Suze Randall

At age 22 in the early 1970s Suze Randall was a low-paid staff nurse at St. George's Hospital in London, England, and fed up with being broke. Her life changed course when she answered an advertisement saying, "Attractive girls wanted for nude modeling. No experience needed. Make up to £100 a day". Suze quickly broke into glamor modeling, but just as quickly realized that it was a perilously hand-to-mouth existence. She had been teaching herself photography as a hobby when a national newspaper noticed her snapping away backstage between appearances on the catwalk and asked to use some of her shots. She grabbed the chance to begin a move from in front of the camera to behind it. She proved to have a natural talent and quickly became a modestly successful glamor photographer. Her breakthrough came when she spotted the potential of novice pinup model Lillian Müller and steered her to "Playboy" with herself attached as photographer. Muller was chosen as Playmate Of The Month in August 1975 and subsequently Playmate Of The Year in 1976. Suze's pictorials established her credentials as a top-flight glamor photographer. She went on to photograph other Playmates and, uniquely, herself in a 1976 pictorial where she was both photographer and model. She fell out with founder Hugh Hefner over business issues in late 1976 and was given the boot by Playboy. Unfazed, she went on to carve out a successful and--continuing--career in glamor photography covering the gamut from soft to highly raunchy.