[Molestation by Father, Underground Camera Club Sensation, Model For
[Molestation by father, underground camera club sensation, model for SM pornographers, Playboy centerfold, failed marriages, depression, mental hospital incarceration, religion, late revival as camp pinup icon of the past provides income.] Bettie Page; '50s Cheesecake Icon Revered as Queen of Retro Kitsch This undated photo provided Thursday, Dec. 11, 2008 by CMG Worldwide shows Bettie Page. Page, the 1950s secretary-turned-model whose controversial photographs in skimpy attire or none at all helped set the stage for the 1960s sexual revolution, died Thursday. She was 85. By Joe Holley and Matt Schudel Washington Post Staff Writers Saturday, December 13, 2008 Bettie Page , a pinup queen of the 1950s who posed for racy photographs that blended the wholesome and the forbidden, and decades later became an influence on fashion and pop culture, died Dec. 11 at Kindred Hospital in Los Angeles. She suffered a heart attack last week and never regained consciousness. She was 85. Ms. Page initially made her mark posing for men's magazines, camera clubs and underground movies as an appealing girl-next-door -- albeit a naughty one. Known for her voluptuous figure, direct gaze, alluring smile and shoulder-length hair with straight-cut bangs, she appeared in thousands of cheesecake photos, wearing tiny bikinis, stiletto heels, bondage outfits and sometimes nothing at all. Pinned on the walls of auto-repair shops, taped inside Army barracks footlockers or slipped between the pages of school textbooks, the come-hither photos of the raven-haired Ms. Page rivaled the popularity of blond beauties Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield. She was one of the first centerfolds in Playboy magazine , wearing only a Santa hat and a wink in the January 1955 issue.
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