Hulu’s new true crime mini series, Welcome to Chippendales, tells the dramatic story of the founding and rise of the male strip club chain, Chippendales. But it also dives into drama behind the scenes, including several murders of people who either worked for the company or were linked to its employees.
One of the people you'll meet along the way is the young, beautiful, charismatic Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten, who was married to early Chippendales employee Paul Snider. Dorothy’s character is featured in the series and it's clear she has a bright future in front of her before her murder at the age of 20.
But who was Dorothy and what, exactly, happened to her? Here’s what you need to know about the model.
Who was Dorothy Stratten?
Dorothy Stratten, whose real name was Dorothy Ruth Hoogstraten, was born in Canada and was working part-time at a Dairy Queen in Vancouver when she caught the eye of Paul Snider, a Canadian nightclub promoter, according to ABC News.
Paul convinced Dorothy to do a nude photo shoot, which he sent to Playboy, and helped launch her modeling career in Los Angeles, per ABC News. She became Playboy’s Playmate of the Year and started acting in movies.
"She was just breathtakingly beautiful," actress Colleen Camp, who starred with Dorothy in the 1981 movie They All Laughed, told ABC News. "There was something very otherworldly about being with her.”
Dorothy is played by Nicola Peltz Beckham in the series.
Model-actress Nicola Peltz Beckham is taking on this iconic role, and Brooklyn, her new husband, was her rock during filming, she told E! News.
“I have watched the movie Star80 several times when I was quite young, and her story stuck with me for so long that I knew her story and I was so drawn to it," she said. (Star80 is a movie based on Dorothy’s life.) "I was so excited to even just audition and to be able to play her for those few pages."
Dorothy was married to Paul Snider.
Paul was an early employee at Chippendales and has also been referred to as a “pimp” by ABC News. He didn't have the best reputation at the Playboy Mansion.
“He would be in the grotto trying to make out with other girls, and you have the most beautiful girl at the mansion,” Jeana Keough, Playmate of the Month for November 1980 who also starred on Real Housewives of Orange County, told ABC News. He was kicked off the Playboy Mansion property after he was caught with another woman.
In June 1979, shortly after Dorothy moved to LA, she married Paul. Rosanne Katon-Walden, the September 1978 Playmate of the Month, told ABC News that Dorothy didn’t think she could get out of the wedding.
She worked as a Playboy Bunny at a Playboy Club in Los Angeles.
Dorothy worked as a Playboy Bunny at the Playboy Club in Los Angeles when she was still a teen. "I don't think she was allowed to serve alcohol because she was only 18, so she was kind of a Door Bunny that would greet people coming in," Dr. Stephen Cushner, a friend of Dorothy’s, told ABC News.
Fun fact: Dorothy is also responsible for coming up with the idea for the iconic cuffs and bowtie that mark Chippendales dancers, per Yahoo! Entertainment.
Dorothy was supposed to star in a film with Audrey Hepburn.
Her acting career was just starting to take off around the time of her death. And she even landed a role in her fifth film, a comedy called They All Laughed, which co-starred Audrey Hepburn.
Dorothy ended up having an affair with director Peter Bogdanovich, who talked about the relationship with Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.
“He was very very up. Very excited about her and the film,” Hugh told the Village Voice. “I don’t think that he was playing with this at all. I think it was important to him. I’m talking about the relationship.”
Is Dorothy still alive?
No. She died in August of 1980 at the age of 20.
While Dorothy was filming They All Laughed, rumors heated up regarding her affair with Bogdanovich, Village Voice reported. "He [Paul Snider] detected a chill in Dorothy’s voice. She would be too tired to talk. He would say, 'I love you,' and she wouldn’t answer back. Finally, she began to have her calls screened," the magazine said.
Eventually, while doing press for the movie, she agreed to meet with Paul in Vancouver before her mom's wedding. The two fought, and she ended up cutting her trip short to get back to shooting.
She eventually sent Paul a letter that said they were "physically and financially" separated and she closed their joint business accounts, the Village Voice said. He would later murder Dorothy.
How did she die?
Dorothy met with Paul to talk about the financial settlement in their divorce in Los Angeles on August 14, 1980. During that meeting, Paul shot her with a 12-gauge shotgun and then also shot himself, according to the Village Voice. She was just 20 years old when she was killed. Her body is buried at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, which is also Marilyn Monroe's resting place.
Peter Bogdanovich had her cremated five days after her death, the Village Voice says, and he released a statement that read, in part: "Dorothy Stratten was as gifted and intelligent an actress as she was beautiful, and she was very beautiful indeed—in every way imaginable—most particularly in her heart. She and I fell in love during our picture and had planned to be married as soon as her divorce was final."
Welcome to Chippendales is now streaming on Hulu.
