Kristine DeBell

Playboy Celebrity, April 1976

Kristine DeBell Bio

Kristine DeBell is an American-born actress and fashion model. She was born on December 10, 1954 in Chatham, New York, United States. Her zodiac sign is sagittarius. She is also known as Kristine De Bell or Kristine De Belle.

In April 1976, Kristine DeBell brought her signature glamour and star appeal to Playboy.

Kristine DeBell has beautiful natural breasts, sparkling blue eyes, and luminous blond hair. With a sensually shaped 34-26-35 frame, she's a true embodiment of Playboy allure.

Kristine DeBell appeared on the cover of Playboy’s April 1976 issue, photographed by Suze Randall, at the beginning of an unusually adventurous screen career. She was not a Playmate, but a featured celebrity model whose fresh, open presence suited the magazine’s relaxed mid-1970s style. The appearance coincided with her transition from New York fashion modelling into acting and introduced her to a far broader audience just as her first starring film was reaching cinemas.

Before Playboy, DeBell had worked as a fashion model with the prestigious Ford agency. Her modelling experience led to the title role in the 1976 erotic musical comedy Alice in Wonderland, a playful adult reimagining of Lewis Carroll’s story. DeBell approached Alice with an engaging mixture of innocence, curiosity and comic ease, qualities that distinguished her from the film’s more exaggerated fantasy characters. Contemporary critic Roger Ebert praised the freshness and directness she brought to the role, suggesting that her appeal could carry her beyond adult-oriented productions.

Only four months after her cover appearance, DeBell returned in Playboy’s August 1976 pictorial “200 Motels, or How I Spent My Summer Vacation.” Photographed by Helmut Newton, the feature followed a fictional road trip through Florida, from Key Largo to Key West, placing her inside hotel rooms and roadside settings charged with Newton’s characteristic blend of fashion, voyeurism and cinematic suggestion. The photographs later acquired recognition beyond their magazine origins, with vintage prints from the Playboy archive appearing at major art auctions.

DeBell successfully moved into mainstream film and television after her provocative debut. She appeared in Robert Zemeckis’s energetic Beatles comedy I Wanna Hold Your Hand and played a camp counsellor opposite Bill Murray in Meatballs, one of the defining summer comedies of the late 1970s. She also appeared with Richard Gere in Bloodbrothers and opposite Jackie Chan in The Big Brawl, showing an ability to move between comedy, drama and action without being confined by the image that first brought her attention. Television roles and later independent productions extended her career across several decades.

Kristine DeBell’s Playboy history is distinctive because it joined two very different photographic sensibilities within a single year. Suze Randall gave her the confidence and warmth of a rising celebrity, while Helmut Newton transformed her into the enigmatic heroine of a sophisticated visual journey. Together, the features preserved DeBell at a moment of fearless possibility—a fashion model stepping into film, embracing adult glamour and proving that one daring beginning did not have to determine the limits of the career that followed.

Kristine DeBell Playboy Gallery

, Playboy Celebrity, May 2000