Bettie Page dies at 85

I caught the news on NPR Friday night but didn’t manage to track down a written article until this morning. As someone who was “Raised” on Bettie Page, I can honestly say she will be deeply missed.:(:cry: 1950s pinup model Bettie Page dies at 85 The ASSOCIATED PRESS December 12, 2008 LOS ANGELES - Bettie Page, the secretary-turned-model of the 1950s whose provocative shots in scanty or no clothing paved the way for the sexual revolution of the 1960s, passed away yesterday. She was 85. Her agent, Mark Roesler, reported that Page suffered a heart attack last week in Los Angeles and never regained consciousness before passing. Page captured national attention with magazine photos showcasing her sensual figure in bikinis and sheer lingerie. These images were quickly pinned to walls in military barracks, garages, and other spots, where they stayed for years. Her portfolio featured a centerfold in the January 1955 issue of then-new Playboy magazine, along with controversial sadomasochistic poses. The latter helped fuel her mysterious disappearance from public view, which lasted decades and included periods when she battled mental illness and became a born-again Christian. After resurfacing in the 1990s, she gave occasional interviews but refused to have her picture taken. “I don’t want to be photographed in my old age,” she told an interviewer in 1998. “I feel the same way about old movie stars. … It makes me sad. We want to remember them when they were young.” The 21st century certainly had people remembering her. She became the subject of songs, biographies, websites, comic books, movies, and documentaries. Gretchen Mol played her in 2005’s “The Notorious Bettie Page,” while Paige Richards took on the role in 2004’s “Bettie Page: Dark Angel.” Her career started one day in October 1950 when she stepped away from her job as a secretary in a New York office for a walk along Coney Island beach. An amateur photographer named Jerry Tibbs asked her to pose. Looking back on the career that followed, she told Playboy in 1998, “I never thought it was shameful. I felt normal. It’s just that it was much better than pounding a typewriter eight hours a day, which gets monotonous.”