Shy and modest? Not two words one would immediately associate with Mariel Hemingway, the grand daughter of prolific writer Ernest Hemingway and sister to Margaux Hemingway, who appeared to have no problem removing her clothes for the cameras.

But those are the words Mariel uses to describe herself when she talks about herself in relation to wearing a bikini on the beach. Hemingway states, ‘I won’t even wear a bikini on the beach. On TV I’m lit well and I can choose the angle. I can’t edit what you see at the beach.'’

Regardless of her feelings of modesty, Mariel has appeared nude in the movie the Star 80, in which she portrayed murdered Playboy model, Dorothy Stratten. Again, in Civil Wars, Mariel acts in a scene in which her character, divorce attorney Sydney Guilford, models for a photographer-artiste, ‘’it was pretty nerve-racking,'’ she reports. ‘’They said ‘Robe off,’ and the crew could see my face turn fuchsia.'’

Evidently, the experience was not too traumatic for the actress who, at the time was 31 years old, as she went on to agree to grace the cover of Hugh Hefner’s Playboy magazine in April 1982.

Mariel has stated she is no prude and in fact finds the American mentality to nudity on the TV baffling, saying, ‘’Sometimes we can say ‘God’ but we can’t say ‘Jesus.’ I don’t get the mentality of that. I still think that people should be more up in arms about the number of people who get shot on TV, not people taking their clothes off. Movies like Basic Instinct are out,  Demi Moore is naked on magazines. There’s Madonna looking like she’s doing kiddie porn on a magazine cover. To me, nudity is not news. I’ve turned on the TV in the middle of the day and seen more on Oprah.'’

Becoming a Playboy model and cover girl is usually regarded as a step up in any girl’s career but for Margaux Hemingway it may well have been a photo shoot that hid the true feelings behind the smile of a celebrity who’s life was clearly not all it appeared to be.

Margaux was the granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway, the daughter of Clarence Hemingway and the sibling of Ursula and Leicester, all of whom took their own lives. So it could have come as no surprise when on July 1 1996 Margaux became the fifth member of her family to end her own life.

Just one day before the anniversary of her grandfather’s own suicide, Margaux was found dead in her studio apartment in Santa Monica, California at age 42. It was later ruled by the coroner’s office that she had taken an overdose of Phenobarbital. Margaux was buried in the Hemingway family plot in the Ketchum Cemetery in Ketchum, Idaho.

Prior to her early death, Margaux had been a successful fashion model with her statuesque six feet tall figure, Hemingway gained a million-dollar contract for Fabergé as the spokesmodel for Babe perfume in the 1970s. Her lucrative contract with Fabergé was the first million dollar contract ever awarded to a fashion model.

As an actress Margaux made her name in the 1976 drama film, Lipstick, which saw her starring alongside her younger sister Mariel Hemingway, it contains one of the most infamous scenes in motion picture history, showing an extremely brutal and distressing rape scene.

Although the movie was intended to catapult Margaux to Hollywood fame, it actually made a bigger impression on Hollywood for her sister, Mariel and led to her successful acting career.

However, in May 1990 Margaux did make the cover of Playboy magazine and to this day remains a sought after edition to Playboy magazine collectors worldwide.

Ranking among the earlier Playboy models, 1973, Christina Maddox, never the less made her mark during her reign as one of Hugh Hefner’s girls. Not only was Christina a Playboy model and cover girl, she also held the title of Playmate of the Month in December 1973, a cover that saw her swinging on a moon among a star lit sky.

Prior to embarking upon a very successful modeling career, Christine worked in an electronics factory before venturing off to the bright lights of Los Angeles.

But with her statuesque height of 5 ft 8 ins tall and her curvy shape of 38, 23, 37 all put together in just 125lb, it wasn’t going to be long before the Tracy, North CA, born resident would be snapped up by a modeling agency.

Although, when Christine first arrived in Los Angeles she found it to be somewhat unfriendly compared with the close knit community of Tracy, she soon learned that a smile wasn’t always reciprocated. But that did hold the Playboy beauty back and she soon went on to make her name in the world of modeling thanks to Mr Hefner.

Although Candice Michelle is well known in the predominantly male world of wrestling that in no way makes her any less feminine and sexy to Playboy readers world wide.

As a female wrestler Candice has become a huge hit with the men, but as a Playboy model she has become a phenomenon in the silver leotard she sports on the cover of Hugh Hefner’s Playboy magazine April 2006 and wearing her Playboy belt during her wrestling matches.

Candice began her rise to fame when she was contracted to appear in a commercial for GoDaddy.com which aired during the Super Bowl in 2005. In the commercial, she depicted a scandalously bubbly spokeswoman for Go Daddy who petitioned before a censorship board to appear in an advertisement. In the commercial, Candice was seen experiencing a wardrobe malfunction, which was a parody of the Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake fiasco in the 2004 Super Bowl.

Since then, Candice has often been referred to as Miss GoDaddy.com. She even uses a Go Daddy Dance as part of her wrestling performances.

With several appearances in Hugh Hefner’s Playboy magazine Harmony Guffey has become a firm favourite with Playboy collectors everywhere.

Coming from Bowling Green, Kentucky, Harmony began her modeling career when she was just 18 years old as an Hawaiian Tropic Playboy model. Within a short period of time Harmony was in photo shoots for many Playboy Newsstand Specials, with her most memorable being the cover girl for College Girls 2000.

In Playboy’s Sexy Celebrities 2001 Guffey appears with several of her Playboy model friends and in and issue of Playboy’s Girlfriends, Harmony can be seen with WF star, Candice Michelle.

In 2004 Harmony also graced the cover, and appeared inside Playboy’s College Girls calendar.