Biography
The by-now-familiar saga of model-turned-actress Dorothy Stratten waxes utterly heartrending. Slain at only 20 years old, Stratten, in her brief life, left behind one of the more tragic legacies in the history of Hollywood. Her story provided -- and continues to provide -- not only a telling look at the disgusting backwash and the dirty underbelly of the so-called "sexual revolution," but, ironically, a paean to the sacredness and superiority of femininity as so often quashed by that movement. A number of directors (such as
Bob Fosse in
Star 80) attempted to tell Stratten's story in both feature narrative and documentary form; all fell on their faces -- and into exploitation -- by failing to demonstrate an understanding of the core of hope at the center of the story. To date, the only account to truly catch the essence of Stratten's life is the wonderful memoir written by the late actress' lover and fiancé, director
Peter Bogdanovich: the 1984 book Dorothy Stratten, 1960-1980: The Killing of the Unicorn.
Born Dorothy Ruth Hoogstraten on February 28, 1960, in a cow town outside of Vancouver, Canada, Stratten (along with siblings John and Louise) was abandoned by her working-class father at an early age, leaving her mother, Nelly, to raise the children. Dorothy was, by all accounts, a sweet-natured teenager with a gift for writing poetry and a lyrical and innocent view of life. Ironically, had she not taken a job at a local Dairy Queen circa 1977, the tragic events to follow would almost certainly never have occurred. But Dorothy's path crisscrossed with that of Paul Snider, a Vancouver-based pusher, con artist, and pimp who idolized
Hugh Hefner, exuded intense chauvinism, and craved public recognition and celebrity for himself. When Snider laid eyes on Dorothy in the said fast-food establishment, he saw -- as it were -- his ticket to that recognition. Taking full advantage of Dorothy's image problem (a beautiful girl who ironically suffered from self-consciousness and found her hands and feet too big), Snider began to brainwash his "discovery" with an onslaught of flattery and gifts -- conning her first into dating and marriage, then into a name change (Hoogstraten to the Americanized Stratten), then into posing nude for a series of sleazy photographers.
Snider immediately sent the images in to Hefner, and to each's delight, Playboy found not only its next hot property, but -- eventually -- its playmate of the year for 1980. The marrieds moved to Los Angeles upon receiving the initial interest from Playboy, with Stratten wheedled by her husband into to posing for a seemingly endless series of ugly, tasteless, and exploitative photo spreads for the men's magazine. Stratten also began acting roles in B-grade productions. She often drew the sole critical praise in reviews of awful movies like
Autumn Born (1979) and
Galaxina (1980), and became one of the few actresses outside of
Kim Basinger to escape from the Playboy stigma and land increasingly respectable roles.
Snider, meanwhile, severely abused Stratten on multiple levels, driving her increasingly away from him; he also sank into cocaine-induced behavior not simply tasteless and ignorant, but insane and violent. As an embarrassed Playboy distanced itself from Snider, Dorothy Stratten understandably did her best to escape from her husband's shadow, but repeatedly demonstrated, through comments and generalized behavior, the extent of her husband's mental control over her. She also reportedly longed to end her work for Playboy, but that had to wait, thanks to a binding contract.
At about the same time, Stratten met and then fell deeply in love with A-list director
Peter Bogdanovich, who signed her to appear in his 1981 film
They All Laughed, co-starring
John Ritter,
Ben Gazzara, and
Audrey Hepburn. In the summer of 1980, Stratten and Bogdanovich -- having wrapped the production of the film in New York City -- spent a romantic vacation in Europe together, and made plans to marry upon returning to Los Angeles, after the finalization of Dorothy's divorce from Snider. Tragically, that did not occur. Upon returning to her home to collect her things, on August 14, 1980, Stratten found an enraged, drug-addled Snider waiting for her with a loaded shotgun; he assaulted her, killed her, and turned the gun on himself. Dorothy's body was interred in the cemetery next to
Marilyn Monroe -- with many journalists predicting that she would have gained a reputation of like stature, as an actress, had she lived.
The romantic comedy
They All Laughed appeared in 1981 with an opening dedication to Stratten and received mixed reviews. Bogdanovich found solace not only through writing and publishing the said memoir (which includes extracts of poems by Stratten), but by beginning a spiritual search for meaning that lasted several years and found him embracing matriarchal teaching at the hands of friend and spiritual mentor
Robert Graves. Bogdanovich returned to directing with 1985's acclaimed
Mask and, in 1988, married Dorothy's younger sister, Louise. The two divorced after 13 years. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide