| Jean Bell | |
|---|---|
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| Playboy centerfold appearance | |
| October 1969 | |
| Preceded by | Shay Knuth |
| Succeeded by | Claudia Jennings |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 23, 1944 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Measurements | Bust: 34" Waist: 23" Hips: 36" |
| Height | 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m) |
| Weight | 117 lb (53 kg; 8.4 st) |
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. She also has the distinction of being the first black woman to appear on the cover of the magazine.
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Bell grew up in Houston, Texas, attending Phillis Wheatley High School. She has 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. Her hobbies include bowling, sewing, raising poodles, and reading.
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 by herself 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 of those roles, she was credited as Jeanne Bell.) She also had a well-publicized romance with actor Richard Burton.
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. [1]
She was divorced from a college professor from Texas with whom she had a son.
Bell posed nude again for Playboy in the December 1979 pictorial "Playmates Forever!"
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