Barbi Benton
I was studying pre-med at UCLA when I decided show business was for me, and the best way to make it was in music. I had just one problem. I was tone deaf.Collection: Music
'Playboy Magazine' has been a devil's advocate for me. Because of the image and type-casting, it's harder to convince people that I can sing. Yet, I probably wouldn't have had the chance, had it not been for Playboy.Collection: Chance
I was also dating someone from UCLA and also I had another suitor, Jimmy Caan. So it was between my college boyfriend, Jimmy Caan and Hef. And Hef won. Within a few months, we were exclusive.Collection: Dating
When I was growing up, we were in a high income bracket, one of the highest. I was one of the first in high school to get a car. And I didn't have to wait for it to be a graduation present, either. We've probably got one of the nicest houses in Sacramento.Collection: Car
There came a time when I had to decide between show business and devoting my full time to medical training. I chose show business.Collection: Medical
You can't let fashion tell you what to do. If it doesn't look good on you you're better off without it.
I'm not really the star of 'Sugar.' I'm co-starring with two other girls, Marianne Black and Didi Carr. We play roommates in the series and we sing together professionally.
Joining 'Hee Haw' was one of of the best moves I ever made. Until then I had no television exposure except the talk shows.
I want to keep my roots in Hollywood.
In 'Sugar' I'll be singing in every episode and I'll be acting and doing comedy. It's ideal for me if it works.
The 'Playboy' affiliation will probably stick for the rest of my life to some extent.
I'm looking for personal credibility as an entertainer.
When I first started to sing, people automatically asked what Barbi Benton was doing behind a microphone, and I'm determined to show them there is talent here.
I want to get past the Playboy image and really develop myself as an actress, a dancer and a singer.
People automatically assume that if I get anywhere it's because of my association with X, Y or Z, or because I'm pretty.
I'm no libber. I like it when a man looks at me and treats me like a woman. I do think though, that women should get equal pay to a man doing the same thing.
People, whatever their profession is, have a right to fight for the right causes.
I think Jane Fonda is to be admired for her stands.
I take every lesson in the book: singing, acting, guitar, piano, jazz, organ and tap-dancing.
When I first came to Southern California I enrolled at UCLA in pre-med. My fathers a doctor. But the sight of blood turns me off, so I began doing television commercials.
I made quite a lot of money in commercials and I decided when I got out of school to take singing lessons so I could get into singing commercials, too.
If you're 19 and you don't look good, it's nature's fault. If you're 35 and you don't look good, it's your own fault.
The best thing is one hour of aerobics and one hour of anaerobics.
When he died, he took a big piece of me with him. I'm sure that every time I do something, I'll think about having done it with Hef.
Bill Cosby was one of the first people I met at the Mansion, shortly after I met Hef in 1968.
My real name is Barbara Klein and I'm from Sacramento.
I don't wish to sound chauvinistic, but I feel the female body is beautiful to look at, more so than a male's.
It took me five years to learn how to sing.
Hef has always been attracted to younger women. He loves to see the world through the eyes of someone seeing it for the first time.
Hef was very protective of the women who went to the Mansion.
When we first dated, I would not go home with Hef, so the only way that he could see me was by taking me out. We went out quite a bit.
I've lost a lot of fat and that's through weight lifting.
Nobody thought I could do anything with a singing career... except my singing teachers, who were accustomed to hearing voices that could be transformed into something.
But I'd like to be taken seriously as a singer.
Anybody that was famous found their way to the Playboy Mansion. It was exciting for me. But I didn't know half of them!
Circus lions are mean. They don't know anything about affection training.
I know that part of my success on stage is due to the fact that I've kept myself together.
People are surprised that I can walk and talk.
As for those who condemn Hef, he's done a great deal for women's lib and sexual liberation as well.
When I first met Hef, I didn't like him at all. I thought he was too old.
What I don't like is the way people automatically think I am a kept woman, that he pays my expenses. This puts me in a rage. I've always paid my own way, even while living in his mansion. I've kept an apartment of my own. In fact, I not only buy my own clothes, but many of Hef's, too - he just hates to shop.
I have this problem where I'm never satisfied with what I do.
After three months of singing, Hef heard me practicing once. He tried to convince me to quit singing lessons because there was no chance of being good at it. Of course, I cried a lot when he said that, but it was my money that I was investing in lessons so I continued partly out of spite and partly because I really wanted to do it.
I will never be Barbra Streisand, but I have done an awful lot more than what I was sent out to be.
What I really want is to create a name based on my own accomplishments.
Of course, I'm not exactly the girl next door.
Actually, diamonds are a very common stone. I prefer emeralds.
Frankly my parents didn't like him. They objected to the things he stood for. Besides, daddy and Hef are the same age.
It's a hindrance in trying to get a serious acting role. The minute a producer has a script and my name comes up, they immediately think of 'Playboy,' 'Hee Haw,' 'Fantasy Island' and 'Love Boat.'
With Hef it was a relationship. It's the world that made a big thing out of it.