Hef and Shannon, 1981

It was a tall, leggy blonde from Newfoundland who put the final kibosh on Hef's romance with Sondra. A ravishing and witty model (and soon-to-be-successful actress), Shannon Tweed came to the Mansion with minimal expectations.

"I did have a preconceived notion about Hef that he was one of those guys with the one line you're supposed to fall for, like 'Hey, babe, I can make you a star.' God knows most of us have heard a lot of that. But when you meet Hef, you let go of all the other stuff you were thinking about him, and he comes across as very genuine." As for Hef, he calls Shannon -- who became Miss November 1981 and 1982's Playmate of the Year -- "a super lady. She reminds me of Burma in Milton Caniff's comic strip Terry and the Pirates."

Shortly after Shannon departed the Mansion to concentrate on her acting career, she attended one of Hef's Midsummer Night's Dream parties -- where she met Kiss's Gene Simmons, her consort for the past 24 years and father of her two children. Check out Shannon Tweed's body of work in our special feature, Playmates in the Movies.