Dolly Read

Great Britain has blessed North America with many of its imports, from tea and sugary treats to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. But, no British import is more memorable or sexy than Playmate Dolly Read, our all-natural Miss May 1966. “I started in acting back home on a soap opera called Compact. It was sort of a feminine version of your own Valentine's Day. All I had was a walk-on part, but it seemed like the greatest role since Lady Macbeth to me,” says Dolly in her lovely English accent. “That's when I packed my trunk and got aboard the London train in search of fame and fortune.” Fame and fortune were all well and good in England, but the blue-eyed brunette dreamt of coming to America. Once she left her hometown of Bristol for Chicago, Dolly popped up on Playboy’s radar when she applied for a job where the uniform includes a pair of satin bunny ears. “Chicago's a bit of all right and Mr. Hefner's house is a proper palace, but we're all a trifle homesick,” says our first-ever English Bunny from the Mansion’s Bunny Dorms. “My dad's an electrical engineer, my older brother's a chemist and the younger one's a chef, and they all travel so much that I don't get to see enough of them even when I'm back in Britain.” As exciting as being a Bunny was, Dolly never thought becoming a Playmate of the Month was ever a possibility—that was until photographer Pompeo Posar saw her training to be a bumper-pool Bunny at the Playboy Club in Chicago. “He asked me if I would like to consider becoming a Playmate, the first-ever English Playmate, and I thought it was a smashing good idea,” says the voluptuous beauty with the short, brown hair. “But, like any well-bred British girl, I had to clear it with my parents first.” With her parents on board, Dolly became our Miss May 1966 and went on to land acting roles in movies in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and television shows like Charlie’s Angels, Fantasy Island and the game show The Match Game with her comedian husband, Dick Martin. Dolly continues to collect acting roles and also had the pleasure of meeting Queen Elizabeth II in 1973, but she says her life would have been very different if she hadn’t auditioned to be a Door Bunny at the Chicago Club when she first arrived in the United States. “I love being a Playmate because I'm proud to be among the first English Bunnies,” she gushes.