Beauty, money and a mortal trio: the horrendous crime of the playboy bunny

I wanted to be famous.And she had everything to be.Thus, full of dreams and with all the innocence of an 18 -year -old teenager, Dorothy Stratten took a plane for the first time in her life and arrived in Los Angeles.Alone.

But the city of success, the one that shines during the day and bleeds cloudy at night, was going to give him much more than he expected.But I was also going to take away.She knew what she wanted but not the consequences that would bring.That day was August 13, 1978. Two years and a day later she would be dead.

This is the chronicle of those last 731 days when he became the playboy girl of the year and starring films today.In which she, thanks to the perfect curves of her and her talent, she loved Hugh Hefner and passionate Peter Bogdanovich, an emblem among the directors of the new Hollywood of the ’70.

This is the story of the most beautiful of the Fine.A story -Alerta, Spoiler- without happy ending.

"That girl could make me a lot of money"

It was February 28, 1960. In the cold winter of Vancouver, Canada, Dorothy Ruth Hoogstraten, the eldest daughter of a family of Dutch immigrants was born.

The father left the home when I was a girl.The help of social assistance was scarce.Her mother made an excessive effort to keep her and her two younger brothers from her.The situation through which the four was difficult, there was no room for tastes, they barely survived.A couple of shoes was a luxury.A dress, an impossible dream.

Therefore, while he was still in high school, Dorothy began working as a waitress in Dairy Queen, a fast food chain and ice cream.Time also reached him to practice artistic skating- she was very good in it- and to write poetry.

It was there, between the tables and deliveries of the restaurant, where he met the man who would define his future.And for worse.

As soon as Paul Snider saw her, he knew.The adolescent of ideal measures, the owner of that body as perfect as her face, she would solve all her problems.

"That girl could make me a lot of money," they say he said as soon as he saw her.Or at least that was written by Theresa Carpenter in Village Voice, in a note that won a Pulitzer award.

She had barely turned 18;He was 26. The young man had also had a childhood of deficiencies just like her.He was looking for life since childhood.The lack of money supplied her with such a personal and striking style.To the limit of the ridiculous, he always wore jewels and golden chains, a mink coat and drove a black corvette.

The same day he met her, Dorothy gave her her phone.Neither slow nor lazy, that same night he called her.They started out.

There were gifts and compliments.He seduced her with her airs, with the experience she showed him in every attitude of her.He made her feel important, beautiful, gave her all the security she lacked.

Behind that love - for many, only apparent - there was a strategy.It was not the first occasion when he tried to get profits from a woman.But this time she knew that she had a raw diamond.

And he soon became his "representative", a mere euphemism to hide his activity as a pimp.However, this time happened was something different: Snider fell in love.An interested love, but love at last.

With all her seduction in tow, Snider convinced Dorothy's mother, who finally authorized that the young woman - who was still a minor - took pictures with little clothes.It was with that material like she got a test for Playboy.

The photos arrived and in the magazine they were delighted.The destination was marked.

Success, fame and excessive passions

Just two months later, Dorothy set foot in Los Angeles.Her boyfriend took her to the airport and, before climbing the plane, warned her that if the powerful owner of the publication wanted to sleep with her, he had to refuse.

Playboy editors worshiped her at first glance.Despite being accustomed to beauty, they felt that she had something else, a particular charm that exceeded everything.And all.

It was perfect.Natural pretty.Only one change had to do: they shortened her last name.From that moment she became Dorothy Stratten.

Hugh Hefner, the founder of the mythical publication, felt a special fascination for her.That blonde girl who looked delicate, voluptuous, naive and, many times, scared of what was happening to her, loved.So much so, that he made it one of the favorites of the mansion.

His presence became infallible in dinners and at the endless parties that was night by night.His images stood out in the pages of the magazine.She was very close to what she wanted.

However, something always worried him.The dependence she had with Snider made her live worried, permanently calling him at every step she took.In the beginning, she "she thought that any success she was having, and he was still an embryonic at that time, Paul was totally due," Marilyn Grabowski, editor of the magazine, told an ABC documentary.

The Gigoló, meanwhile, was also worried.His girl alone, among the wolves who shared that famous brothel daily, represented a danger.She could abandon him, he was aware of that.Not only were he jealous, Dorothy was his life insurance, his source of income.Therefore, he traveled from Vancouver to Los Angeles and asked for marriage.

​The couple married on June 1, 1979 in Nevada and moved to a house around Bel Air, either close to the magnificent mansions of producers and film directors.There, they shared the rent with a friend of Snider, Dr. Stephen Kushner.

But the situation became more difficult.Snider's plan was underway.He prohibited Dorothy from drinking coffee so that her teeth would not be stained, he did not let her smoke or drink and, for jealousy or interest of her, even her poisoned the dog.

From the central poster to the cinema

The blonde who timidly appeared on the Playboy pages, quickly reached the screen.After an appearance in Playboy ’S Roller Disco and Pyjama Party, a show that ABC issued in 1979, she got works as an actress.She first did it in TV series such as Buck Rogers and the island of fantasy.

