The tragic fate of Playboy star Dorothy Stratten
At the age of 20, this girl already had everything — fame, success, money and a beloved man. What many people have been striving for all their lives, the model received at a young age. It seemed that a beautiful and long life filled with joy was waiting ahead, but fate decreed otherwise. The life of the beauty Dorothy Stratten (Dorothy Stratten) ended unexpectedly and tragically.
Dorothy Ruth Hoogstratten, which is the name Dorothy Stratten received from her parents, was born on February 28, 1960 in a family of Dutch immigrants in Vancouver, Canada. Her family was very poor, so the girl started working as a waitress in high school. Despite the difficult life, Dorothy studied well and was a modest and kind girl.
At the age of 17, she turned into a real beauty. A pretty face, white curls and a precocious figure invariably attracted the attention of men to Dorothy. In 1977, 26-year-old Paul Snyder came into the Diary Queen cafe, where the girl worked. He was engaged in promotion and did not disdain pimping. Dorothy was charmed by the charming visitor, and he immediately realized that he had found a real treasure.
Paul visited the cafe several more times, and then invited the blonde waitress on a date. She could not resist and so an affair ensued. Snyder looked in love and courted beautifully, but he had his own plans for Dorothy. Very soon he persuaded the girl to pose nude. Paul sent the pictures to various magazines and soon he was lucky. The model was noticed in Playboy and offered a profitable cooperation.
Dorothy was invited to work in Los Angeles, and together with her, he went to the capital of the film industry and modeling business and Snyder. The couple left Canada in 1979 and just a couple of months later, a picture of a young blonde graced the cover of Playboy. The new star of men's gloss made a real splash. Dorothy began to receive interesting offers of cooperation, including from Hollywood.
Stratten's first roles were episodic and inconspicuous. But then success came — the girl starred in the main role in the fantastic film "Galaxina". The picture was received by the public perfectly and Dorothy immediately became a star. She was predicted to have the same dizzying career as Marilyn Monroe. Snyder was incredibly pleased with his girlfriend and made grandiose plans.
With the growing popularity of Dorothy, Paul began to notice that he was losing control over her. The girl began to gradually move away from him and show character. Snyder hastened to propose to her and Dorothy, oddly enough, agreed. She did not have such vivid feelings for a man as at the beginning of their romance. Most likely, Stratten was just grateful to him for making her a star.
Dorothy wasn't in love with Paul for real. But at the same time there was no love on the part of Paul. For him, the young wife was just an effective tool for earning money. After the wedding, he, using the status of a legitimate husband, began to completely control Dorothy. He took over financial management, real estate operations, followed her meetings and calls. Snyder also persuaded the girl to go to bed with the right people.
There were rumors that Snyder forced Dorothy to sleep with Playboy owner Hugh Hefner. However, the publisher and businessman himself categorically denied this. When Hefner was asked in an interview about Stratten, he always spoke well of her. Once he even mentioned that Dorothy "was not a very dissolute woman" and asked not to believe the dirty rumors.
Oddly enough, but Paul Snyder, encouraging his young wife to meet with other men, was very jealous of her. He was greedy for money, but at the same time he remained terribly possessive. When Stratten left for filming, he hired private detectives to follow her every move. Interestingly, he paid for the services of detectives from her own money. Snyder himself was unemployed and earned absolutely nothing.
Paul often arranged scandals for Dorothy because of her revealing outfits and communication with other men. He wanted his wife to be supportive only to those people who could benefit him. Of course, such a toxic relationship could not last long and Stratten is out of Snyder's control.
In 1980, Hugh Hefner's friend and business partner, director Peter Bogdanovich, invited Stratten to star in his film. It was a picture of "They were All laughing," starring Audrey Hepburn. Of course, Dorothy agreed. By this point, her greedy, unscrupulous and scandalous husband only irritated her. On the set, Stratten and Bogdanovich had a stormy romance.
No matter what, the woman wanted to be honest with her husband. She wrote him a letter in which she told him about her faded feelings and relationship with the director. In the end, Stratten asked Snyder for a divorce. Paul, who had big plans for Dorothy, was furious. Nevertheless, he gave no sign and made an appointment with his wife.
On August 4, 1980, the unsuspecting actress went to a meeting with her husband to discuss the details of the divorce. She didn't know that everything was organized with only one purpose. As soon as Dorothy Stratten entered the house, Snyder shot her and fatally wounded her. After that, he raped his victim.
Realizing the horror of what he had done, the killer committed suicide. When police arrived at the scene, the dead Snyder was clutching the body of his 20-year-old wife. A few days after the tragedy, the next issue of Playboy with Stratten on the cover was released. The girl starred in a photo shoot a few weeks before her tragic death.
Regarding the death of Dorothy , Hugh Hefner said in an interview as follows:
The film "They All Laughed" by Peter Bogdanovich was released after the death of Dorothy Stratten. The director himself was literally crushed by grief and experienced the loss of his beloved very hard. He later wrote a book about the girl, which he called "Killing a Unicorn: Dorothy Stratten, 1960-1980." Surprisingly, 8 years after Stratten's death, Bogdanovich married her younger sister Louise. In the year of the wedding, she turned 20, that is, exactly the same age as her sister was at the time of her death.