October 23, 2025 • 50 mins
Dorothy Stratten had the looks of an angel, the fame of a goddess, and a particularly bad taste in men. In 1980, the Playboy Playmate of the Year was on the brink of Hollywood stardom when her jealous husband decided if he couldn’t have her—no one could. This is the twisted, tragic rise and fall of a woman chewed up by fame, obsession, and the dark side of the dream factory.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
What's up dead O universe? I'm Kyle Poof from Death and
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(00:22):
Book your tour now at hollywoodwalkofdeath.com.
If you dare. Private tours now available.
Now sit back and enjoy the show.Live from Los Angeles 9. 11 What
is your emergency? Here in Hollywood now, 2 counts
of murder, injury and death. Oh my.
God. Shocking new details.
(00:42):
That has stunned the entertainment world.
This makes me a little nervous. The hair stood up on my arms.
Just like in the movies, What do?
You call this thing anyway. Death.
Entertainment. Greetings, demo universe.
How the heck are you? My name is Kyle Plouffe.
And I'm Jerry Aquino. And I'm Ben Kissel, today's
(01:03):
episode. We are thrilled to bring you the
story of the untimely death of Dorothy Stratton.
Woo. Stratton I.
Don't know a lot about her. Yeah, you're gonna find out.
I'm excited. You weren't reading Playboy for
the articles, no. No, I did not do the Playboy
research. Yeah, Jerry was in it for the
pictures. Yeah, pretty much.
(01:24):
The reading eludes me. There were some good articles
though. There were.
Let's be honest, Playboy had some good journalism.
I. Can't say I've ever read an
article on Playboy. Yeah.
Me either. Like ever.
Well, let's Stratton in. Oh wow.
Get into the show, Let's Go, 10881 Clarkson Rd. a modest
(02:06):
rented house in the Rancho Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.
It's Thursday, August 14th, 1980.
Inside, a meeting was meant to settle money and make a clean
break, but would not end that way.
By nightfall, police would find Dorothy Stratton, 20, dead from
a shotgun wound along with her estranged husband, Paul Snyder.
(02:27):
The case will be recorded as a murder suicide and the address
will enter Los Angeles's grim geography of celebrity crime.
But you guys, this story begins years earlier and hundreds of
miles away, with a shy teenager from Vancouver and a hustler who
saw her as a golden ticket. Oh.
Canada. Oh, Canada, Yeah, that's.
(02:49):
Right. Yeah.
Yeah, one of the few ones that actually I, I mean, I guess we
we've covered some Canadians. Absolutely.
And of course, when it comes to superstars, specifically in the
modeling world, Pamela Anderson,I believe, connect.
I believe she's also Canadian. Oh wow, I.
Did not know. That yeah, she was found in a
art. Was it an Argonauts football
game? She was in the crowd.
(03:09):
Really. Yeah, And then people were like,
she's real hot. And then they were like, get her
over here. And then she became a superstar.
Get the fucking. Here, back in the day when all
you have to do is attend a game.We got to go to more games.
Jerry, I'm telling you. I'm OK on that.
Yeah, look at that big beefy dude with that beautiful woman.
(03:30):
Something like that. Dorothy Rook Hoogstratton.
Name's Hoogstratton. OK, I guess you want to put on
some clogs. And Leader Hosen I know does.
She was born February 28th, 1960in Vancouver, BC.
She had Dutch immigrant parents Simon and Nellie Hoogstratton.
That explains the Hoog. The Hoog.
(03:51):
Very Dutch. And it's a fun, fun word.
Yeah, it sounds like they mix everything with chocolate.
She's the eldest of three. She had her brother John and he
was born in 1961 and a sister, Louise, who was born in 1968.
It's a lot of Hooges. A lot of Hooges.
It's a Hooges Hoog. Nice town.
This this whole town's getting taken over by Hoogs.
(04:13):
Hoogville. Wow, that's racist.
Sir oh man. Classmates remember her as a
gentle, reserved, shy girl. By 1977, she's attending
Centennial Centennial High School in Coquitlam and working
part time at Dairy Queen. Yo, I've been to Coquitlam.
I've been to Dairy Queen. I've been to Dairy Queen.
You know, we were on tour in Coquitlam.
(04:37):
Is that how you say that? Coquitlam something like I had
to write it out in Pet. Fall.
Very. Yeah.
It is, it is close enough. But the the craziest thing is
our taxi driver, he was eating cranberries, including the
seeds. Oh, he ate the seeds with the
cranberries, so. You heard it all the time.
