Bettie Mae Page
1923-2008

Legendary pinup Model, Bettie Page subject of the 2005 film The Notorious Bettie Page starring Gretchen Mol passed away Thursday the 11^th of December 2008 of complications from a heart attack she suffered December 02, 2008. She is said to have died peacefully in the Los Angeles hospital where she has been being treated never regaining consciousness.

Born Bettie Mae Page in 1923 she grew up in Tennessee. She graduated in Nashville as Salutatorian and was voted most likely to Succeed prior to receiving a scholarship to George Peabody College in Nashville. She worked as a secretary and studied acting while planning to become a teacher. She never dreamed a short career as a model started by a Police Officer and amateur Photographer asking her to pose would turn her into one of the most Legendary faces of the 1950s.

The amateur photographer Jerry Tibbs opened a new world to Bettie and introduced the world to one of the most recognizable models of the last 50 years. Her mail order photos with Irving Klaw and his sister Paula made her the first known Bondage model and still arguably one of the most famous. Her often controversial photos led her to be called to testify before the US Senate. While excused from actually testifying many of the negatives from her shoots with Klaw were destroyed and many more of the remaining photos were classified illegal to print. In 1954 while on vacation in Florida she met former model turned Photographer Bunny Yeager. Yeager was so amazed by her photographs she contacted an up and coming magazine publisher, Hugh Hefner. She appeared the following year in the January 55 issue as the Playboy Playmate of the month wearing only a Santa hat and hanging a Christmas tree ornament.

Heffner told the AP on Thursday, "I think that she was a remarkable lady, an iconic figure in pop culture who influenced sexuality, taste in fashion, someone who had a tremendous impact on our society ... She was a very dear person." Her Photos with Yeager and Klaw along with Hefner’s Playboy Magazine are considered to have helped jumpstart the Sexual Revolution of the 60s and 70s. Asked about her legendary status she was quoted as saying "I don't know what they mean by an icon. I never thought of myself as being that. It seems strange to me. I was just modeling, thinking of as many different poses as possible. I made more money modeling than being a secretary. I had a lot of free time. You could go back to work after an absence of a few months. I couldn't do that as a secretary."

As quickly as she appeared she disappeared. While there have been many reasons for her disappearance including numerous claims of her death, most likely it was due to the fact that On New Years Eve 1958 she walked into a small church in Key West, Florida and came out with a renewed religious belief. She began attending the church and became a born again Christian. Over the next two decades she worked for many Christian organizations including working full time for the Evangelist Billy Graham. In the late 80s and 90s she resurfaced. While refusing to be photographed or appearing publicly she did sit down for a few interviews including Playboy in 1998. She often remarked that she wanted to be remembered as she was in her photos.

Her disappearing at the pinnacle of her career to become a secretary or religious missionary living a troubled life is hard to forget, but I chose to remember the Iconic Sex Symbol, the Raven haired Beauty with the Perfect figure and Gorgeous smile that attracted national attention with her risqué poses. While she may be gone, her photos will continue to keep her legend alive for decades to come.