More Features - Best of the 70's
May 15, 2000
Santa Barbara California USA
5' 10"
October 1971
Playmate Claire Rambeau has a good ol’ country girl who grew up jumping in mud puddles and riding horses. “When I was a small girl, I had a horse of my own. It was my job to feed and water him every day, so I’ve known and loved horses all my life,” recalls the busty brunette. “As a kid, I lived in Paraguay for a while and then moved all over, including California, Arizona and Oklahoma.” Her father resides in Sedona, AZ and Claire, who currently lives in Los Angeles for modeling, often finds herself running home to escape the busy city. The almost-six-foot tall model was excited to see her modeling career blossom, but there is something about the Red Rock country scenery that seems to have its hooks in our Miss October 1971. “This area is so beautiful that when I’m here, I want to spend most of my time enjoying some type of outdoor activity. I became more and more dependent on my Arizona trips as a means of clearing my head in order to face the coming week,” explains our all-natural Playmate of the Month. “I was really fed up. So many people I met in the business could talk about nothing, but their multi-million-dollar deals that were being finalized. Then, when I'd run into them again a month later, they'd be talking about the same deal and it was still imminent.” Claire needed a change of pace and her roommate in Los Angeles was an expert in the art of traveling, thanks to her job as a flight attendant. Her roommate knew Claire needed to go somewhere fun, full of history that was also known for its fashion and she knew the perfect place. “My former roommate in L.A. has been all over the world and she continually talked about London, so I just had to go,” states Claire who flew to Britain immediately. “I fell in love with it. There's a kind of formal air about the city. I don't mean that people are stuffy—they're conscious of tradition in a way I found charming. I decided that I wanted to live in London, and since I'd always had a great interest in fashions, I visited some commercial-art schools to ask about their fashion-design courses. I haven't made up my mind which school I'll attend, but I'm definitely going to enroll.” With her move to London on the horizon and her goodbyes in the process of being said, Claire had one more thing she needed to do in the United States before she flew out—attend her own surprise farewell party which she figured out. “I was hesitant to accept at first; not because I didn’t appreciate their thoughtfulness, but I had already said my goodbyes—which was very difficult for me to do—and I hated the idea of having to go through it all over again,” explains our Miss October 1971. “I knew that I’d done the right thing by saying I’d come. The party was great and the evening left me with a completely changed feeling about LA. Instead of the sour attitude I had had because of my unpleasant business experiences, I realized what good friendship I’d made.” What about her feelings towards her time spent modeling in California? “I no longer think with regret of the year I spent modeling. After all, it did increase my awareness of good design,” says Claire. “I wanted to be a Playmate because I do enjoy the posing, the money, the publicity and the personal satisfaction.” Claire Rambeau may have earned personal satisfaction, but Playboy fans are the ones who are left truly satisfied.