Like heard it? Yup.
Oh God that sounds so annoying and considerate for a driver.
(04:59):
Yeah, I thought they were going to start growing inside of him
and it was going to be some sortof bizarre Goosebumps story
where he turns into a cranberry tree.
Be spitting out sunflower seeds in the passenger seat.
That's where she meets Paul Snyder, 26 years old.
He was a Vancouver club promoterwith a taste for the finer
things. Of course, as many club
(05:21):
promoters are. Like, you know, I like, I like
candles. I like flair.
I love flair. Yeah, you want you want a yacht?
I got a boy who knows a boy. We can get into his yacht.
We can get into. Nothing.
Yeah, we gotta like, be there. We gotta be out by 8:00 AM
though. Also do you can you bring like 7
of your best home girls? Yeah, I thought we gotta hang on
to the side of it. Yeah.
(05:42):
And wait till they don't notice.Yeah.
You you ever have a bottle of vodka?
You ever have a bottle of vodka with sparklers?
I kind of enjoyed the finer things in life, you know?
So he starts visiting her, giving her she was being
flattered at Dairy Queen, he wasoff in our rides, and he brings
(06:04):
Dorothy into a nightlife she's never known.
Just cut to him gaining 30 lbs. She's like, I hope she's notices
one day that I love her fucking consuming non-stop Dairy Queen
do. The do the thing do the frosty
thing where you where you give it to me but you turn it upside
down 1st to show me what a Blizzard.
It is I hate. That why?
Because who wants rock hard ice cream?
(06:25):
I want a little melty. It's very true, I do want it a
little bit melting. But it melts.
It melts throughout the process.It does melt throughout the
process. I thought you meant that you
hated like the actual act, the showmanship of turning it
upside. Down I also hate.
That I hate when they turn it upside down.
Don't do this. It does for some reason make it
seem like it's gotten dirty. Yeah.
Like it's facing the ground now.I don't know.
(06:46):
It's just a little weird, Yeah. I thought it was fun, I said.
A little scare like you got me, It's not gonna fall.
So there's some. Fucking frozen.
There's somebody who is on the brink of becoming the next mass
shooter who works at Dairy Queen, and they didn't flip it.
And someone's like, you're supposed to flip the Blizzard
upside down. So I make sure that it's all
hard. And then he gets fired and then
next thing you know a ball is shot up.
(07:07):
Yep. Yep, that's the Orange Julius.
Oh yeah, Snyder arranges professional nude photo shoots.
Oh, he arranges these for his little high school, for the
bling, for the girl who works atDairy Queen.
He's like, OK, I want to see your tits.
It's a lateral move. It's kind of a lateral move from
Butterfinger blizzards to you showing your tits.
(07:27):
Aren't party promoters supposed to be like 22?
This guy's 26. Oh no, there's tons of them that
are in their 30s and 40s and very weird.
God. Just hanging on to the
lifestyle. Yeah, that is true.
Party Promoters 26 by party promoter standard is you're up
there in your 60s or 70s. It's like, dude, if you're not
moving on from this, you will bethe creepy guy in the 30s and
(07:48):
the 40s. Absolutely.
Well, by the time you get to your 30s and 40s, if you're
still in the business, you kind of gain respect again.
Yeah, it comes back around. You can get back on the train.
Yeah, yeah. This guy knows what he's talking
about. He must, He's Bobby. 2 shoes.
What do you call him that he only wears 1 shoe?
OK, so he's arranging these nudephoto shoots, right?
(08:10):
And in summer of 1978, he submits them to Playboy's
editors in Los Angeles. Wow.
Now is she aware that these are going to be submitted into
Playboy or is this more him justtaking her career in his hands?
I feel like this is more him. Yeah, he's, he's starting to be
like, well, if I get this, then I could say I'm your manager
now. Yeah.
Also, all of this is being done with a Canadian accent.
(08:32):
Oh my God that sounds not serious.
I don't want to be able to take get serious.
You're gonna get right in the fucking centerfold, bud.
Shout out to our Canadian listeners.
We love you. As always, love you.
Like our third, third most popular nation, that's.
Amazing. Gotta visit Toronto.
Mm Hmm. So Dorothy, she was actually
(08:54):
still underage under British Columbia's rules at the time.
Oh wow, so she needed her mother's signature on the model
release. OK, she went to Mama.
Hoog. So Mama Hoog was like, all
right, let's let those Hoogs fly.
We come from a long line of HoosHoos.
Train. Yeah, the the look catches
(09:14):
Playboy's eye. The look which is just the naked
body. Yeah, look.
The look. Now what is it about?
Sting. Now this is this.
This is a unique thing. You keep going.
You see the way her labia kind of smiles at you?
God. Jesus Christ.
That's literally the silent partbeing spoken out loud.
But they said to her, yeah, whatthey thought she wanted to hear.
(09:35):
She's approachable, natural, photogenic.
Oh my God. I don't mean she.
Judging by the pictures that I did research, I know she is.
So they gave her an invitation for test shots.
So she's not in yet, but if she comes and shows her friggin butt
hole to them then maybe they might possibly think about
(09:58):
probably putting it in the magazine.
God damn that sucks. That sucks.
Sucks, sucks. Don't like her?
You say it. It's because it's.
True. Probably it is true.
You want it. If you want to make some money,
you got to do some work first. Yeah.
By August 1979, Dorothy is namedPlaymate of the Month.
Big ohh wow. Damn, immediately.
(10:19):
And in August, they really liked.
That's my birth month. It's a hard month to get on a
calendar because, you know, it'sstill the end of the summer.
Hmm, It's a major month. Hmm, It is.
Is it OK? Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. So it's January is the.
First one it is the first one it's it's the one where you
swear you have resolutions aboutthings.
Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say. Slowly taper them off.
I feel like January that's gonnabe.
(10:39):
I mean, you're all dumped out from the holiday.
You're probably still, you know,you got your Nutella pounds that
you put on. I don't know if the January
spread's gonna be great. Takes a while to get back into
the year. I guess so you.
Know feel like April. When the sun is shining.
The sun's shining. The the year hasn't been ruined
yet. Yeah, you're optimistic.
(11:00):
Right, so true. So that's August 79, Playmate of
the Month, 1980. She's named Playmate of the
Year. Let's go.
Wow. Her momentum is immediate.
Yeah, it doesn't take a long time at.
All no. So she jumps right in.
She's a very attractive girl, you know, gets immediate
attention and then instead of just becoming a straight up
(11:21):
model, she starts getting actingparts.
So she played bit parts in TV onBuck Rogers and Fantasy Island.
She was in comedy films such as Americathon.
OK. America Thong.
Americathon. Americathon.
Yeah, like a phone phonathon. Let's.
Put America right on, right on. Yeah, yeah.
That's where you just say as many.
(11:41):
All in today. That's where you just say as
many racial slurs as you can andthen when you the first person
to stop loses. It's the Americathon I.
Remember that differently. Hefner probably touts her
crossover potential. She thanks photographer Mario
Cassilli and appears on The Tonight Show after her Playmate
of the Year luncheon. Wow.
(12:03):
I didn't, you know, like for some reason I thought it was a
little bit more taboo then. But she was mainstream.
Playboy was totally mainstream at this time.
I guess so, yeah. I mean, 1980, yeah.
I would think that it reached some kind of mainstream
notoriety by then. OK, good.
It's not the 60s, right? Sexes have been a little more
like taboo. Maybe.
Yeah, in the 70s, full of Bush hair.
Are they even naked? Right.
(12:25):
Are they naked? I paid for, yeah, paid for a
naked. Vagina Snyder positions himself
as manager and coach. The relationship, unequal from
the start, grows tense as Dorothy's career accelerates.
Oh my God this is so classic. Friends and colleagues warn her
(12:45):
about his possessiveness. Oh.
It just seems like a Tina and Ike situation, yeah.
Oh yeah, where are you? Yeah, like is like, oh shit,
Tina's better. Yeah.
It's brutal, but it happens veryoften.
Yes, it does. In early 1980, Dorothy completes
the Playmate of the Year shoots in films Galaxina in Southern
(13:08):
California. You can't tell me that's not a
porno. It sounds very much like a
porno. It's gotta be a porno.
Galaxina. Let me do my research, Kyle.
Don't worry about it. It's a retro sci-fi movie from
1980. Oh my God.
So what do you think the porn name of this movie is?
(13:28):
I mean it's. Like the the equivalent.
That's a tough one because it's pretty on the nose for a porno.
Galaxy Anus. Oh, that's good.
See, you're good. Oh, that's great.
Yeah, that works right to the butthole.
Yeah, you just gotta switch up acouple.
Just gotta finale it a little. It's basically there.
Right. I had a so close.
I had a friend in New York City.She was a porn star in her first
(13:50):
movie that she was in. She had huge boobs and she was
in a movie called Mamazons and that shot her career.
