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Bettie Page
Birthday:
22 April 1923
Birth Name:
Betty Mae Page
Height:
166 cm
Biography
[3/11/06, interview in the Los Angeles Times, on being called "The Notorious Bettie Page"] Notorious? That's not flattering at all. They should have used another word.
[3/11/06, interview in the Los Angeles Times, on being called "The Notorious Bettie Page"] Notorious? That's not flattering at all. They should have used another word.
[3/11/06, interview in the Los Angeles Times] Young women say I helped them come out of their shells, and 13 rock groups have written songs about me. One song has these lyrics all the way through, "I love Bettie Page. I love Bettie Page. I love Bettie Page.".
[3/11/06, interview in the Los Angeles Times] Young women say I helped them come out of their shells, and 13 rock groups have written songs about me. One song has these lyrics all the way through, "I love Bettie Page. I love Bettie Page. I love Bettie Page.".
[3/11/06, interview in the Los Angeles Times, on her second husband] Six weeks into the marriage, on New Year's Eve 1959, I wanted to go dancing with him at a nightclub. He said he'd rather get drunk with his brothers.
[3/11/06, interview in the Los Angeles Times, on her second husband] Six weeks into the marriage, on New Year's Eve 1959, I wanted to go dancing with him at a nightclub. He said he'd rather get drunk with his brothers.
[3/11/06, interview in the Los Angeles Times, on her mother's younger lover making a pass at her] My mother nearly murdered me over that, then made me live with my father. So I couldn't review my exam notes, which were at home. Because of that, I got beat out of graduating valedictorian by a quarter of a grade point and lost my dream of getting a scholarship...
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[3/11/06, interview in the Los Angeles Times, on her mother's younger lover making a pass at her] My mother nearly murdered me over that, then made me live with my father. So I couldn't review my exam notes, which were at home. Because of that, I got beat out of graduating valedictorian by a quarter of a grade point and lost my dream of getting a scholarship to attend Vanderbilt University. It was the worst disappointment of my life.
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[3/11/06, interview in the Los Angeles Times, on her mother] All I ever wanted was a mother who paid attention to me. She didn't want girls. She thought we were trouble. She didn't help with homework or teach me to sew or cook. She didn't go to the school plays I was in or go to my high school graduation. When I started menstruating at 13, I thought I was dy...
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[3/11/06, interview in the Los Angeles Times, on her mother] All I ever wanted was a mother who paid attention to me. She didn't want girls. She thought we were trouble. She didn't help with homework or teach me to sew or cook. She didn't go to the school plays I was in or go to my high school graduation. When I started menstruating at 13, I thought I was dying because she never taught me anything about that.
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Being in the nude isn't a disgrace unless you're being promiscuous about it. After all, when God created Adam and Eve, they were stark naked. And in the Garden of Eden, God was probably naked as a jaybird too!
Being in the nude isn't a disgrace unless you're being promiscuous about it. After all, when God created Adam and Eve, they were stark naked. And in the Garden of Eden, God was probably naked as a jaybird too!
I don't know what they mean by an icon. I never thought of myself as being that. It seems strange to me. I was just modeling, thinking of as many different poses as possible. I made more money modeling than being a secretary. I had a lot of free time. You could go back to work after an absence of a few months. I couldn't do that as a secretary.
I don't know what they mean by an icon. I never thought of myself as being that. It seems strange to me. I was just modeling, thinking of as many different poses as possible. I made more money modeling than being a secretary. I had a lot of free time. You could go back to work after an absence of a few months. I couldn't do that as a secretary.
I love to swim in the nude and roam around the house in the nude. You're just as free as a bird!
I love to swim in the nude and roam around the house in the nude. You're just as free as a bird!
The only person I did bondage for was Irving Klaw and his sister Paula Klaw. Usually, they would shoot four or five models every Saturday. He wouldn't pay for the regular pictures unless we did some bondage. So I did bondage shots to get paid for the other photos.
The only person I did bondage for was Irving Klaw and his sister Paula Klaw. Usually, they would shoot four or five models every Saturday. He wouldn't pay for the regular pictures unless we did some bondage. So I did bondage shots to get paid for the other photos.
I'm very sorry that when I turned my life over to the Lord Jesus in January 1959, I threw out all my netstockings, bikinis--some from Frederick's of Hollywood.
I'm very sorry that when I turned my life over to the Lord Jesus in January 1959, I threw out all my netstockings, bikinis--some from Frederick's of Hollywood.
