Linda Beatty

Growing up in Louisville, Linda Beatty was aware that her ambitions to become an artist, model and actress would be wasted in her home state of Kentucky. With her small-town high school diploma and art scholarships in hand, Linda was enrolled at the University of Kentucky and at New College in Sarasota, Florida. Even though the all-natural brunette excelled in school, she still wasn’t satisfied. Linda’s desire to be successful in the entertainment industry was too much for her to ignore and so she dropped out of school and made her way to Los Angeles. From the moment the busty brunette made the move to California, she was consistently mistaken for a number of famous celebrities which made landing acting roles a breeze. “When my agent sent some of my photographs to the casting director of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, and a few days later I received a message congratulating me for landing one of the few female roles,” explains Linda. “I called up and said, ‘I'm sorry, but you must have the wrong person.’ But, they really wanted me.” Call it life imitating art or art imitating life, but the Kentucky native’s character in the war drama starring Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen and Robert Duvall, was a sexy Playmate who entertains the troops at a U.S.O. show. “That film had a very sensuous quality: It made me want to be there, to be doing the same things in the same places,” explains our gorgeous Playmate. “Since it dealt with sex in Bali and Bangkok, it was sort of a travelogue for the body; I would like to see a film that could do the same thing for the other 99 percent of life.” There was no denying that her performance as a Playmate was seductive and alluring, but she was made our Playmate of the Month based solely on her dynamic personality, her all-natural beauty and not for her movie role. “What are my reasons for becoming a Playmate? Oh, I suppose I want to show my body to the world. To say, ‘Hello out there. Enjoy!” giggles our Miss August 1976. “I'm free and blunt. I tell the truth too much for my own good. I'm usually easy-going, but I have been known to rage occasionally!” Linda’s honesty and small-town charm have made her a favorite in Hollywood –even if she doesn’t know who she’s speaking with or who she’s turning down date offers from. One afternoon, our Miss August 1976 found herself a deli where a man with a receding hairline was cleaning her table as he asked her what she wanted to order without offering her a menu to consulate with. When he replied with ‘menu, schmenu’ when Linda asked if she could see one, a waitress interrupted their conversation with some information that surprised for our Playmate. “Don't let him bother you. That's Mel Brooks,” said the waitress to which Linda replied, “Sure, and I'm Cinderella.” To our ‘Cinderella’s’ surprise, that really was Mel Brooks who later approached her with a request. “He tried to hustle me for a date, not for himself, but for one of his writers. Apparently they needed all the help they could get,” recalls our Miss August 1976. We can’t blame the guy for trying.