That's a little too on the nipple for.
Me to the ceiling. Snyder is frequently present
when she's, you know, participating in business.
She's on film shoots or photo shoots.
(14:11):
He's always there just like, yeah, I think you should do
this. Why don't you turn a little bit
like that Get. Out of here, yeah.
Leave. Creepy.
He's driving, he's critiquing, he's arguing with her and with
producers and, you know, people who are photographers and people
working on set. Just annoying the fuck out of
everybody. And his credentials are he's a
Vancouver party promoter who sawher at Dairy Queen.
(14:32):
Yeah, that's his whole credential.
OK, and he's not even like, OK, the one I was gonna say the one
business smart decision he did was taking her photos and like
sending them to LA. Sure, but you can do that with a
bunch of girls. Yeah, that's what I was gonna
say. Like the one smart business.
What he should have done after that was like try to become an
actual manager, have like a bunch of different models.
Like no he's stuck with her and was just annoying her and was
(14:54):
like a Leech on her back. Mm hmm.
So that's not even smart business wise, right?
So the problem is that he didn'tdo this to more girls.
No the problem. That he could have.
He could have delegated his leadership could just like build
a business upon it instead of just like latching onto this one
girl being like her fucking likecreeper owner.
Right, he was just a Barnacle onher ship.
Yeah, like, that's just not evensmart because after she got so
(15:16):
big, it's like Ben said his onlycredential was being a freaking
party promoter, right? So and then then she had, she
gave him a really good shot to try to like expand that
business. Absolutely.
That's what I would have done. I agree.
So people on set, coworkers, everybody's noticing the strain.
On March 22nd, 1980, she flies to New York City for Peter
Bogdanovich's romantic comedy. They All Laughed.
(15:38):
It's her biggest role yet. She's playing opposite John
Ritter. Hell yeah.
One of my favorite comedic actors of all time.
Hell. Yeah, a romantic comedy is
called Their. They all laughed.
Makes me feel very small, like my penis is very small and
everything went horribly. Wrong, they all laughed.
The end. Just a mirror.
(15:59):
How was the date? Well, they all laughed.
But you're not funny, I know. Yeah.
During production, Dorothy and Peter Bogdanovich began a
relationship. Peter later says that he wrote
aspects of her character from what he learned about her
marriage. So he knew she was married and
(16:21):
right wasn't stopping him. Snyder wanted to follow her to
New York to be on the set of this movie.
Dorothy, she's starting to see ahead and seeing, you know, that
relationship is not going to be going well, right?
She sought space and professionalism.
So she was like, no, you have tostay in LA.
She's outgrowing all of this bullshit.
Basically. The production continues and the
(16:43):
relationship with Bogdanovich deepens.
A lot of things are getting deeper.
Deepening. The Great Deepening.
April 30th, 1980 at a Playboy Mansion luncheon.
Wait, they did lunch? Yeah, you would think like
luncheon always makes me think of my grandparents going to like
some event it. Was more like lunch on the
(17:05):
models. Oh, yes, yes, that's always,
that's the toughest gig. There was a person I knew that
did she was the sushi tray and it's you got paid.
She got paid pretty well, but it's just gonna be weird.
It was weird. She told me it was very weird.
Did she say it was weird? Yeah, I would definitely.
I don't know, maybe Papa Xanax? Yeah, well, you're covered in
(17:27):
like plastic because you don't want to infect.
So you're just like kind of hot.Also, it's just.
I wish it was like that. It There was a friend of mine at
the time. He's a comedian.
A lot of people know him. His 30th birthday party was at
the Creek in The Cave and they covered a model with chocolate
frosting and then handed out cookies and we all scraped.
The toy frosting on the toy. The naked woman's body the.
(17:49):
Toilet with the stage that was the Creek in The Cave.
Yes, I would. I would need to absolutely know
that she like just got out of the shower.
I did not care. Of course, you know, I was.
So I was. I was in my 20s at the time.
Yeah. I took a cookie on her butt and
did it. Oh, yeah.
And then Darren Soder goes, dude, why?
And I was like, why? What do you mean?
He's like hepatitis I. Was like soda or.
(18:11):
Something you guys could have hired someone with hepatitis
like I just trusted that everyone knew what the fuck they
were doing. That's hilarious.
Everyone at the Creek in The Cave is trash, was trash.
The odor is trash. Wait, there's a there's a naked
lady with like whipped cream monitor that you're dipping
cookies into? Yeah, there is definitely no
actual like policies in place totry to keep this.
(18:31):
Just just Kyle Plouffe being like, do you do weddings?
Yeah, just in case I get married.
Do you like, do weddings? I think my wife would really
enjoy this. My future wife that doesn't
exist. This would be a good appetizer,
yeah, for the wedding. Imagine you fucking propose an
idea to your wife when you're planning your wedding.
Fantastic if we eat a bunch of whipped cream off a chick.
No, but like everybody, a whole family.
Like everybody. Not just me, I don't want it to
(18:52):
be weird like. We can do the thing where we
cross each other's hands and we like.
Feed each other. Do that with our tits, yeah.
Good news and bad news. Good news is you just saved
$20,000. Bad news, we're not getting
married, you fucking asshole. And I have hepatitis.
I have hepatitis. Hefner tells the press that she
received two 200,000 in cash andprizes for Playmate of the Year.
(19:14):
Oh. That's not bad.
That's pretty good. Yeah, very good. 1980 let's go.
For real. That night she appears on Johnny
Carson. The next morning she leaves on a
short Canadian publicity tour that ends in Vancouver, OK, and
Snyder shows up. It's not gonna be good.
Took a Greyhound bus pissed off.Oh my God.
I don't know if it was a bus, but I imagine, yeah, just doing
(19:35):
it's. Actually hilarious, like a four
hour ride and they're like Oh mygoodness, she's going to talk.
Can't wait to see her face. There is a total lack of logic
when people are like just go fora ride, relax.
People just sit there and get more and more angry.
The further you drive, the angrier you get.
Yeah. It's not relaxing as many people
(19:55):
might think. Yeah, so Snyder shows up and
he's. He's angling to say that he's
her manager and he can get her nightclub appearances, but the
clubs gonna give him the cash. Ohh.
My God, what a scumbag. He pockets all the fees.
Ohh my. God, she finds out about it.
The marriage fractures further because even as Dorothy's public
(20:17):
image was rising behind closed doors, the marriage was
unraveling. I mean, yeah, completely.
I don't even know what how he convinced her to marry her in
the first place. Well, I think she was very
young. It sounds like technically it
was illegal for her him to. Even date.
Her, yeah, Let alone take nude pictures, right, but.
Jesus. So he was not just her husband,
(20:38):
as we've said, he had positionedhimself as her manager, promoter
and self-imposed Svengali from the very beginning.
I'm dead basically. Yeah, that dynamic worked when
Dorothy was a teenager working at Dairy Queen, but by 1980 it
had become unsustainable. Yeah, that makes sense.
There has to be 1 moment where she looked at him and just like,
(20:59):
you're a moron, yeah. Wow, yeah.
I wonder what that moment was. It's definitely happens all the.
Time. I know, oh, I've seen the crack.
Just a little twinge in the eye.Be like, oh, you think I'm
really stupid? There's no way that I can come
back from that. Dorothy was now Playmate of the
Year, with studio auditions, film roles and television
(21:20):
appearances. She was moving in circles Snyder
could only access through her, and that was really eating at
his fucking craw. He.
Has a little fucking male ego, yeah.
She didn't need him anymore. Get out of here.
Friends at the Playboy Mansion recalled Snyder hovering during
conversations, interjecting during interviews and coaching
Dorothy on how to speak to interviewees and executives or
(21:44):
interviewers. Sorry.
Oh, you don't want to do it thatway?
You want to sound more Canadian?By mid 1980, Playboy security
and Mansion staff had started discouraging his presence at
events which that hand up. Excuse me, can't come in.
Oh. For Dorothy, that's what a shit
position because you know, how do you, you can't bridge those
(22:04):
two things anymore because he fucked it up so bad.
But I think she's actually excited about it because she's
annoyed by him. She doesn't like him.
She's realizing he's just a fucking hanger on a Leech.
And she's banging one of the biggest directors at the time,
Peter Bogdanovich. So it it does seem like she
might be a little scared of him as well.
Yeah. With good reason.
Yeah, multiple sources confirm that Hefner personally warned
(22:27):
Dorothy about Snyder's controlling behavior.
Do you have any idea how bad youhave to be for Hugh Hefner to be
like, listen, honey, this guy's kind of a creep, babe, get off
my Dick. I'm talking this guy's kind of a
creep. OK, yeah, bring in playmate #8 I
need my ass scrubbed. It's not even Babe I.
Trust this guy if I were you. Will you all stop sucking my
Dick? I'm talking straight truth over
(22:49):
here. Yeah.
Yeah. When Hugh Hefner is your gauge
for who's good and bad, Yeah. That's a pretty low bar.
Yeah, well, interesting. According to Hefner's later
interviews, Snyder had become, quote, a hustler hanging on the
edges of the Playboy world. What a loser.
The message to Dorothy was clear.
She had outgrown him. Oh yeah, definitely.
(23:11):
Yeah. He was just like fucking hanging
around in the backyard in the pool, just talking to other
playmates. Like, you know, I'm the reason
that Dorothy even made this far.OK.
Got it. I know, Paul, I know.
You're really cool, yeah. Snyder, meanwhile, was in
financial trouble. Dorothy's income was technically
(23:32):
still entangled with his She waspaying for the house, the car,
and much of their shared lifestyle.
Oh. Damn, still needs her.
Yeah. But once, yeah, sorry, you can
go ahead. No, go on.
I was just going to say something that's it's mildly
sexist, but I think that's I think that's wrong.
I think it's wrong for the womanto pay for everything, but I
don't I don't know you sexist. I don't know.
(23:54):
I just feel like that's. What a fantastic position of
power to be in for her. She's like, yeah, I've outgrown
you and but it but it but it does add a lot of pressure that
he needs her so much because sheoutgrew him, but he still has to
be latched on. Outgrown within like 2 calendar
years. Well, seriously, yeah.
Doesn't take long. She shot up to fame very
(24:17):
quickly. She did and he was an he was an
asshole. He matched it all with the same
level of grossness. Yeah.
So once she left for New York tofilm, they all laughed.
She stopped sending money back and the money flow slowed for
him because he didn't have all the access to all the money and
everything. Go get a job.
Snyder responded by while she was gone, he sold her Playmate
(24:40):
prizes. Wow.
What, he pawned her Jaguar? What?
What an asshole. Tried to make quick cash off of
nightclub appearances that wouldnever be fulfilled.
He hired private investigators to follow her on the East Coast.
Oh my God. He read her mail that arrived at
the house. He called friends constantly for
(25:01):
updates on her whereabouts. Wow.
Also they all laughed. Aubrey.
Audrey Hepburn was in that movie.
Yes, yeah. John Ruder and Audrey Hepburn.
Yeah, Jesus. Yeah, it was a huge.
Film. Huge.
Absolutely massive. If Audrey Hepburn laughed at me
when I took my pants down, I I would jump off a bridge.
They all laughed and laughed. You call that a cock?
(25:24):
I didn't even call it a cock, I called it Mr. Bean.
That's Mr. Bean to you. By June 1980, Dorothy had begun
living largely apart from him, which is great.
She'd spent weeks in New York filming and then traveled to
Europe with Peter Bogdanovich. When she returned to Los Angeles
in July, she moved straight intoBogdanovich's Bel Air home.
(25:46):
She was, for all practical purposes, living a separate
life. Yeah, sounds like the only thing
that was keeping them together was the paperwork.
Absolutely. Really.
Oh God, because I sound so. Dumb too, just like just doing
all of these like get quick, getrich quick schemes after she
left. Like you're not think, you're
not thinking, man, no. He's not.
Yeah, 'cause even. When he takes the cash from
(26:07):
these places, he can pawn it offand be like, oh, well, she
didn't want to do it, but they'll still be like, oh,
you're the one that took the money.
We'll fucking kill you. Yeah, he's not thinking that.
She wrote to Snyder outlining plans for an amicable
separation. Which emphasis on her part is
amicable. On his, not so much.
Oh yeah, definitely seems so. There was no formal divorce yet,
(26:29):
but she intended to end the marriage, split assets and move
on with her life and career. So we got her into this mess
splitting. Assets.
Thank you for Snyder. This was the final humiliation
he had discovered. Thorothy molded her career and
brought her to Playboy. Oh what he tells himself in the
morning every fucking day. Please, without her, you took
(26:51):
pictures of nothing and you did nothing right?
And he's pissed because now she was becoming famous without him.
He told friends she owed him everything.
I cannot stand that I know such a man.
Yep. One friend One friend later
(27:12):
testified that Snyder referred to Dorothy as quote his
creation. Ill it was it was off dude.
Like she didn't exist before you.
Right. It was Mon Pahog.
Yeah, that's the creation. Her parents.
And this is the most hack fucking line sentiment of all
time. And this he actually said this
out loud. He said if he couldn't have her,
(27:34):
no one else could. Wow, He's he's just the whole
bag of cliches. Yeah.
