Bettie Page's life was a complex tapestry of cult myth, mystery, and sadness, woven from the threads of her free-spirited and unabashed sensuality, which captivated a generation during an era of strong sexual repression. As the quintessential pin-up, her image was tacked up on walls in military barracks and garages, and even five decades later, some feminists hail her as a pioneer of women's liberation.
Born in Nashville, Tennessee, to a part-Cherokee mother, Bettie grew up in a poor family, where they were lucky to receive an orange in their Christmas stockings. Her family included three boys and three girls, and Page later revealed that her father molested most of the girls. He eventually stole a police car for a cross-country trip, was caught, and sent to prison, and for a time, Bettie resided in an orphanage. Her parents divorced when she was just 10 years old.
In her teens, Bettie acted in high school plays and was a straight-A student. She graduated from the Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville on a Daughters of the American Revolution scholarship in 1944 and went on to study drama in New York City. Her notorious career began when an amateur photographer admired her curvaceous body and asked her to pose on a walk along the beach at Coney Island.
Bettie's modeling career took off, and she was the centerfold in the January 1955 issue of then-fledgling Playboy magazine. In 1951, she fell under the influence of photographer Irving Klaw, who cut her hair into the dark bangs that became her trademark, and posed her in spiked heels and little else. She also appeared as a performer in over 50 burlesque films. Her photos and films were publicly denounced by civic and religious leaders as "perversion," and Klaw was later arrested for "conspiracy to distribute obscene material" through the United States mail.
Bettie was called to testify in a private session, and Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee even launched a congressional investigation against her. Believing her days as a pin-up were over, Bettie retreated from public view, later saying she was hounded by federal agents. Her early marriage to her high school sweetheart had ended in divorce; she moved to Florida in 1957 and married a much younger man, but that marriage also failed, as did a third, and she suffered a nervous breakdown.
In 1959, she found solace in a born-again Christian church in Key West, where she saw a white neon cross on top of a church. She walked inside and became a born-again Christian. After attending Bible school, she wanted to serve as a missionary but was turned down. Instead, she worked full-time for evangelist Billy Graham's ministry. However, a move to Southern California in 1979 brought her more troubles. She was arrested after an altercation with her landlady, and doctors diagnosed her as suffering from acute schizophrenia.
She spent 20 months in Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino and was subsequently placed under state supervision for eight years. Her mysterious disappearance from the public eye only fueled the public's fascination. In fact, for two decades, no one was sure where she was or even if she was still alive. She resurfaced in the 1990s after being tracked down for a documentary. She occasionally granted interviews and sold autographs, but refused to allow her picture to be taken in her old age.
In a 1993 telephone interview, she told a reporter that she was "penniless and infamous." She later hired a law firm to help her recoup some of the profits being made with her likeness. She spent her final years residing in Los Angeles with her brother. After a three-week battle with pneumonia, Bettie Page suffered a deadly heart attack at the age of 85 on December 11, 2008.
