Karen Hafter Bio
Karen Hafter is an American glamour and nude model. She was born on December 27, 1954, in New York City, New York. Playboy named her its December 1976 Playmate at 21. Her appearance came during Playboy's 1970s print era, when the magazine reached the height of its mass-market influence.
Hafter has natural breasts, brown eyes and black hair. Her measurements are 35-23-35.
Her route into the centerfold began in a decidedly ordinary place: waiting tables in Los Angeles. A fellow model, Anne Randall, saw something in her walk and profile, introduced her to the right people, and set a magazine career in motion.
The images that followed were entrusted to Phillip Dixon, whose photography for the feature emphasized a composed, natural look rather than theatrical artifice. That same presence carried beyond the centerfold: she appeared on the magazine’s January 1977 U.S. cover and the February 1977 issue in Japan, a quick succession of visibility that kept her in front of commercial photographers and editors for the better part of the era.
Rather than redirecting her ambitions toward film, she continued to work chiefly in front of the camera, building a steady Los Angeles–area modeling career. Photographers found in her a look that translated across formats—centerfold spread, newsstand cover and commercial shoots—so she remained a working face in a crowded field without retreating from the photographic spotlight.
A discovery story, a credited photographer, and a pair of international covers: the pieces add up to a concise chapter in the decade’s larger fashion-and-magazine scene. Hers is the kind of career that began with a single, well-timed encounter and then quietly kept the pictures coming.
