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The Killing of the Unicorn: Dorothy Stratten, 1960-1980
Book by Peter Bogdanovich
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
About the author
Peter Bogdanovich
64 books74 followersPeter Bogdanovich is an American film historian, director, writer, actor and critic. He was part of the wave of "New Hollywood" directors (which included William Friedkin, Brian DePalma, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Michael Cimino and Francis Ford Coppola, among others), and was particularly relevant during the 1970s with his film The Last Picture Show.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
March 23, 2008
A bizarre, unclassifiable book. Peter Bogdanovich wrote it after his lover/leading lady Dorothy Stratten -- 1980's Playmate of the Year -- died at the hand of her husband in a particularly gruesome murder-suicide, a tragedy later depicted in Bob Fosse's terrifying and terrific "Star 80." (In a particularly discomfiting twist, Bogdanovich later married her sister Louise, who was twelve years old at the time of Stratten's death. They have since divorced.) It's hard to say precisely what this book *is*: a memoir, a biography, a screed against the misogyny of Playboy (on whose shoulders, ultimately, he lays blame), or a long, low death knell for a very young woman whom this much older man knew for a very short time. A brief on-set affair (she was costarring in his "They All Laughed" at the time) becomes, in the wake of her death, a star-crossed romance of Shakespearean proportions, and the pathos extends from Stratten's short life and ugly death to Bogdanovich, but not in the way that he intends. More than anything, this fascinating, maddening book is a portrait of the delusive narcissism of grief: every time the light in his car inexplicably blinks on and off, it's Dorothy. When a cat shows up at his door, it's Dorothy. Bogdanovich outlines the numerological providence of their relationship with meticulous inattention to reality, and, like all melancholics, presumes from his beloved an eternal devotion that outdistances his own. Dorothy Stratten's is a terribly sad story, but this book isn't it. This is mythology, the steadfast refusal of a bereaved lover to mourn.
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July 26, 2020https://twitter.com/vulveeta/status/1... peter bogdanovich is literally a whole entire woody allen and no one knows it! i don't understand why not! he's 38 and he hooks up with a 18 year old playboy model and then when she's violently killed in a horrific domestic violence murder suicide (that he inexplicably describes in explicit detail like the very first page???) he somehow takes custody of her tweenage sister and eventually MARRIES HER when she comes of age. please make this make sense. this man is a whole nasty ass pedo bitch on multiple levels, like he spends this whole book infantilizing dorothy and remarking upon how wonderfully delightfully childish she was(????????????) before she was so cruelly ripped from his horny clutches and then he... literally..... married her sister that he helped care for for the ten months they were together, while she was alive??? like this book is SO fucking sickening, this man victimizing himself when he's just another disgusting piece of shit who took advantage of her and preyed on her. i hope the last ten months of her life with him truly offered her some respite from her psycho husband who killed her but y i k e s this guy does not come off like the savior he thinks he is.
April 24, 2012
Wow...! What a damning indictment of that creep Hugh Hefner and his wretched Playboy philosophy! What a sad, sad story. Dorothy Ruth Stratten seemed like a sweet, kind, and trusting, individual, and the way she was manipulated by both Paul Snider, and Hugh Hefner, is not only sickening, but criminal, and in some places difficult to read. I read a lot of books, and every now and then you hit one that powerfully impacts you. This is one of those books for me. I have a feeling I'll be remembering this one for a long, long time.
April 19, 2016
I decided to read this book after rediscovering Bogdanovich in some material I was reading about the time in cinema during which most of his well known films were made. Before starting the book I knew it was going to be a guilty pleasure and probably not a great work of art. By the time I was about a third of the way through it had become more of an exercise in slowing down for a car accident and try not to look but not being able to help yourself. The author's complete detachment from reality and narcissistic selfstroking really started to get to me. As another reviewer said, he inflated his brief relationship with the doomed girl into an epic and fated romance. Although the book does raise some interesting issues around the Playboy concept and culture, they are less forceful then they could be due to his handling of them. Guilty pleasure became uncomfortable frustration and an overwhelming urge to just get the book finished. Bogdanovich praises his editor in the opening pages by stating how he kept the writing realistic. To me it seems much more the case that he babied an eccentric celebrity author.
August 25, 2014
you will never look at hugh hefner the same way again. you will never think, "oh, what's the harm? if women choose to display their sexuality, it empowers them." it's shocking, upsetting, and absolutely essential reading.
