>”I want to be remembered,” she said, “as I was when I was young and in my golden times. . . . I want to be remembered as the woman who changed people’s perspectives concerning nudity in its natural form.”
We’re sad to note that Bettie Page has passed away, reportedly never regaining consciousness after the heart attack she suffered late last week.
Quoted as above in today’s LA Times obituary, Bettie reportedly refused to allow herself to be photographed in her later years, so the iconic images she created in the 1950s are what we have to remember her by. A brief slideshow of just a few of these–including her Christmas-themed appearance as one of the first Playboy Playmates–accompanies a memoriam which her business agent has posted to her Bettie’s website. And with an “estimated 20,000 4-by-5-inch black-and-white glossy photographs taken by amateur shutterbugs from 1949 to 1957,” the internet is blessed with an abundance of tributes and remembrances (see uncredited photo, below).
Another homage, the film The Notorious Bettie Page, winner of the 2006 CineKink Tribute award, is a moving and tender portrait of the infamous pin-up star and the people who both created and consumed the imagery for which she’s best known. Below, its director and star, Mary Harron and Gretchen Mol, discuss the inspiration and legacy of Bettie Page and the impact she’s had on our perception of sexuality: