Playboy Playmate Screen Deaths

Few former Playboy Playmates have gone on to have acting careers successful enough to land them starring roles in theatrical release movies. Perhaps it's because being a Playmate has sort of a stigma attached that the girls would have to shake before even being considered for a prominent role in a major film. However, being a former Playmate does have its advantages when it comes to B-Movies and being cast for titillation scenes in larger-budget features.

An excellent case in point is the opening scene of Brian DePalma's 1981 thriller, Blow Out, with Miss April 1979 Missy Cleveland (credited in the film as Amanda Cleveland) as a girl with a terrible scream getting killed in a shower scene in a slasher movie within a slasher movie. Missy herself tragically died August 14, 2001 at the age of 41 from an adverse reaction to prescription medication. Read on to see the aforementioned scene and some other former Playmates being murdered on celluloid.

Heather Dorff

Although she didn't set out to become known as a Scream Queen, actress Heather Dorff has made quite a name for herself in indie horror films. Since 2011, she's won five Best Actress and two Best Female Performance awards for horror films she's starred in and has earned accolades from many of her peers in the industry. One such peer, Jessica Cameron, worked alongside Heather in Jessica's Truth or Dare, and in Alex Mathieson and Damon Rickard's short, The Tour (a still from which is at left). Her performance in the latter earned her one of her Best Actress awards in her hometown, at the 2014 Chicago Horror Film Festival.

Heather is well-traveled, having visited several major US and European cities. One city she visited, although it wasn't for vacation, was New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when Heather spent nine months doing disaster relief work. She now calls LA home but says a move to Europe may be in her future. Also an avid gamer, Heather reveals the way to her heart is through a game of World of Warcraft or perhaps Dead or Alive 2. Read on to find out more in my recent interview with Heather.

Natalie Stephany

Born and raised in San Francisco, actress Natalie Stephany began her acting career on the stage in such plays as Footloose, Beauty and the Beast, and Gypsy, where she had her first speaking role as Baby June. Moving to TV and films enabled her to get her SAG card in 2006 and she's been busy ever since. One of her most recent roles is as the stand-in for Kate Micucci (Garfunkle & Oats, The Big Bang Theory) in the 2016-slated Unleashed.

Looking somewhat ethnically ambiguous and younger than her almost-25 years, allows for Natalie to fill a wide range of roles. Having nice hands has landed her some hand modeling commercial gigs. Knowing how to drive a stick shift led to her picking up a stunt driving credit in a 2010 episode of America's Most Wanted. It was a piece of driving she pulled off skillfully, despite making her feel like she was "about to shit her pants." Natalie tells me she plans on attending stunt driving school in the near future to add that to a regular pert of her repertoire. Read on to see the other topics we covered in this recent interview. Above photo courtesy of Natalie, herself.

Andreea Boyer

Born in Romania near the Bran Castle (more popularly known as Dracula's Castle), Andreea Boyer has had the desire to write and act from an early age. She had three books of her poetry collections published when she was only 15 and she wrote, directed, and co-starred in her short Jamira, and full-length film Mondo Americana, a year later. Currently, Andreea has just finished writing a screenplay for a full length film. She tells me it's an action film and she just sent off her work to an agency in Los Angeles, where she plans to make a return trip in late October. She also has a featured role alongside Tristan Risk (American Mary's "Beatress") in Ulli Lommel's upcoming Boogeyman: Reincarnation.

I found Andreea very charming, with a good sense of humor, and expressive eyes (she tells me change color with her emotions) that convey fervor reminiscent of Hollywood's silent screen stars. One of her favorite topics to talk about is food, which she will at length, especially the dishes she's tried from the countries she's visited. She raved about the simple fish and vegetable meals she had during her stay with the natives of Brazil's Bahia region and also told of an unpleasant experience she had with some bad carpaccio while in Paris earlier this year. Also very health conscious when it comes to food, Andreea says she feels guilty about eating meat ("It makes me feel like a lion when I do," she says), but vegetarianism just isn't for her.

Andreea also tells me she loves to travel and it gives her inspiration for her writings. She was in Paris until the middle of this May and, as of this writing, is back home in Munich. Her travel plans include another trip to the US next year, with Atlanta and San Francisco on her list of cities to visit. The above photo of Andreea on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard last June, is courtesy of Andreea herself.