Marguerite Empey

Marguerite Diane Webber a.k.a. Marguerite Empey (July 29, 1932 – August 19, 2008) was an American model, dancer and actress.

The Nudist Queen.

Early life

Born in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S., the daughter of Marguerite (née Andrus), a Hollywood actress and former 'Miss Long Beach' beauty contest winner, and Arthur Guy Empey. She received her formal education at the Hollywood High School. As a child she received ballet lessons from Russian ballerina Maria Bekefi.

Professional model

In the early 1950s she found employment as a chorus girl at Bimbo's 365 Club in San Francisco, whilst developing her professional modelling career. As the decade progressed she modeled for many professional photographers, including Peter Gowland, Bunny Yeager and Keith Bernard.

Playmate of the Month

Under the name Marguerite Empey she was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month in May 1955 and in February 1956. The photo-shoot for the 1956 publication being shot by Russ Meyer.

Nudism

In the 1960s as a part of the counter-culture sweeping the United States she became involved with the Nudist movement, and with her husband appeared in numerous nudist magazines advocating the benefits of the lifestyle, such as Naked & Together: The Wonderful Webbers by June Lange (1967). She also appeared on the cover-art of several pop-music vinyl recordalbums, including Les Baxter's Jewels of the Sea, Sea of Dreams by Nelson Riddle, Marty Paich's Jazz For Relaxation, Chile con Cugie by Xavier Cugat, the Luxuriously Slow Moods of The Cesana Strings album "Sheer Ecstasy", and the R.C.A. Japanese release of Seiji Hiraoka & His Quartet album Bedtime Music.

In 1965 she traveled to Sioux City to give evidence at the request of a United States District Attorney in a court-room trial involving the sending of allegedly obscene nudist magazines into the State of Iowa, but instead of proving the prosecution's case, in the witness box she made a spirited defense of the principles of the lifestyle.

Middle-Eastern dance

From 1969 to 1980 Empey's professional career was as a bellydancing instructor at the now defunct Everywoman's Village in Van Nuys, California. She occasionally performed this dance accompanied by some of her better students to the accompaniment of Middle-Eastern music in public places in and around Los Angeles. 

Empey founded Perfumes of Araby, one of the first Middle-Eastern dance companies in the United States. Empey's dancing shows were sensual but they didn’t pander to a male audience, women and children often attending the performances.  For several years Empey led and co-ordinated these outdoor shows with up to forty performers taking part.

Retirement

In her final years she was a librarian and archivist for a law firm in Santa Monica.

Cultural references

Her iconic status among the Playboy models is referenced in Gay Talese's non-fiction book Thy Neighbor's Wife.

Private life

She married Joseph Webber in 1955 (the marriage was divorced in 1986), from which came a son named John (born 1956).

Death

Empey died on August 19, 2008, in Los Angeles in her 76th year from complications following surgery for cancer.