May 22, 2017
So, when I was about 10 or 11 years old - the age my daughter is now - I wandered into a hotel room where one of the three cable movie channels that existed at the time was playing the movie Star 80. I only remember that I witnessed the death of a beautiful woman by shotgun blast, and that her name was Dorothy Stratten.
Later, I remembered the name, and as I got into movies more and more, became aware of Peter Bogdanovich (Noises Off and his work on Citizen Kane's scholarly appreciation being the reasons I care about him) and that he had a reputation for being creepy in a way that got brought up again when Woody Allen married his adopted daughter. And that people who liked Moonlighting hated him.
So it was that when this book passed in front of me at the library, complete with its yellowing pages, rounded spine, front cover cigarette burn and truncated ISBN (it's old) that I snagged it and took it home to read a tragic story of Hollywood, Playboy, and a young life blasted from existence by an asshole with a shotgun. Written by her lover, Bogdanovich, Stratten's life here is exhaustively detailed, and her gruesome death, too. It's a heart-wrenching book and a creature of its time - the spirit animals, drugs and horoscopes of the 1980s are all here. Ultimately, I am filled with a desire to view the scant films of Dorothy Stratten, and reminded of two things I already knew: Hugh Hefner is gross and manipulative, and we have too many guns in America.
Later, I remembered the name, and as I got into movies more and more, became aware of Peter Bogdanovich (Noises Off and his work on Citizen Kane's scholarly appreciation being the reasons I care about him) and that he had a reputation for being creepy in a way that got brought up again when Woody Allen married his adopted daughter. And that people who liked Moonlighting hated him.
So it was that when this book passed in front of me at the library, complete with its yellowing pages, rounded spine, front cover cigarette burn and truncated ISBN (it's old) that I snagged it and took it home to read a tragic story of Hollywood, Playboy, and a young life blasted from existence by an asshole with a shotgun. Written by her lover, Bogdanovich, Stratten's life here is exhaustively detailed, and her gruesome death, too. It's a heart-wrenching book and a creature of its time - the spirit animals, drugs and horoscopes of the 1980s are all here. Ultimately, I am filled with a desire to view the scant films of Dorothy Stratten, and reminded of two things I already knew: Hugh Hefner is gross and manipulative, and we have too many guns in America.
June 25, 2018
Very good.
There has been many books written by Women against pornography and the objectification of Women. This is the first book by a man, who is against objectification. He was Dorothy Stratten so he is not objective. I Knew from before that Dorothy Stratten’s husband, Paul Snider was a sleasy, using pimp, but also the more ”sophisticated” Hugh Hefner is not portraided Kindly.
I remember seeing Star 80, twenty years ago. That is Why I wanted to read the book. I like that Peter Bogdanovich portrays Dorothy Statten’s personality, her inner Beauty not just her looks.
There has been many books written by Women against pornography and the objectification of Women. This is the first book by a man, who is against objectification. He was Dorothy Stratten so he is not objective. I Knew from before that Dorothy Stratten’s husband, Paul Snider was a sleasy, using pimp, but also the more ”sophisticated” Hugh Hefner is not portraided Kindly.
I remember seeing Star 80, twenty years ago. That is Why I wanted to read the book. I like that Peter Bogdanovich portrays Dorothy Statten’s personality, her inner Beauty not just her looks.
February 7, 2018
I was well into the book before I realized who Peter Bogdanovich was. A Hollywood power broker, thoroughly marinated in his self worth. He has a beef with Hugh Hefner. Ms. Stratten beguiled many men. Many were obsessed with her and obsession is not healthy. He was not her direct killer, but his steadfast denial of his own culpability shows it was always more about him than her.
His protestations of love are as hollow as he is.
Unfortunately, she is not alone. Many other famous beauties have fallen prey to these delusional, obsessives: Jane Mansfield, Maralyn Monroe, Anna Nicole Smith. The list goes on and on.
These young women are all of the things their abusers claim: beautiful, intelligent, enlightened ... but they are all also very young and those who wish to abuse them use this against them.
His protestations of love are as hollow as he is.
Unfortunately, she is not alone. Many other famous beauties have fallen prey to these delusional, obsessives: Jane Mansfield, Maralyn Monroe, Anna Nicole Smith. The list goes on and on.
These young women are all of the things their abusers claim: beautiful, intelligent, enlightened ... but they are all also very young and those who wish to abuse them use this against them.
