Sondra Theodore

Sondra was Playmate of the Month for July 1977. Her pictorial was titled Baby Blue.

Sondra was born Sondra Ho Weir on Dec. 12, 1956, in San Bernardino, CA. Prior to becoming a Playmate, she was a Sunday school teacher. She nearly got her break in Hollywood when she read for, but did not get, the part of Pinky Tuscadero on “Happy Days” in 1974, but was seen and signed by her first agent there.

According to the book “Inside the Playboy Mansion: If You Don’t Swing, Don’t Ring,” Sondra met Hugh Hefner when she attended a party at Playboy Mansion West. She was 19 at the time; he was 50.

Sondra became Hefner’s main romantic interest for five years and lived at the mansion. He called her Baby Blue (from the song she and Hefner danced to on their first night together). According to Sondra, Hefner had given her a tour of the property “and on the way back, he gave me a little kiss on the cheek. At that point, I was a goner. As we walked through the front door, the DJ was playing Barry White’s ‘Baby Blue Panties,’ and Hef asked me to dance. No one can slow dance like Hefner. It was like the Red Sea parted.” The name was on a necklace he gave her (seen in a number of Playboy photos) as well as the Volkswagen she bought for herself (BBYBLEU).

Sondra was the first Playmate to have a data sheet.

Sondra was the founder of The Singing Playmates in the late 1970s. In a story about the group on playboy.com, fellow Playmate Heidi Sorenson says, “She was the lead in our group. And her voice was just out of this world.”

Sondra and fellow Playmate Patti McGuire are both featured on the back glass of the Playboy pinball machine along with Hefner; the machine was released at the end of 1978.

Sondra made guest appearances on the TV shows “The Bob Newhart Show,” “CHiPs,” “Fantasy Island,” “Barnaby Jones,” and “Pink Lady.” She also had small roles in the theatrical movies “Skateboard,” “Stingray,” and “The Man Who Loved Women.”

Sondra married Ray Manzella, manager for Vanna White, in 1985. They had two children and later divorced. Sondra remarried in 2000.

When the A&E docuseries “Secrets of Playboy” came out in 2022, Sondra said Hefner pressured her into participating in group sex and that she was forced to recruit women for the encounters. She reported that drugs were widely used at the Playboy Mansion, once walked into a room to find Hefner fondling their dog, and said Hefner admitted to having watched porn actress Linda Lovelace perform a sex act on a German Shepard at the mansion. She said later in their relationship, Hefner brought men into their bedroom and directed her to have sex with them.

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Digital | Video | Publicity | Later in life

Playboy appearances:

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Foreign:

Other publications:

Movies:

  • Skateboard (1978) as an official
  • Stingray (1978) as a girl
  • The Man Who Loved Women (1983)

Television:

  • The Bob Newhart Show (1977) as a girl in the episode “A Jackie Story”
  • ABC special, Playboy’s Playmate Party (1977)
  • Barnaby Jones, as a girl student in the episode “The Killer on Campus” (1977 and as Mary Lee in the episode “Memory of a Nightmare” (1978)
  • CHiPs (1978) as Marsha in the episode “Surf’s Up”
  • Fantasy Island (1978) as Gloria in the episode “Bet a Million/Mr. Irresistible”
  • Three on a Date (TV movie) (1978) as a model
  • ABC special, Playboy’s Roller Disco Pajama Party (1979)
  • Pink Lady (1980) in a guest appearance along with other Playmates
  • The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1981) as herself
  • George Burns’ Early, Early, Early Christmas Special, 1981
  • Showtime special, Playboy’s Playmate Reunion (1982)
  • Playboy Mid Summer Night’s Dream Party 1985 (1985)
  • Playboy: The Party Continues (2000)
  • The Girls Next Door, as herself in the episodes “Here’s Looking at You, Hef” (2006), “80 Is the New 40” (2006) and “Glued to Their Sets” (2008)
  • The Playboy Channel feature, Sondra Theodore: The Making of a Centerfold (date unknown)

Playboy videos: