playmate, rock muse, mother and author--the wild child returns
By the time Bebe Buell became Miss November 1974, she was already a patron of the arts. That's another way of describing what director Cameron Crowe calls a "band aid" in his movie Almost Famous. Crowe, who documents his own life in the movie, writes a valentine to Miss Penny Lane, whom he admits is based on Bebe. She loved Todd Rundgren, Steven Tyler, Elvis Costello and Stiv Bators. She liked Mick Jagger, Jack Nicholson, Jimmy Page and Warren Beatty. And they all reciprocated, to one degree or another. In Rebel Heart, the book that she wrote with Victor Bockris, Bebe is surprisingly candid and still a little dewy eyed--and why not? She's kept her wits, her looks, her heart and most of the men (maybe not Elvis). Her daughter is a drop-dead gorgeous actress. These days, Bebe is in front of a band, not backstage. She has said, "I thought the way you met people was to be a fabulous model, a genius aristocrat or a movie star." It turns out none of that was necessary. Bebe soon learned just what Hef knows: Everyone wants to be with the girl next door. Next, she plans a book on rock etiquette. If you watched Kate Hudson play her in the movie, you know that there's a certain strategy to the rock-and-roll life. The men Bebe loved--and liked--are middle-aged now, but there's something still innocent about her. And that's just the way we like it.
See Bebe's original Playmate Photos at cyber.playboy.com.