July 11, 2016
Very odd book, full of delusion and exaggerated ego, short on sense and honesty. Maybe it's the way things go after a gruesome murder, that the victim becomes a saint and the time spent with that person grows impossibly golden. But the tone Bogdanovich adopts reads increasingly unpleasantly. He blames everyone who "exploited" Dorothy--creepy Hugh Hefner and the sleazy Playboy machine, her vile husband, her unsympathetic step-father, her weak mother--but leaves himself no blame for seducing a much-younger woman desperate to escape the difficult situation she found herself trapped in.
Kind of a sickening book, 'biography' at its worst...
Kind of a sickening book, 'biography' at its worst...
May 22, 2019
Sad in a thousand different ways. I'm at a loss on this one. Anything I could say would be both sincere and a sacrilege. Holding my cards to my chest for this book. Is my conservative reaction a compensation for how open Peter Bogdanovich was about the intimacy he and Dorothy Stratten shared and his grief in her murder? The book, as other readers here have noted, truly is unclassifiable. While it is about Dorothy Stratten, it's even more about the author's horrendous pain. One thing it illustrates is how when you traumatically lose your beloved, you will forever be haunted by that loss.
November 27, 2016
Painful to read, not only because of the technique (or lack there of), but the subject matter was too fresh for the author. It is rather like seeing a car-crash, and not being able to look away.
April 17, 2023
Now that's what I'm talking about. This is heavy with details of hefber being a dreadful person and how yucky every male was at the scene. I loved this book and fell in love with Dorothy. Peter is a great writer and it's a very quick read with a ton of scary surreal detail of the horrors that happened to dorothy and other women
September 27, 2022
uhhhhhhhh it lost me when I read about Bogdanovich marrying Stratten's younger sister, who he met when she was just thirteen. Creep.
April 9, 2019
Ever since I watched the movie Star 80 , I’ve been fascinated with the case of Dorothy Stratton and what could have been.
This book was written by her heartbroken boyfriend Peter Bogdonavitch . He states the facts of her murder in detail and accurately explains the revolting character of her husband.
It was the details of what went on at the Playboy mansion and the treatment of the playmates there that were frankly stomach turning.
It was a well written book and the only reason I gave it 3 stars was it was so awful to read by the end I was glad it was done . I was hoping for more of a true crime book and less of a love lost novel .
This book was written by her heartbroken boyfriend Peter Bogdonavitch . He states the facts of her murder in detail and accurately explains the revolting character of her husband.
It was the details of what went on at the Playboy mansion and the treatment of the playmates there that were frankly stomach turning.
It was a well written book and the only reason I gave it 3 stars was it was so awful to read by the end I was glad it was done . I was hoping for more of a true crime book and less of a love lost novel .
April 4, 2022
I have very mixed feeling about this book, more negative. This book does not really have the reader learn anything new about Dorothy. That’s really what I was hoping for. It’s almost like an homage to his lover and he doesn’t care who reads it. I can’t tell what his intentions are…are we supposed to feel bad for him? If anything I feel bad for Dorothy…going from man to man and might I add men who are much older than her and she was so young and naive. Also the book ends quite strange it’s almost like he hates Hefner and blames him for her death instead of Paul Snider. And I’m sorry but Bogdanovich was a creep for marrying Dorothy’s sister.
July 23, 2008
I like this book about loving, kind-hearted Dorothy Stratten. Even if the author's obsession is probably pretty much exactly as deranged as her murderous husband's was. I mean, Bogdonavich tries to turn Dorothy's homely younger sister into, well, Dorothy. And guess what, Peter? You used Dorothy just like everyone else. Would you have been as attracted to her without that blond hair and those famous tits? As if. But Dorothy was beautiful, and deserved so much more than her tragic end.
December 2, 2015
Sad story of a beautiful girl caught in a web of masculine power and greed who paid the ultimate price with her life.
The book reads more like a hagiography of Stratton. The author, noted film director and Stratton's lover, paints quite a story. The question I have is where is Dorothy's voice? The book was not at all unbiased. Dorothy wrote some poetry and a brief memoir which were cited in the text but I gained nothing of her from reading those portions.
The story however told is tragic.
The book reads more like a hagiography of Stratton. The author, noted film director and Stratton's lover, paints quite a story. The question I have is where is Dorothy's voice? The book was not at all unbiased. Dorothy wrote some poetry and a brief memoir which were cited in the text but I gained nothing of her from reading those portions.
The story however told is tragic.
April 19, 2020
This is not a biography on the life of Dorothy Stratten, but rather author Peter Bogdanovich's bitter and selfish attack on Hugh Hefner that should have remained just a personal journal that was never published. He even admitted years later than many of the outrageous accusations against Hefner were completely unproven.
