Dian Parkinson Bio
Dian Parkinson is an American-born model and actress. She was born as Dianne Lynn Batts on November 30, 1944 in Jacksonville, North Carolina, United States. Her zodiac sign is sagittarius. She is also known as Dianne Parkinson or Diane Parkinson.
In December 1991, Dian Parkinson brought her signature glamour and star appeal to Playboy.
Dian Parkinson has beautiful enhanced breasts, sparkling blue eyes, and luminous blond hair. With a sensually shaped 35-23-37 frame, she's a true embodiment of Playboy allure.
Parkinson’s rise began in the disciplined world of beauty pageants. Competing under her birth name, Dianna Lynn Batts, she won Miss District of Columbia USA in 1965 and placed fourth runner-up at Miss USA. Later that year, she earned the Miss World USA title and represented the United States at Miss World in London, finishing as first runner-up to Britain’s Lesley Langley. The result established her nationally and demonstrated the poised stage presence that would later become central to her television career.
Her pageant success led to international promotional work, including appearances with Bob Hope’s USO show during the Vietnam era. Parkinson also made occasional acting appearances, with credits including The Mary Tyler Moore Show and the television crime drama Vega$. Yet it was daytime television—not conventional acting—that offered the ideal setting for her elegant, approachable glamour and ability to communicate through expression and movement rather than dialogue.
In 1975, Parkinson joined The Price Is Right as one of the models popularly known as Barker’s Beauties. She remained with the program for 18 years, becoming one of its longest-serving and most recognisable personalities. Whether presenting prizes, appearing in elaborate showcases or taking part in the Price Is Right Department Store segments, she brought a polished warmth to the studio. Her playful rapport with host Bob Barker helped make her a daily television favourite until her final appearance in June 1993.
Playboy gave Parkinson an opportunity to present that familiar television image in a more daring form. She appeared on the cover and in a celebrity pictorial for the December 1991 issue at 47, then returned for the May 1993 issue. She was featured as a well-known television model rather than as a Playmate of the Month. The second appearance was accompanied by the special publication Playboy Presents Dian Parkinson and the video Playboy Celebrity Centerfold: Dian Parkinson, extending her glossy early-1990s reinvention beyond the monthly magazine.
After leaving The Price Is Right, Parkinson filed a sexual-harassment and employment-discrimination lawsuit against Barker in 1994, alleging that he had pressured her into a sexual relationship. Barker acknowledged a relationship but maintained that it had been consensual. Parkinson withdrew the lawsuit in April 1995, stating through her attorney that the prolonged legal battle was damaging her health. The controversy became a difficult final chapter in her public career, but it did not erase the decades of pageant, television and Playboy visibility that made Dian Parkinson one of daytime television’s most memorable glamour figures.
