Marli Renfro
Marli Renfro was a prolific showgirl and nude model who had a brush with acting. Her most famous part continues to be the uncredited body double for Janet Leigh in the 1960 horror film Psycho. Born in 1938, in Los Angeles she described herself as a free spirit and nudist. This led to a number of men’s magazine shoots. Her measurements of 36-23-35 likely made her quite popular as a model. Despite that, the magazines she posed for were mostly small publications, so few pictures of her exist. As was common in those days, it is also likely that she is uncredited for a lot of those photos.
From Escapade Vol. 5 No. 6
Marli ended up in Las Vegas, working as a showgirl and eventually as a Playboy Bunny at the Playboy Club in Chicago.
She was interviewed by Robert Graysmith in 2010 for his book The Girl In Alfred Hitchcock’s Shower, about the murder of another of Janey Leigh’s stand-ins, Myra Davis. The media confused the two women, and for a time it was thought that Renfro was deceased. Graysmith was able to track her down and finally found her married, and living in the Mojave Desert.
Marli’s September 1960 Playboy Shoot
Magazine Apperances
1958 – Follies (January)
1960 – Playboy (September) (Cover Model)
1960 – Escapade Vol. 5 No. 6 (October) (photographed by Sam Wu)
1960 – Adam, Vol. 4, No. 7 (Cover Model)
1961 – Nude Living, Vol. 1, Iss. 1 (June)
1961 – Dude (September)
1961 – Gala (September)
1961 – Man (October) (Cover Model)
1961 – Ace (December)
1961 – Adam, Vol. 5, Iss. 8 (Photographed by Paul Morton Smith)
1963 – Highball
1966 – Stop No 55
1967 – Beau, Cover Model (August)
Unknown – Debonair (Back Cover)
Unknown – Modern Man
Unknown – Swank (January) (Cover Model)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wklqnZNnzic&feature=youtu.be
Marli did several of these stag type videos. None are available for sale that I was able to find.
Movie Credits
1960 – Psycho
1962 – Tonight for Sure
“Stop” n°55, 1966
“Stop” n°55, 1966
From High Ball, 1963
“Though her parents both came from England, she spent most of her early years in the desert area and now has emerged on the California scene.
Immediately upon her arrival, she was approached by a fashion magazine to appear a model for a series on young college series. “But what they had in mind didn’t seem to go with what I had in mind” so she waited around and soon enough photogs who had more interesting ideas came along.
As a student at one of the local colleges, she has been quite a smash. Not only because of her fragile and gentle beauty, but because she is appalled at the ‘great injustice done to the average American male by the woman in his life’. This seems to appeal to most American mean who have been involved at all with frolicking felines.
From High Ball, 1963
From High Ball, 1963
Debonair Back Cover
Adam Vol 4 No 7 Cover
Escapade Vol. 5 No. 6
Escapade Vol. 5 No. 6
Escapade Vol. 5 No. 6
Escapade Vol. 5 No. 6
“Marli Renfro would get our vote in the Electoral College for sure. It seems to us that she has all the qualities necessary for leadership. In the great American tradition, she likes the outdoors, reads books, enjoys classical music: adores, she says, a fireplace. Though she wants to be admired for her mind, there’s no need for her to make a speech… she could just tand there and let the voters enjoy looking. Her red hair and green eyes would come over great on color TV, but could the magic box do justice to her 32-23-35? Marli Renfro has a much-admired, vote getting hobby; she’s a Sunday painter. She also believes in keeping in shape (also a much-admired trait), playing volley ball twice a week. Another great presidnetial quality of our choice Marli: she loves to travel. With Marli, international relations wouldn’t suffer; she has an international heritage; German, French, English. Ready to vote?”
Happy Embarrased Marli
Marli as a short haired blonde
Marli in a sweater
From Beau August 1967
From Beau August 1967
From Sir May 1965
Swank (January)
