Actress, Model. She was a Canadian-born blonde beauty, who had her childhood in a rough neighborhood with limited advantages. Born Dorothy Ruth Hoogstraten as the oldest of three children of Dutch immigrants, she worked at a local Dairy Queen while still in high school. She began to come into her own as a model in her late teens, appearing on a television episode of "Fantasy Island" in 1978. Paul Snider, a Canadian nightclub promoter, who was nine years older than her, became romantically involved with her while she was still working at the Dairy Queen. He coerced her to pose for nude photographs for Hugh Hefner's "Playboy" magazine and becoming a candidate for Playboy's 25th Anniversary Playmate. Although she was not selected for that Playmate, she was made Playmate of the month for August of 1979. In June of the same year, she and Snider had a Las Vegas wedding. Snider soon gained control of her personal life as well as her professional life. After her centerfold was published, she received film offers in 1979, including "Skatetown, USA" "Autumn Born" and "Americathon" and her big break came with the lead role in "Galaxina" in 1980. Her professional acting career was moving forward with monetary awards. In 1980, Playboy announced that Stratten would be the 1980 Playmate of the Year and for this recognition, she appeared as a guest on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." Although her professional life was becoming successful, her personal life was deteriorating within the first year of her marriage. Sources state that her husband was present on the set of "Galaxina," interfering with her performance and causing stress. When her husband discovered she was developing a close relationship with director Peter Bogdonavich, the couple separated even though her income was his only means of support. Her husband remained in their Los Angeles apartment, while she cohabited with Bogdonavich in his Bel Air home. Her husband hired a private detective to follow her, reporting to him on her activities during their three-month separation. With her planning a divorce, her husband had purchased a gun and made his own plans. On the evening of her death, in hope of a reconciliation, her estranged husband convinced her to come to their apartment, where he forcibly bound her with a rope in the bedroom and put a 12-gauge shotgun to her head, pulling the trigger. He then turned the gun on himself in an act of murder-suicide. Since her death, she has been the subject of numerous film and television productions, yet the most remembered is the 1983 film "Star 80" about her life, with actress Mariel Hemingway playing the role of Stratten. A 1981 made-for-television movie, "Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story" was a success. Her 1984 biography "The Killing of the Unicorn: Dorothy Stratten, 1960-1980" was authored by Bogdanovich. A special ABC News 20/20 production on her life was aired in 2019. Her final film, "They All Laughed" was released posthumously in 1981.