April 1, 2008
Dorothy Stratten's life (and subsequent murder) was a tragedy. She was a victim of poor choices and naivete. Bogdanovich's tale is written just like you would expect from the man who lost the love of his life. The book is pretty graphic, so I don't recommend it to the sheepish.
January 12, 2011
As the only insightful book about Dorothy, I did enjoy this book to a certain extent. I just wish this book was an actual biography of hers, from childhood to the last days of her life. I wonder if there will be any.
January 16, 2016
A really good read. I loved the way the author related his personal disaster to the much larger archetypes of women in our society and in other societies back to the beginning of recorded time. Well worth a look if you can still find a copy.
September 17, 2018
The book is aptly titled.
I remember being a teenager when I heard about a "Playboy Bunny" being murdered. So sad the circumstances in which she died, lamb to the slaughter.
The author pays tribute to his lost love.
Very well done.
I remember being a teenager when I heard about a "Playboy Bunny" being murdered. So sad the circumstances in which she died, lamb to the slaughter.
The author pays tribute to his lost love.
Very well done.
December 26, 2021
this dude wrote an entire book defaming Hefner even though he willingly pimped himself out at his party. went completely off course from the main goal of speaking against the objectification of women . and afterwards married his dead girlfriends 13 year old sister
July 31, 2010
A very sad story of domestic violence and fleeting stardom, and love that came too late.
August 12, 2013
Very well written, but incredibly sad. I couldn't finish it.
November 10, 2015
Brilliant. fascinating character study and indictment of Playboy and that ghoul Hefner.
November 19, 2015
Loathsome and understandably deluded and one sided. Threw it across the room 50 pages in.
October 9, 2016
Such a heartbreaking biography.
February 19, 2024
This was a difficult book to read for many reasons.
The subject matter, that brought back memories, PB’s journalistic skills, intentions, and overall double standards
I read the reviews afterwards & agreed with many reviewers who articulated their thoughts better than I could.I echo many of their sentiments .
Firstly, the reason I read this, was someone tweeted about Cybil Shepherd in Moonlighting; then someone replied they oughta read The Killing of The Unicorn. I remember hearing what a creepy guy PB was , so I checked it out of the library. This is a new reading genre for me.
From the 1st few pages, memories of the August 1979 issue , Dorthy was Playmate of the Month. I remember this because someone gave me this as a present for my 26th birthday when we were in Arizona on a Fire. I can’t remember what happened to it. Then the next season, I got to go to Alaska & fight fires , & when the June 1980 Playmate of the Year issue came out I bought it; since I remembered the the issue I got for my last birthday.
When we heard about her death, I put the magazine in my fire pack & the next fire we went on , We had a hoekey memorial & threw the magazine in the fire. 😂
A few weeks later, in September, we were all at the Alaska State Fair & August 1980 Playmate of the Month , 23yo Victoria Cooke . We all got her autograph
I told you this joggled my memory. Speculating why she was in Alaska, was Hefner shielding/protecting her or covering his ass by sending her to Alaska so she wouldn’t talk ?
Reading the last couple of chapters reminded me of other porn stars who I’ve read about over the years dying and early violent death. But in between the first few pages and the last, I kept having to put the book down after a few pages. They’re were many exasperating, “oh c’mon man” moments. 40 yo PB righteously taking down Hefner’s character as he’s fucking around with a 20 yo young woman. I mean, when I lived in a college town I’ve been with women 14 years younger, but I didn’t meet them at a Playboy Mansion 😂😂😂. I mean shit, the guy is going to Hef’s own mansion while putting down the owner. What an asshole. He even “quoted “ Dorthy telling him, they would’ve never met if he hadn’t gone to the mansion. Then there was another creepy part when he was describing his daughters seeing him with a few other young women and telling him , they liked Dorthy the best.
The reason I put quotes around quoted, who knows if she really said some or anything he wrote she said? Dead Wo/men tell no tails. He goes on gushing over how sweet Dorothy was with his daughters. Hell man, she was closer in age with them than she was with him. She was like a big sister. I mean, WTF did he write this for anyway?
He published this is 84 , a couple of years after the Fosse movie & television “documentary “ . The last part of the book , PB switched into a movie critic , then morphed into a psychologist with a moral compass.
As I do, I use the internet to learn about topics I’m interested in. I almost didn’t finish reading the book when I learned he married Dorthy’s lil sister On December 30, 1988, the 49-year-old Bogdanovich married 20-year-old Louise!!
