Dorothy Stratten (1960-1980) was born Dorothy Ruth Hoogstraten on February 28, 1960 in a Salvation Army hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia. She grew up and attended high school in Coquitlam. In 1976 while working part-time in a local Dairy Queen, she met a local promotor named Paul Snider (26) who coaxed her into sending photos to Playboy. Stratten forged her mother's signature on the model release form. In 1979, she became Playboy's "Miss August 1979" with a name change to Dorothy Stratten. In 1980, she became Playboy's "Playmate of the Year".
In June, 1979, she married Paul Snider in Las Vegas, Nevada. Paul began to control her life which eventually resulted in separation and a pending divorce in August, 1980.
Stratten appeared in five movies: non-starring role in Skatetown USA (1979), Americathon (1979), Autumn Born (1979), Galaxina (1980) and They All Laughed (1981). She also appeared on television in Fantasy Island, the "Cruise Ship to the Stars" episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and in 1980 on The Tonight Show.
On August 14, 1980, her estranged husband brutally raped and murdered Stratten in her west Los Angeles apartment, apparently jealous over an affair she was having with a Hollywood film director named Peter Bogdanovich. Snider committed suicide shortly thereafter in the same apartment. Stratten's tragic life story was portrayed in the film Star 80 (1983).
Peter Bogdanovich, with whom Stratten had fallen in love with during the filming of They All Laughed, later wrote a book about her titled The Killing of the Unicorn.