The lamest. He's even lame when it comes to
plotting the murder of his wife.Bro, come on.
At the Playmate of the Year luncheon in April, he'd largely
been sidelined. Dorothy appeared on The Tonight
Show that night without him by her side.
Around that time, Hefner reportedly barred Snyder from
(27:55):
the mansion for inappropriate behavior.
Yep. Snyder felt cut off from not
only Dorothy, but the glamorous world had used her to enter.
Oh my God. And again, to get to get kicked
out of the Playboy Mansion. Yes, seriously.
He's literally like just like doing rails off of like some
girl's ass and he's like get that guy out of here.
He's being inappropriate. It's like what?
(28:16):
The stay, stay still, stay still.
So seriously, not again. We cannot have that kind of
behavior in this house. Can you just do the cocaine off
the massive glass table please, like everybody fucking else?
A. Puff of air.
You wasted so much coke with that fart it.
Just goes at the air. That's funny.
(28:38):
If I ever did ayahuasca, that's how I want it delivered you.
Just poisonous plant it into my face.
Yeah. Wow.
Throughout July and early August, Snyder grew more
isolated, telling friends about quote hunting, his new interest
in hunting and wanting to buy a shotgun.
That's not even what you hunt ifyou don't hunt with a shotgun.
(29:00):
Elmore Fudd does. Yeah, but he's a cartoon.
And he never shoots anything. Yeah, that's.
True, that's exactly mine. You don't shoot with a shotgun.
Pesky wabbit. I know they're always wearing
dresses and shit. And he's trying to fuck her too,
when Bugs Bunny's wearing the dress.
Yeah. Fucking getting that pronoun
right. That's being all woke, yeah.
He would ask. Disturbing questions about
(29:21):
playmates who had died to his friends being like what about
that girl that died? What about what happened to her?
Oh, so he's like trying to? Figure out some kind of viable
death excuse to try to make up or just.
Gloating that he's like thinkingabout this and doing this to
Dorothy. You know, it's actually kind of
interesting because. Back in the day, you have to
(29:41):
actually ask your friends these stupid questions, not Google.
Yeah, now you. Now we get it.
Yeah. We get it in.
Post we're like oh they googled how did all the Playboy models
die but he actually has to ask his friends yeah he literally
he's like hey how did. This model die.
Interesting. Here we go.
Interesting. That's when we actually had to
talk to each other. Yeah, OK.
Also would have been nice if oneof his friends are like, maybe
(30:03):
just divorce her bro. Yeah, maybe just grant her a
divorce and move on with her. Maybe just fucking go away.
Maybe, like I said at the beginning when she started
getting famous, if he just put his brain to being like a larger
manager for more like women in like the right way, then he
wouldn't have to like, just completely be like just devoted
to her and just needing her completely.
(30:23):
Yeah, you become the pimp. Yeah, yeah.
And then you have many hosts. Yeah.
Oh, that's. So that's what we want to have
happen here. I feel like can't.
You guys keep flipping the sentiment.
I know what. You said you know what I mean.
I know what you. Mean.
Yeah, exactly. He.
Could have not gone psycho over.One bitch, is what I'm saying
right? Right, because she became.
(30:44):
The pimp, Yes. Oh, yeah.
OK, so while all this is happening and he's asking
questions about playmates that died, he's bragging about
wanting to buy a shotgun and telling his friends, oh, I'm a
I'm a hunter now, even though I live in fucking Los Angeles,
right? And there's not much to kill out
here unless you go way up to like, Big Bear or something.
It was during this period that he arranged to meet Dorothy at
(31:04):
their old house on Clarkson Roadto talk things out.
Oh my God. Oh no it doesn't.
You don't need to talk things out.
Sometimes you just have to end things.
Yeah, he why and why. Yeah, why did she go so Dorothy
while? She's, you know, trying to break
off. She's away from Paul's control.
For the first time in years, shewas experiencing something new.
(31:25):
Independence, attention that wasn't mediated through Paul in
a career that seemed to be blooming.
And like I said, she had been with this.
Guy Bogdanovich, he was then in his early 40s.
So she has something for an older man.
Definitely seems that way. They they say men in their 40s.
Are the most attractive seasonedman seasoned?
Man, it's unfortunately. Very true.
(31:46):
My 40s is weird. Let's go.
I'm one year away from my 40s. That's what they said dudes,
dude. The little salt and pepper look,
It's just chef's kiss. I guess we really rock that
well. So big Donovich.
