Barbi Benton (born Barbara Lynn Klein; January 28, 1950) is an American model, actress, and singer.

Biography

Benton was born Barbara Lynn Klein in New York City, New York, to a Jewish family. She moved with her parents to California when she was 2 years old. She grew up in Sacramento and attended Rio Americano High School. At the age of 16, she began to model to help supplement her income. Following high school, she attended UCLA, and at age 18 took a job with Playboy to appear on their entertainment show Playboy After Dark. Her role was as co-host and beautiful companion to the show's director of entertainment, Hugh Hefner. After recording two sessions, Hefner asked the young co-ed for a date. Upon being asked, she reports demurring to the 42-year-old Mr. Hefner: "I don't know, I've never dated anyone over 24 before." To which Hefner replied, "That's all right, neither have I." The two began a relationship that lasted several years, and placed Benton in the center of the Playboy enterprise. Hefner convinced her to change her name from Barbara Klein to the more marketable Barbi Benton. She appeared on the cover of Playboy magazine four times: July 1969, March 1970, May 1972, and December 1985. Though she was featured in a number of photo-essays, she was never a Playmate of the Month. She landed a spot on television's Hee Haw doing short comic sketches, and subsequently enjoyed a career as a country singer. She also began acting, and appeared in a few "B" movies before appearing as a featured repeat performer on a number of popular television shows, including The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. Benton lived with Hefner from 1969 until 1976 and is known for discovering the Playboy Mansion West where Hefner resides today. Years later when the TV series The Girls Next Door visited her in Aspen, Colorado, she expressed gratitude that the two had remained friends.

Benton married George Gradow, a real-estate developer, on October 14, 1979. The couple have two children, Alexander (born August 23, 1986) and Ariana Gradow (born July 13, 1988). For many years, they divided their time between their homes in Aspen and Los Angeles.

On April 28, 2006, Gradow was sentenced to 15 months in prison after pleading guilty to tax fraud and altering financial documents in a bid to mislead the Internal Revenue Service.