her effort to help him "dry out". With his assistance Bell acquired a place of her own in
Geneva, Switzerland. Around that time, Bell worked at Splendors Gentlemens club in Houston and went by "Bunny".
[2]
Bell posed nude again for
Playboy in the December 1979 pictorial "Playmates Forever!"