Bettie Page Passes Away

The great Bettie Page was one of the most recognisable faces (and figures) of the 1950s. With her famous fringe, red lips and scanty swimwear (which she designed and made herself), Bettie appeared in magazines with such colourful titles as Wink, Titter, Eyefull and Dial, as well as an early edition of Playboy. She became known as ‘The Queen of the Pin Up’ and some claim that she was second only to Marilyn Monroe in terms of female notoriety.

After years of frenetic glamour modelling, Bettie completely vanished in 1958. Many assumed she had died, but she re-emerged in the 1980s, unaware that an entire cult and industry had grown up around her image and that she’d influenced fashion, music videos and photography. After years of destitution, Hugh Hefner himself set her up with an agent and she lived out her remaining years with the money rolling in. She passed away on this day in 2008. All hail Bettie!