Obit

"Queen of the Pinups" Dies

Bettie Page, 85, was most popular pinup of postwar era.

Bettie Page, the "Queen of the Pinups," died yesterday at 85. Page was the most famous pinup girl of the postwar era. She had her first shoot in 1950 and her big break came in 1955, when she modeled for Playboy. She frequently appeared nude or in bondage. But she mysteriously retreated into privacy in 1957 and did not reappear for three decades, when there was a sudden revival of interest in her—comic book artists, biographers, Quentin Tarantino, Demi Moore, and Madonna all revitalized her image. After her disappearance, Page suffered a nervous breakdown and became a born-again Christian, even serving as an adviser to the Billy Graham Crusade. She refused to be photographed later in life, but told the Los Angeles Times in 2006, "I want to be remembered as I was when I was young and in my golden times. I want to be remembered as a woman who changed people's perspectives concerning nudity in its natural form."