10 Facts About.... Bettie Page
☆ She lived in an orphanage as a teen and was a member of her high school debate team.
☆ Bettie may have been from the south but she was no damsel in distress. She carried a BRICK in her purse for protection against over eager male admirers.
☆ During her early 20s Page had a Hollywood screen test. The studio’s stylists made her up to look like Joan Crawford, which did not flatter her features. To make matters worse, she later found out that a man she’d refused a date with was in charge of evaluating her test. She did not get a studio contract.
☆ Measurements (during her glamour modeling career): 36-24-36 1/2
☆ An off-duty police officer (and photography enthusiast) approached Page at Coney Island to ask if she’d pose for him. After their session he suggested that bangs would look good on her high forehead. She went home and cut them herself, then wore them that way for the rest of her life.
☆ Many of her most famous bikini and lingerie outfits were designed and crafted by Page herself. One unscrupulous couple hired her to model for a session and then copied her designs from the photographs. They sold the swimwear line as “Bettie Page bikinis.” Page realized years later that she should have sued.
☆ In 1955 she won the title "Miss Pin-up Girl of the World."
☆ After Page quit modeling, she became a born-again Christian and attended Bible college with the goal of becoming a missionary. However, the mission board she applied to wouldn’t take her because she had been divorced. She eventually began working as a secretary for Rev. Billy Graham.
☆ After she retreated from the public eye, Bettie was plagued by mental problems and actually stabbed three people. She was sentanced to a long spell in a mental institution as punishment. This was all a closely guarded secret until it was exposed by journalist Richard Foster.
☆ In 1955, Bettie had appeared at the Playboy centrefold, but she and Hefner had never met. She finally met him in 1993 when he invited her to dinner at the mansion. Hefner realised she did not have proper representation. Having emerged from obscurity for already three years already, Bettie was still penniless and not receiving any royalties.The founder of the iconic magazine put her in touch with the same agent who also represented the Marilyn Monroe and James Dean estates. In 2011, her estate made the Forbes annual list of top-earning dead celebrities, tied with the estates of George Harrison and Andy Warhol. She never had money problems again and passed away in 2008. Hugh Hefner attended the funeral.
