Barbara Leigh (born Barbara Ann Kish, November 16, 1946) is a former American actress and fashion model. Her breakthrough role came in 1972 with the film ''

Junior Bonner ''Junior Bonner'' is a 1972 American Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Steve McQueen, Robert Preston, Joe Don Baker and Ida Lupino. The film focuses on a veteran rodeo rider as he returns to his hometown of Prescott, Arizon ...

'', which she starred alongside her then-boyfriend

Steve McQueen Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the late 1950s, 1960s, and ...

. She later became the first model to wear the

Vampirella Vampirella () is a fictional vampire superheroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and comic book artist Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine ''Vampirella'' #1 (Sept. 1969), a sister publication of '' Cre ...

costume on the cover of the original Warren ''Vampirella'' magazine, #67 (March 1975).

Early life

Barbara Leigh was born in

Ringgold, Georgia Ringgold is a city in and the county seat of Catoosa County, Georgia, United States. Its population was 3,414 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Chattanooga, Tennessee–GA Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Ringgold was founded in 184 ...

. Leigh married at age 15, and at the age of 17 she gave birth to her only son, Gerry Haynes.

Career

In 2002, she published a memoir titled ''The King, McQueen, and The Love Machine'' (), which accounts her romances with McQueen,

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

, and Jim Aubrey in the early 1970s. In January 2014, Barbara Leigh retired from Playboy Enterprises Inc. after working with the company for almost 17 years. Leigh developed hyperthyroidism (

Graves' disease Graves' disease (german: Morbus Basedow), also known as toxic diffuse goiter, is an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid. It frequently results in and is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. It also often results in an enlarged thyro ...

) and has been spokeswoman for the National Graves' Disease Foundation.

Filmography

References

External links

*
Personal Website

Time Machine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leigh, Barbara American film actresses Female models from Georgia (U.S. state) Living people 1946 births Actresses from Georgia (U.S. state) People from Ringgold, Georgia American television actresses 21st-century American women