I wonder if someone who checked out the book before me threw it or dropped it, because it’s almost ripped in half at page 77 , held together by the cover
The subject matter, that brought back memories, PB’s journalistic skills, intentions, and overall double standards
I read the reviews afterwards & agreed with many reviewers who articulated their thoughts better than I could.I echo many of their sentiments .
Firstly, the reason I read this, was someone tweeted about Cybil Shepherd in Moonlighting; then someone replied they oughta read The Killing of The Unicorn. I remember hearing what a creepy guy PB was , so I checked it out of the library. This is a new reading genre for me.
From the 1st few pages, memories of the August 1979 issue , Dorthy was Playmate of the Month. I remember this because someone gave me this as a present for my 26th birthday when we were in Arizona on a Fire. I can’t remember what happened to it. Then the next season, I got to go to Alaska & fight fires , & when the June 1980 Playmate of the Year issue came out I bought it; since I remembered the the issue I got for my last birthday.
When we heard about her death, I put the magazine in my fire pack & the next fire we went on , We had a hoekey memorial & threw the magazine in the fire. 😂
A few weeks later, in September, we were all at the Alaska State Fair & August 1980 Playmate of the Month , 23yo Victoria Cooke . We all got her autograph
I told you this joggled my memory. Speculating why she was in Alaska, was Hefner shielding/protecting her or covering his ass by sending her to Alaska so she wouldn’t talk ?
Reading the last couple of chapters reminded me of other porn stars who I’ve read about over the years dying and early violent death. But in between the first few pages and the last, I kept having to put the book down after a few pages. They’re were many exasperating, “oh c’mon man” moments. 40 yo PB righteously taking down Hefner’s character as he’s fucking around with a 20 yo young woman. I mean, when I lived in a college town I’ve been with women 14 years younger, but I didn’t meet them at a Playboy Mansion 😂😂😂. I mean shit, the guy is going to Hef’s own mansion while putting down the owner. What an asshole. He even “quoted “ Dorthy telling him, they would’ve never met if he hadn’t gone to the mansion. Then there was another creepy part when he was describing his daughters seeing him with a few other young women and telling him , they liked Dorthy the best.
The reason I put quotes around quoted, who knows if she really said some or anything he wrote she said? Dead Wo/men tell no tails. He goes on gushing over how sweet Dorothy was with his daughters. Hell man, she was closer in age with them than she was with him. She was like a big sister. I mean, WTF did he write this for anyway?
He published this is 84 , a couple of years after the Fosse movie & television “documentary “ . The last part of the book , PB switched into a movie critic , then morphed into a psychologist with a moral compass.
As I do, I use the internet to learn about topics I’m interested in. I almost didn’t finish reading the book when I learned he married Dorthy’s lil sister On December 30, 1988, the 49-year-old Bogdanovich married 20-year-old Louise!!
I wonder if someone who checked out the book before me threw it or dropped it, because it’s almost ripped in half at page 77 , held together by the cover
September 9, 2020
This book is NOT for the faint hearted or the Playboy apologists. Three decades ahead of its time in many ways especially calling out the hypocrisy of the sexual revolution and Hugh Hefner as the two faced Janus Third Wave Icon he sadly became, Peter Bogdanovich gives his perspective on his enduring love for Dorothy Stratten and his hatred for Playboy culture while admitting to his own machismo and failings. His failings are numerous. Last few chapters are both stunning and shattering to read.
Despite Eric Roberts’ excellent performance, Star80 (Bob Fosse 1983) was a grossly inaccurate portrayal of Dorothy Stratten. It also downplayed the brutality of the murder which is inexcusable. In TKOTU Peter Bogdanovich doesn’t hide one iota of the horror BECAUSE THIS HAPPENS EVERYDAY TO WOMEN. And the soft focus treatment and blame game that the ignorant media and Hollywood played which has so many misogynists claiming Paul Snider was unjustly “sidelined” and “pushed to the side” by “his wife” is also laid to waste. One reviewer on Amazon literally wrote, “Murder is awful but so is adultery.”
Despite Eric Roberts’ excellent performance, Star80 (Bob Fosse 1983) was a grossly inaccurate portrayal of Dorothy Stratten. It also downplayed the brutality of the murder which is inexcusable. In TKOTU Peter Bogdanovich doesn’t hide one iota of the horror BECAUSE THIS HAPPENS EVERYDAY TO WOMEN. And the soft focus treatment and blame game that the ignorant media and Hollywood played which has so many misogynists claiming Paul Snider was unjustly “sidelined” and “pushed to the side” by “his wife” is also laid to waste. One reviewer on Amazon literally wrote, “Murder is awful but so is adultery.”
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews