How Did Dorothy Stratten Die? What Hulu Left Out About the Model’s Tragic Death
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In the age of streaming TV, true crime shows are retelling compelling real-life stories, which includes Hulu's new show Welcome to Chippendales starring Kumail Nanjiani. The story follows Somen "Steve" Banerjee as he becomes the founder of the legendary Chippendales male dance troupe. But his rise to fame also results in a series of unfortunate murders of those who either worked directly for him or had direct associations with the brand as a whole.
In the first episode of the Hulu show, viewers are introduced to Dorothy Stratten, played by actress Nicola Peltz Beckham. A former Playboy Playmate who was married to former Chippendales employee Paul Snider, she had all the makings to be a Hollywood star. Sadly, this never happened as she was murdered at the age of 20.
Before you dive deeper into Welcome to Chippendales, here's what to know about Dorothy's life:
Who was Dorothy Stratten?
Born Dorothy Ruth Hoogstraten in 1960, the model was discovered when she was working at a Dairy Queen in her hometown of Vancouver, Canada. According to multiple reports, Paul Snider was working as a Canadian nightclub promoter who had dreams of making it to Hollywood. He met Dorothy in 1978 and was immediately taken with her beauty. He eventually convinced her that posing nude for a photoshoot would build her a career in Los Angeles, and things took off from there.
"[Dorothy] was just breathtakingly beautiful," actress Colleen Camp told ABC News, who worked alongside her in 1981's They All Laughed. "There was something very otherworldly about being with her … Time would stop and you just felt [like] you were in a frozen moment."
In 1978, Dorothy entered Playboy's "Great Playmate Hunt" and quickly became a finalist. After Hugh Hefner saw her photos, she was invited to see the Playboy Mansion and what could potentially be in store for her. By August 1979, she not only became a Playmate, but had married Paul two months earlier.
But as Dorothy became increasingly popular, Paul's reputation started to dwindle. Her friends didn't like Paul's antics, and as November 1980 Playmate of the Month Jeana Keough told ABC News, he wasn't afraid to step out on his wife while at her place of work. "He would be in the grotto trying to make out with other girls, and you have the most beautiful girl at the mansion," she told the outlet of the couple's relationship.
It was around this time that Paul and Dorothy met Steve as he was starting to build the Chippendales empire. As Oxygen reports, it was Dorothy's idea to dress the male strippers in their classic collar and cuffs, while her husband became a founding business partner in the now-iconic corporation.
How did Dorothy Stratten die?
In early 1980, Dorothy was given the title of Playmate of the Year. Around the same time, she scored a role in the 1981 film They All Laughed alongside Audrey Hepburn. The movie was also directed by Peter Bogdanovich, who fell in love with the model when they were introduced earlier that year.
"I loved her dearly and deeply," he told Fox News in 2017. "She was kind of the inspiration for the film in a funny way."
According to Newsweek, Dorothy and Paul's marriage was so rocky that she asked for a physical and financial separation in June 1980. Convinced she was having an affair with the Oscar-winning director, Paul allegedly hired a private investigator to find out the truth.
Everything came to a head on August 14, 1980. Multiple reports indicated Dorothy met with Paul to discuss the final details of their divorce. Oxygen further wrote that Paul raped the model before shooting her with a newly-purchased shotgun. Shortly after the murder, he died by suicide.
Per The Village Voice, Peter arranged for her body to be cremated five days after the murder. He also issued a personal statement detailing the love he had for her before her untimely death:
"Dorothy Stratten was as gifted and intelligent an actress as she was beautiful and she was very beautiful indeed — in every way imaginable — most particularly in her heart," he wrote. "She and I fell in love during our picture and had planned to be married as soon as her divorce was final."
He continued: "The loss to her mother and father, her sister and brother, to my children, to her friends and to me is larger than we can calculate. But there is no life Dorothy's touched that has not been changed for the better through knowing her, however briefly."
"Dorothy looked at the world with love and believed that all people were good down deep. She was mistaken, but it is among the most generous and noble errors we can make," Paul concluded.
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