Murdered Vancouver Playboy model subject of new 20/20 documentary
Credit to Author: Stephanie Ip| Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2019 19:32:01 +0000
A Vancouver model who moved to Hollywood and became Playmate of the Year in 1980 before being murdered by her estranged husband and manager is the subject of a new 20/20 documentary airing on ABC this Friday.
The Death of a Playmate: The Dorothy Stratten Story explores the life of Dorthy Ruth Hoogstraten, a Vancouver-born girl who worked at a local Dairy Queen before being discovered at the age of 18 by photographer Paul Snider and thrust into the world of modelling, Playboys and Hollywood film sets. The documentary features images of Stratten from the Vancouver Sun’s archives.
Dorothy Stratten and her husband Paul Snider are pictured in a May 1978 wedding photo.
Under the professional name Dorothy Stratten, she and Snider – who later became her husband, manager and eventual killer – moved to Hollywood where she captured the attention of Playboy magnate Hugh Hefner and landed film roles alongside Audrey Hepburn and John Ritter.
But her journey to fame was cut short when Snider, jealous at her success and angered by her filing for divorce, shot and killed her in August 1980 when she was just 20.
Vancouver native Dorothy Stratten became the 1980 Playboy Playmate of the Year.
“We decided to do a documentary on the Dorothy Stratten story because of the complexity of the story,” said Muriel Pearson, senior producer with 20/20.
“One of our interviewees, Mariel Hemingway, described it as ‘the Hollywood dream gone wrong.’ One choice in her (Stratten’s) life – the decision to follow the desires of the man she thought she loved – altered the entire trajectory of her life.”
Stratten’s story has previously inspired the 1981 TV movie Death of a Centrefold and the 1983 film Star 80, as well as the book The Killing of the Unicorn. Stratten is also referenced as the “first-born unicorn” in the Red Hot Chili Peppers song “Californication,” and in Bryan Adams’ “The Best Was Yet To Come” and Canadian rock band Prism’s “Cover Girl.”
VANCOUVER, B.C.: May 13,1980 – Playmate of the year Dorothy Stratten frolics with Gassy Jack statue during her Gastown tour in this 1980 photo.
The 20/20 team, however, hoped to give a unique perspective on Stratten’s story, placing it in the context of the late ’70s and 80s during the sexual revolution.
“The advent of the pill liberated women to make new choices about their sexuality. But it was, at times, a double-edged sword,” said Pearson.
“We highlighted the duality of past and present by depicting a kind of double standard that was part of the Playboy philosophy.”
Kathryn Van Arendonk, who is featured in the documentary, described the iconic Playboy bunny as “sophisticated but she’s also naïve. A bunny is available, but you cannot touch her. All of Playboy is about these contradictions between one idea and another, and then trying to live inside of them.”
The 20/20 documentary airs on Friday at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
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Vancouver native Dorothy Stratten was the 1980 Playboy Playmate of the Year.
Patti Hansen (L) and Dorothy Stratten are pictured in a still from the 1981 film “They All Laughed.”
Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten is pictured with Vancouver Sun writer Lloyd Dykk in this archival photo.
May 29, 1980 – Canadian rock band Prism is pictured with Playmate Dorothy Stratten.
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