Bettie Page - American Icon

In December 2007, Bettie came down with pneumonia and a kidney condition and was hospitalized. She became well enough to be released to a nursing home in January. She celebrated her 85th birthday in April 2008.

Then in the fall of 2008, Bettie was back in the hospital again, enduring several weeks of pneumonia. She suffered a heart attack on December 2nd and passed on Thursday December 11th. A family spokesperson has said that memorial services for Bettie will take place on Tuesday December 16th and that she will be laid to rest "near Marilyn Monroe."

Here is a photo of Bettie at 80, taken during a signing event.

Bettie Page was just a simple girl from Tennessee. She'd had dreams of being an actress and moved to New York in an attempt to pursue those dreams. She turned to modeling as a better way to support herself after doing secretarial work while she worked towards the theater.

She started modeling for camera clubs, which were private groups that didn't publish pictures and then started doing magazine features as she became more popular. Her photo shoot with Florida photographer Bunny Yeager in the mid 1950s catapulted both of them to fame and Hugh Hefner featured her in Playboy magazine shortly thereafter. It's said that Bettie was photographed even more than Marilyn Monroe.

In the late 1950s, investigations into Bettie and fetish-related modeling that she did for Irving Klaw not only shut down Klaw's business but helped dissuade Bettie from her modelling work. She turned more to her religion and disappeared from public life.

She's still alive, now in her mid-80s, and continues to live out of public view. Her image has influenced generations and continues to be reproduced in photographs, illustrations, tattoos and has spawned many look-a-likes over the years.

The photographer who really helped make that Bettie Page look was Bunny Yeager. Her pictures of Betty on the beaches and boardwalks of Florida were a hit.

Whether Bettie was smiling sweetly, striking a serious pose or being silly, she always radiated a sense of fun and seemed very genuine. This kept her in demand as a model and kept her audience excited for any new pictures they could see of her.