Connie Kreski

Connie Kreski (September 19, 1946 – March 21, 1995) was born Constance Joanne Kornacki. She was an American model and actress. In January 1968, Kreski posed in the centerfold as Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month. She subsequently won Playmate of the Year honors for 1969. She was also Miss January 1969 in the Playboy calendar for that year and featured again in the 1970 calendar. Kreski briefly worked as a psychiatric nurse at a hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan before being discovered at a University of Michigan football game by a Playboy scout .

In April 1969, Kreski was signed by Anthony Newley to play the female lead in the Universal Pictures film Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? The movie was shot in Malta and starred Milton Berle, Joan Collins, and George Jessel. She also appeared in The Trackers, (1971), The Outside Man (1972), and The Black Bird (1975).

In Europe, Kreski also got a name for being photographed by Frank Habicht. This German photographer memorably recorded Swinging London, including the time Kreski lived there.

Los Angeles Times writer Joyce Haber mentioned Kreski in a newspaper column just days after the murder of Sharon Tate by followers of Charles Manson. Kreski was a member of the murdered actress's social circle, and considered Sharon Tate, who was quite similar in physical appearance, a very close friend. Kreski was among those invited to the mansion Tate shared with her husband, director Roman Polanski, on the fatal night of August 9, 1969. Kreski penned an article for the Detroit Free Press discussing her immediate reaction to the death of Tate roughly a week after the incident.

Kreski died of a blocked carotid artery on March 21, 1995, in Beverly Hills, California.