No, I stopped coloring my hair in October 1978. I was no longer working as a secretary, I was no longer working out in public. I didn't color my hair, it is grey now. In fact, I'm worried I'm losing it. Big gobs come out. Used to be it took me two hours to dry my big gob of hair.
No, I stopped coloring my hair in October 1978. I was no longer working as a secretary, I was no longer working out in public. I didn't color my hair, it is grey now. In fact, I'm worried I'm losing it. Big gobs come out. Used to be it took me two hours to dry my big gob of hair.
No, I don't think my fans want to see me old and fat. I've got to get another 20-25 lbs. off somehow--remember me as I looked when I was younger. I get sad when I see my favorite movie stars when they're old. Who wants to see Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau now as The Odd Couple (1968)? Jack Lemmon is a fan of mine.
No, I don't think my fans want to see me old and fat. I've got to get another 20-25 lbs. off somehow--remember me as I looked when I was younger. I get sad when I see my favorite movie stars when they're old. Who wants to see Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau now as The Odd Couple (1968)? Jack Lemmon is a fan of mine.
I was never one who was squeamish about nudity. I don't believe in being promiscuous about it, but several times I thought of going to a nudist colony.
I was never one who was squeamish about nudity. I don't believe in being promiscuous about it, but several times I thought of going to a nudist colony.
I never kept up with the fashions. I believed in wearing what I thought looked good on me.
I never kept up with the fashions. I believed in wearing what I thought looked good on me.
My favorite actress of all times is Bette Davis in Dark Victory (1939). I have seen it six or seven times and I still cry.
My favorite actress of all times is Bette Davis in Dark Victory (1939). I have seen it six or seven times and I still cry.
[Jerry Tibbs was] the one who got me wearing bangs. For years, I had my hair parted down the middle in a ponytail, tucked down around the sides. But he said to me, "Bettie, you've got a very high forehead. I think you'd look good if you cut some bangs to cover it." Well, I went and cut the bangs, and I've been wearing them ever since. They say it's my tradem...
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[Jerry Tibbs was] the one who got me wearing bangs. For years, I had my hair parted down the middle in a ponytail, tucked down around the sides. But he said to me, "Bettie, you've got a very high forehead. I think you'd look good if you cut some bangs to cover it." Well, I went and cut the bangs, and I've been wearing them ever since. They say it's my trademark.
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It makes me feel wonderful that people still care for me... that I have so many fans among young people, who write to me and tell me I have been an inspiration.
It makes me feel wonderful that people still care for me... that I have so many fans among young people, who write to me and tell me I have been an inspiration.
I never was the girl next door.
I never was the girl next door.
I was not trying to be shocking, or to be a pioneer. I wasn't trying to change society, or to be ahead of my time. I didn't think of myself as liberated, and I don't believe that I did anything important. I was just myself. I didn't know any other way to be, or any other way to live.
I was not trying to be shocking, or to be a pioneer. I wasn't trying to change society, or to be ahead of my time. I didn't think of myself as liberated, and I don't believe that I did anything important. I was just myself. I didn't know any other way to be, or any other way to live.
Bettie Page
Bettie Page's life was filled with cult myth, mystery and sadness. Her image captured the imagination of a generation with her free spirit and unabashed sensuality, during an era of strong sexual repression. She was the quintessential pin-up, tacked up on walls in military barracks and garages; five decades later, some feminists still hail her as a pioneer of women's liberation. It has been estimated that over 20,000 photographs of Bettie were taken, and new generations of fans still buy copies by the thousands. Born in Nashville, Tennessee to a part-Cherokee mother, she grew up in a family so poor "we were lucky to get an orange in our Christmas stockings." The family included three boys and three girls, and Page later said her father molested all 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 lived in an orphanage. Her parents divorced when she was 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 one day in October 1950, while on a break from her job as a secretary in a New York office. On a walk along the beach at Coney Island, an amateur photographer admired the 27-year-old's curvaceous body and asked her to pose. Nudity didn't bother her, she said, likening it to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Her modeling career took off, and she was the centerfold in the January 1955 issue of then-fledgling Playboy magazine.In 1951, Bettie fell under the influence of Irving Klaw, a photographer. He 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" though the United States mail. Bettie was called to testify in a private session. Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee, her home state, even launched a congressional investigation against her. Believing that 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 was lying on a sea wall in Key West when she saw a church with a white neon cross on top. 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. Doctors diagnosed her as suffering from acute schizophrenia, and she spent 20 months in a state mental hospital in San Bernardino, and she 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 living in Los Angeles with her brother.After a three-week battle with pneumonia, Bettie Page suffered a fatal heart attack at age 85 on December 11, 2008.
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