Fied Up To Get Back into Team Zoom Meetings.3 Week Focus Will Be: Exp On What “The Process” Means and How To ... https://t.co/krenklxist

— Chris Citowicki Mon May 11 20:00:33 +0000 2020

Then, he went to the cinema.She saw her in small roles in Skatetown U.S.A., American and Autumn Born.But Galaxin, the independent science fiction comedy she starred in, was the one that placed her in the center of the scene.

To this success, his choice as a playboy girl of the year was added.The party was dazzling;Dorothy received $ 200,000, a jaguar and too many gifts.

At one time, the celebrations were cut.It was the time of speeches.Hugh Hefner stood out how special he was and she thanked him."She has probably made me the happiest girl in the world," she said, excited.

Her husband, who was no longer well received at the Playboy mansion, knew she was increasingly outside Dorothy's working life.And of the staff too.The discussions were permanent.The fights, constant.

"I don't know if I can love someone as I loved Dorothy"

The versions are different.Some say he was there for the first time, to fix a problem with Hefner;others, that he was one of the many famous habit of the bachanales.The truth is that Dorothy and Peter Bogdanovich met at the Playboy mansion.

He saw her and dazzled.The man was 40 years old, 20 more than her, he came from a few box office failures and left a more than complex relationship with Cybill Shepherd, another blonde beautiful model that occupied fashion magazine covers.

The Director Justo prepared a comedy, "Our cheat loves" (They All Laughed, in English), with the protagonist - and last great role - of the great Audrey Hepburn.Ben Gazzara and John Ritter were also part of the cast.

Without hesitation, he hired Dorothy to represent one of the characters.The director and the young woman spent three months filming in New York.The romance began immediately.And it was not a simple flirt.He proposed marriage of her.She accepted.But she had to solve a problem before: she had to separate from her husband.

​In August they returned to Los Angeles.The young woman went directly to live with Bogdanovich to her Bel Air mansion.Snider was already a hindrance in his life and his career.She was determined to get rid of him.She sent him the divorce request and separated her accounts.

Fatal obsession

August 14, 1980 was the day.Dorothy wanted to speak quietly with hers - at the point of being an excess of her.She wanted to convince him to sign her papers.He refused, he was obsessed with her.He didn't want to leave her.

But neither did I want to earn money thanks to her work.Among other things, he demanded 50 percent of her life profits.

That day, in addition, Dorothy wanted to take the opportunity to collect the clothes that had remained at home.She was sure she could convince him.Her lawyer offered to accompany her but she told her that it was best to go alone.Even, although her friends and even Hugh Hefner himself told her not to be, she did the same.

At noon he parked his car at the door.He entered walking.She left dead.

​Snider felt his world was sinking.His wife, the only thing that gave him benefits, wanted to leave with another.He felt that she belonged to her, that she had achieved success thanks to him.That she owed everything and more.

His creation, that voluptuous perfect woman, was evaporating.And with her they evaporated her dreams, her delusions of greatness of her and access to a luxurious way of life she had always dreamed and never reached.

He had no weight.The last purchase of him had been a shotgun.He was happy because the owner had even taught him to use it.

The horror

The silence was deep.That day, when Kushner and his wife arrived at the house, the door of Snider's room was closed.Nothing was heard.As Dorothy's car was at the door, they thought the couple had reconciled.After all, it was what man wanted.

The housing companions had dinner.Then they watched television.The hours passed and nobody left the room.They decided to enter to see what had happened.

What they saw the shockeó.There was blood everywhere.On the sheets, the walls, the furniture.It seemed that a red sea had taken over the place.

She was tied to a bank to make abdominals.She found her naked and dead.Her face had been destroyed by a shot.He was sitting against a wall, he had committed suicide.

But first, he had degraded her, had raped her and annihilated her beauty.Faced with such a show, the Kushner called the police.Then, to the Playboy mansion.Hugh Hefner told Bogdanovich, who had a nervous breakdown when he learned.

Five days later, the director was in charge of organizing the funeral.Dorothy Stratten is buried in the same cemetery in which Marilyn Monroe is.Then, Bogdanovich himself was responsible for helping his family.

For the epitaph, he chose a text of "Goodbye to weapons", by Ernest Hemingway: "If people bring so much courage to this world, the world will have to kill them to break them, so of course they die.Kill so much to the good, kind and brave in equal parts.And if you are none of those things, be sure to kill you too, but without any special haste.We love you, Dr ”.

The premiere of "our cheat loves" became a posthumous tribute to the actress.But disenchanted and dejected by him for the little success of the film, the director spent all his money on buying the rights and re -restrained it in ten cinemas.He didn't succeed either.In 1985 he declared himself in bankruptcy.

In something that today will be unthinkable due to the age difference, in 1984, Bogdanovich began dating Louise, Dorothy's younger sister.He paid him a first level school, theater and modeling classes, and filled it with present.

After a 4 -year -old courtship, in the '88 they married.He was 49 years old;She, 20. The same age that Dorothy Stratten was when she died.

Jayne Mansfield: eroticism, black magic and the cruel death of "the other Marilyn"

The aberrant murder of the black Dalia: a story of mutilation, sex and death

Topics that appear in this note

Comments

Commenting Clarín's notes is exclusive to subscribers.

Subscribe to comment

I already have a subscription

Clarín

To comment you must activate your account by clicking on the e-mail we send you to the box, did you not find the e-mail?Click here and we send it to you again.

Clarín

To comment our notes please complete the following data.