Hugh Hefner’s Maltese Playboy Model, Mary Collinson, Passes Away At Age 69
Mary Collinson, one of Hugh Hefner’s Maltese Playboy Models, has just passed away.
Despite the staunch conservatism of the Maltese islands back in 1970, two Maltese sisters. Mary and Madeleine, became the first set of twins to be chosen as Playmates of the Month, in the magazine.
The cover was a success and jumpstarted their modelling career. However, the twins aren’t known only for their cover and topless centrefold shoot, they are most remembered for their appearance in the Hammer Horror Film Twins of Evil, as Frieda and Maria, in which they co-starred with English horror film legend Peter Cushing.
They even hit more success in other films such as Some Like It, Sexy, Groupie Girl, and The Love Machine.
Mary passed away on 23rd November 2021, aged 69, after suffering from bronchopneumonia, just seven years after her twin.
The Collinson twins were born on 22nd July 1952 and were brought up in Blanche Street, Sliema, together with their mother. After growing up in a very poor family, they decided to move to London in hopes of better futures in 1969.
The Collison twins crossed paths with managing director, Victor Lownes during a party, shortly after their arrival in London.
Where arrangements were then made to fly them out to Chicago for a Playboy test shoot. They even had the opportunity to live in the (Playboy) Mansion together with Hugh Hefner, who would call them his “Bambini”.
Hugh Hefner’s Playboy magazine started at his kitchen table in Chicago in 1953 with a $1,000 loan from his mother. The magazine went on to sell over seven million copies a month in its heyday.