A new documentary is shedding light on the gruesome murder of a 1970s Playboy model who was shot dead by her jealous estranged husband as she rose to fame.
Dorothy Stratten was just 20 when her estranged husband Dan Snider shot her to death then killed himself in August 1980.
The pair had been briefly married, after Snider – described as a ‘Jewish pimp’ by Dorothy’s friends – discovered her in a Dairy Queen in Canada and took her to Hollywood to try to make her famous.
As she ascended to become Playmate of the Year and win Hugh Hefner’s attention, they drifted apart.
She eventually became involved with a movie director after meeting him at a Playboy mansion party.
Dorothy Stratten was shot dead in August 1980 when she was just 20 by her jealous husband
Dorothy’s ‘pimp’-like husband, Paul Snider, shot himself after killing her. The pair met when she was 18 and working in a Dairy Queen. He pushed her to move to Hollywood, where he thought he could make her a star, and she rose to fame
Snider, jealous that his wife’s star was on the rise and angry to be left behind, killed her at his home after she came over to negotiate a financial settlement with him.
Their story is revisited in a new episode of ABC’S 20/20 which will air on Friday, October 16th, at 9pm EST.
Stratten was 18 when Snider discovered her in a Dairy Queen in Vancouver in 1978.
They got married, and he promptly took her to Hollywood to make her a star.
He had worked as a nightclub promoter and was a rumored pimp but he is not thought to have sold Dorothy out to anyone.
Instead, friends say he ‘pimped’ her by riding the coattails of her success in modelling and acting.
‘They called him the Jewish pimp. He drove a black Corvette… he was always looking for his opportunity to make money,’ one friend said in a teaser for the episode.
Dorothy and Paul on their wedding day just two years before he killed her and shot himself
Stratten’s Playboy cover, just two months before she was murdered by her husband. She was named Playmate of the year
She is pictured celebrating her Playboy cover with Hugh Hefner in June 1980
Once they got to Hollywood, Snider’s ambitions for his wife paid off.
She was photographed by Playboy and, in 1980, became Playmate of the year which caught the attention of Hugh Hefner.
With ‘Hef’ on her side and with a promising modeling career ahead of her, she ‘no longer needed’ her husband, friends said.
‘She became sought after by basically every man in the world. A guy like Hugh Hefner and a place like Playboy, they didn’t need Paul Snider.
‘They wanted her but not him.’
Friends who were interviewed for the episode gave her glowing compliments.
Dorothy was described as a ‘once in a lifetime beauty’ by her friends. She was only a teenager when she moved to Hollywood in pursuit of stardom and was 20 when these photos were taken
Dorothy with the film director Peter Bogdanovich who was ‘crazy’ about her, according to friends
Dorothy realized she no longer needed her husband o be a star and left him
‘She was once in a lifetime,’ said one.
Another called her ‘the fodder for the dreams of millions of men’.
Jeana Keough, a former Playboy model herself who later appeared briefly on The Real Housewives of Orange County, said: ‘Dorothy was just breathtakingly beautiful.’
Through Playboy, she started meeting celebrities and among them was the film director Peter Bogdanovich.
Friends say losing Stratten to him was ‘the biggest insult’ for Snider.
On August 14, Stratten drove to his house to negotiate divorce settlements but he shot her and then killed himself.
They were both found later by their roommates.
Three former playmates are interviewed; Jeana Keough, Victoria Cooke and Rosanne Katon Walden , along with Dr. Steven Cushner and Patti Laurman, who found their bodies.
20/20 airs on Friday, October 18 at 9pm on ABC.
Actors Eric Roberts (L) and Max Baer (R), who were friends with the pair, are interviewed