Bettie Page , the 1950s pinup girl whose natural looks and risque fetish poses triggered a cult following four decades after she turned her back on modeling , has died .
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bettie page 1950s pinup girl natural look risque fetish pose trigger cult follow decade she turn she modeling die
Bettie Page , the 1950s pinup girl whose natural looks and risque fetish poses <m> triggered </m> a cult following four decades after she turned her back on modeling , has died .
Bettie Page , the 1950s pinup girl whose natural looks and risque fetish poses <m> triggered </m> a cult following four decades after she turned her back on modeling , has died .
She was 85 .
Page died late yesterday in a Los Angeles hospital after suffering a heart attack more than a week ago , her agent Mark Roesler said in a statement .
`` She captured the imagination of a generation of men and women with her free spirit and unabashed sensuality , '' said Roesler .
`` She is the embodiment of beauty . ''
The busty `` Dark Angel '' from Tennessee was one of the most- photographed women of her era , striking a chord with men 's camera clubs and sparking outrage in Congress for her nude snapshots .
Page 's image , complete with black hair bangs and naughty smile , appeared on magazine covers , playing cards , wallpaper and comic books in the 1990s , inspiring retrospective tributes from celebrities such as Madonna , Demi Moore and Uma Thurman .
The college-educated beauty queen who disappeared from the public eye after 1957 was unaware of her renewed popularity until `` Entertainment Tonight '' broadcast a television segment about her almost 40 years later .
She had disowned her glamour lifestyle after becoming a born-again Christian in 1959 , and later battled mental illness in Florida and California .
`` Bettie Page is the last great icon of the 1950s , '' James Swanson , co-author of `` Bettie Page:
The Life of a Pinup Legend , '' said in a 1996 interview with NBC 's Real Life program .
`` Like James Dean and Marilyn Monroe , she brought something modern to the era .
She 's like the girl next door , the greatest American pin-up and that 's why she 's eternal. ``
Early Years
Bettie Mae Page was born on April 22 , 1923 , in Nashville , Tennessee .
The second of six children , she helped raise her younger siblings while the family traveled around the U.S. in search of work .
Page 's mother placed her daughters in an orphanage after divorcing her husband , who was sentenced to two years in an Atlanta penitentiary for stealing a policeman 's car .
At the age of 10 , Page began to mimic actresses and perform songs for the other girls at the orphanage before her mother , who worked as a hairdresser during the day and in a laundry at night , reclaimed her children after a year .
Page took refuge from her traumatic family life in local community centers , where she learned to cook , sew and study hard enough to top her class at high school .
She was a member of the drama club , helped edit the school newspaper and was voted `` The Most Likely to Succeed . ''
She won a $ 100 scholarship to Peabody College in Nashville , where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in education .
Three Husbands
In February 1943 , she married Billy Neal , the first of her three husbands , and moved to San Francisco , where she had her first modeling assignment for a local furrier .
While Neal served in the Mariana Islands during World War II , Page lived in Nashville , Miami and Port au Prince , Haiti .
In 1947 , she filed for divorce and moved to New York .
Three years later while walking on Coney Island , she met police officer Jerry Tibbs who had an interest in photography and assembled Page 's first portfolio .
Tibbs introduced her to camera clubs , men 's hobbyist groups that sometimes acted as a front for erotic photography , and Page 's career took off .
She then appeared in publisher Robert Harrison 's girlie magazines Wink , Flirt and Beauty Parade .
In January 1955 , she was the centerfold model in Hugh Hefner 's fledgling Playboy magazine , one month before actress Jayne Mansfield appeared as the publication 's Playmate .
`` She had a saucy innocence that is both contemporary and provocative , and also nostalgic , '' Hefner said .
Media Mogul
Page , who claimed she ignored media mogul Howard Hughes 's request for a screen test in 1955 because she did n't want to sleep with him , also studied acting under Herbert Berghoff at Sea Cliff Summer Theater on Long Island .
The apprenticeship helped her gain parts in New York stage productions and on television , once appearing on `` The Jackie Gleason Show . ''
Some of her most celebrated snapshots were taken in 1954 during a session with photographer Bunny Yeager at the Africa USA wildlife park in Boca Raton , Florida .
They included nude poses with two cheetahs and scenes in a leopard-patterned jungle outfit that she made herself .
Her `` Dark Angel '' image stemmed from bondage and fetish sessions for Irving Klaw 's Movie Star News .
Klaw , who paid $ 80 for four hours ' work at his studio in Greenwich Village , New York , required sadomasochistic shots to meet the demand of high- profile , educated clients .
His sister Paula created the sets and helped Page develop the fetish image .
'Very Sweet '
`` Paula was one of the nicest women I 've ever known in my life , '' Page said .
`` Only Paula was allowed to tie us up .
She was very gentle , caring and considerate .
She never tied any ropes too tight .
She was very sweet . ''
A Congressional investigation initiated by Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver in 1955 called Page as a witness and put Klaw out of business , though he had no case to answer because his models were never nude .
The evidence of obscenity had included more- explicit poses that Page had done for camera clubs after a drinking session one night at a party .
The Congressional probe is said to have contributed to her decision to give up modeling .
Throughout the 1960s , Page attended Bible schools in Los Angeles , Chicago and Oregon , helping teenage mothers and visiting jails .
Her breakdown in 1972 after divorcing third husband Harry Lear led to four months ' treatment in Florida 's Jackson Memorial Hospital and 20 months in Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino , California .
She also had numerous run-ins with the law , including a charge of assault with a deadly weapon after brandishing a knife at her landlady who did n't provide Page with rent receipts .
Pop-Culture Revival
Page 's pop-culture revival emanated from artwork by Robert Blue and Olivia de Berardinis , who drew on her fantasy and fetish work .
David Stevens also featured Page in `` The Rocketeer '' comics from the early 1980s , prompting an avalanche of similar publications based on her persona .
In later years , she lived in California and collected royalties from her work as a model after signing with Curtis Management Group .
In 2005 , Time Warner Inc. and HBO Films released `` The Notorious Bettie Page , '' a feature film starring Gretchen Mol as Page .
Page avoided the camera lens after her modeling years , though she was photographed with Hefner at Playboy 's 50th anniversary celebration in 2003 .
`` I want people to remember me as I was , '' she said in a Playboy interview in 1998 .
Page was divorced three times and had no children .