Dorothy Stratten | A Piece of My Mind.

It was exactly fifty-three years ago today, February 28, 1960 that God let a beautiful, ethereal, light come to this world. Her name was Dorothy Ruth Hoogstratten, but most people if they remember her at all know her by the name of Dorothy Stratten. For those of you who have never heard of her, let me take just a moment to familiarize her to you. Dorothy Stratten was a Playboy bunny for a very short, and extremely brief time in history. She was born in Vancouver, Canada to Simon and Nelly Hoogstratten and was the oldest of three children. She had a brother named John and a baby half-sister named Louise.

Dorothy did not seek the limelight as most young woman nowadays do. In an over promiscuous world where cheap girls are a dime a dozen and most woman dispose of their clothes at the drop of a hat. Dorothy was an innocent, naive, Bambi. She never ever wanted the notoriety that plagued her and in the end took her much too short life. As a matter of fact she was a shy, vulnerable, young teenage girl in Highschool working at her local Dairy Queen in 1977 when Paul Snyder or what I like to call him “Snakey-Snider” slithered in and claimed her for his own. He never loved Dorothy. He only saw her as a tool to make money and fulfill his own greedy, monetary, and fleshly desires. He led Dorothy on a heartless crusade like a lamb led to the slaughter. Naive, and Young what else could she do but listen to and follow the direction of this older more experienced man as he promised her dreams of diamonds and caviar. But in the end what was Hugh Hefner’s dream became Dorothy’s nightmare.
Dorothy never wanted to appear on the cover of Playboy or even to pose suggestively, much less nude in photographs for that matter, but Paul Snyder coerced her in to it. Paul took nude photographs of her while she was still a minor under the age of 18 and forged her Mother’s signature to get her into Playboy Magazine. It was no surprise when the 5’9 Dutch, Blonde Haired, Blue-Eyed Beauty caught the eye of Hugh Hefner. She graced the cover of the August 1979 Playboy issue. In 1980 She was chosen as Playmate of the Year. But Dorothy was so much more than just a pretty face. She was highly intelligent, and a wonderfully witty young woman with a kind soul, and a demure sweetness about her that now, is almost obsolete in today’s day in age. Even “Hef” himself realized that she was not like most other girls. She was as Peter Bogdonavitch called her in his book a “Unicorn” a rare, special, beautiful, creature. Playboy would never again encounter another girl who could even come near to Dorothy.
Dorothy wanted to make a name for herself as more than just a Playboy Bunny so she sought out acting she starred in The leading role of the Canadian Movie “Autumn Born” (1979) then in the movie “Galaxina” which came out the following year in 1980. “They All Laughed” with Audrey Hepburn and John Ritter came out after her death in 1981. The movie was directed by her lover Peter Bogdonavitch. Dorothy held so much hope and promise as a young actress it is such a shame that Snyder cheated her and us of such talent, who knows what Dorothy would have become had she been given more time.
In the year 1980 Dorothy and Peter Bogdonavitch had fallen in love. Dorothy had been wanting to get away from Paul Snyder who for years had been mistreating and abusing her. Peter promised her a better life and an escape from Snyder. She had moved in with Bogdonavitch and they were anxious to start their future together. Peter loved Dorothy very much and his children had become very attached to her.Dorothy was very much a joy in the Bogdonavitch’s lives.
On August 14, 1980 Dorothy being the sweet soul that she was went and met her estranged husband at their home in Los Angeles. She was going to tell Paul about Peter Bogdonavitch and their new life together and was going to try to financially compensate Paul even bringing a $1,000 dollars with her, in an attempt to pacify the money-hungry, sociopathic, Snyder. Snyder however had already known about Dorothy and Peter Bogdonavitch for months going as far as to hire a private detective to spy on Dorothy. It was the Private Investigator who notified Snyder of Dorothy’s extramarital affair with Bogdonavitch. The lunatic Snyder could not handle this, so jealous was he of his wife that he had made up his mind that if he couldn’t have Dorothy no one would. On August 14, 1980 Paul Snyder raped and killed his beautiful twenty year old wife. He then turned the twelve gauge shotgun on himself. The news of Dorothy’s death came as a blow to her family, her friends, the industry, Peter Bogdonavitch, and to Hefner. Hugh Hefner I believe had very much-loved Dorothy. He suffered a stroke after her death and I believe has never fully recovered over the loss of her. In watching “Hef” over the years it seems he keeps trying to recreate Dorothy in young, pretty, blondes to replace her, but deep in his heart he knows as we all do that there will never ever be another Dorothy Stratten. So obsessed was Peter Bogdonavitch with Dorothy that he ended up marrying her younger sister Louise. They were married from December 30th, 1988- 2001. Even her own flesh and blood sister could never hold a candle to Dorothy. Bogdonavitch paid tribute to his love in the 1984 book “The Killing of the Unicorn.” I own a copy and I must say it is a great book. The movie industry produced two movies about Dorothy the first was “Star 80” starring Mariel Hemingway as Dorothy. Mariel did a wonderful job but I personally think the role of Dorothy should have been played by Daryl Hannah. The second Dorothy movie is called “Death of a Centerfold” and Jamie Lee Curtis stars as Dorothy in this made for television movie.
My own personal favorite footage of Dorothy is her interview with Johnny Carson. In the interview You can see what a sweet, precious, soul she truly was. There is nothing trashy nor cheap about this young woman. “Playboy” and class used together are an oxymoron but Dorothy was truly the only classy playmate!!! Then of course are the pictures, the beautiful photographs of a beautiful angel cruelly taken way before her time. Dorothy was robbed of so much she never got to become a big time actress, or win an Oscar, or even see her twenty-first birthday for that matter… there is no beautiful porcelain doll of her, and she never even got the chance to become a mother. She would have been a wonderful mother.
The words on her epitaph describe the injustice of her death in its entirety: It is taken from the book “A Farewell to Arms” by Ernest Hemingway. It simply reads “If people bring so much courage to this world, the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure that it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.” “We love you D.R.” Just like Diana, John-John, Jack, Bobby, Martin, Elvis, Lennon, and countless others fate has a cruel,unmerciful, way of taking the angels of this world way before their time. But Perhaps it is Bryan Adams in his tribute song to Dorothy that summarizes her legacy the best. The song is called “The Best is Yet to Come.” With Dorothy I truly believe the best was yet to come. Thank you Sweet Dorothy for giving this world a piece of heaven in the twenty years you graced this earth. You will always be my Unicorn.