He had been a celebrated director earlier in the decade
with the Last Picture Show in Paper Moon, and though his
career was in a cooling period, he still commanded prestige.
(32:09):
Dorothy confided to friends thatshe was in love with him.
Oh wow. Special kind of love a
Hollywood. Love by the time.
Production wrapped. On, they all laughed.
Their relationship was serious. Dorothy moved into the Bel Air
home, began making plans for thefuture.
She intended to continue acting,pursue more film roles and make
a clean break from Snyder. Snyder, on the other side of
(32:32):
town, meanwhile, was selling furniture from their shared
home, arranged to buy a used Mossberg 12 gauge pump action
shotgun and following Dorothy's movements through informants.
Creepy. Weird.
On August 13th. Snyder paid $100 in cash for the
shotgun, telling the seller he planned quote to go hunting.
Uh huh. And right just.
(32:53):
Just telling. Everyone just announcing, you
know I like to hunt, right? Wink.
A wink. That thing I always like to do,
Wink. A wink.
Kill my wife. Wink That night he showed the
shotgun to his friends and againmade comments about playmates
who had died young. How?
How does he connect? Those dots, he's just.
He's boiling up the gun. You remember how this lady died?
(33:15):
Weird, right? Yeah.
So he. Bought the gun the day before
they made that plan to meet up together.
So the next morning, August 14th, Dorothy did agree to meet
Snyder at the house. She was carrying $1100 in cash
to help settle some financial matters.
To pay his ass off. Even was.
Going to give him more money. You know, friends later said.
(33:36):
That she was nervous but felt itwas something she needed to do
to finalize the separation. That's just a good.
Vancouver gal. She arrived around.
Noon By mid afternoon, Snyder's roommates noticed the door to
his bedroom was closed and both cars were still outside.
They assumed the couple had reconciled and left them alone,
(33:56):
which is hilarious 'cause this was her house and Snyder's
living there with roommates. With roommates?
What? The fuck so.
Sad there's so many. People in New York, too, that'll
like, be the first person on a lease, and then when their
roommates move out, they have other people move in but make
sure they pay enough to cover the rent and more.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. They do that all the time.
It's a little New York hustle, Snyder.
(34:16):
'S fucking doing that shit for. Sure, most likely.
Dorothy missed a dinner appointment.
That evening with Bogdanovich, when no one could reach her,
concern began to spread. Oh shit.
She never misses. She never misses coming to
Pete's Clam. Shout.
A check? No.
With Bogdanovich, No, definitelynot.
But before we reveal. What's behind that door?
(34:38):
Let's go back to let's go back to the actual location, 10881
Clarkson Road, West Los Angeles,a modest rental home shared by
Paul Snyder and a couple of malehousemates.
So like I said, she arrived around noon.
She parked outside, walked up the steps and entered the home.
Snyder's housemates saw her arrive but didn't overhear any
arguments. The bed door, bedroom door was
(35:00):
closed not long after. Neighbors later told police they
heard nothing unusual. No shouting, no fighting, no
gunshots. Do you have any idea how sad it
is? For a 40 year old or whatever
the age that he is, for a man ofthat age to be like, let's talk
and then you go to his house andbe like and let's go to my room.
We don't want to anger the roommates.
(35:21):
Can you keep it down? That's weird.
Come on, I guess. Shotgun blasts inside.
A closed room can be muffled significantly by the walls and
ambient daytime noise. Can it?
I guess. I guess.
But it sounds like fucking. I think his roommates were.
Probably real dumb. Too.
Maybe we were just fucking stoned.
Yeah, it could be. By mid to late afternoon,
(35:43):
Dorothy. Had not re emerged and the
bedroom door remained closed. One of Snyder's housemates came
home, saw her car still in the driveway and assumed they were
having a reconciliation. Maybe they're having a a a hate
sex encounter make up sex some. Make up sex.
Snyder had often talked. About getting her back so nobody
disturbed them, but that doesn'tmean.
(36:05):
That she wanted him back, Right?Well then, why'd you?
Show up is what the roommates would probably say that evening.
Peter. Bogdanovich grew worried Dorothy
had missed their dinner plans and wasn't answering the phone.
Her friends and colleagues couldn't reach her either.
At this point, Snyder's roommates were beginning to
realize that the closed door, unchanged since noon, was
(36:27):
unusual. That yeah all.
All fucking day the doors just closed and silent with two
people in there and they're like, huh, Probably banging,
yeah. He usually.
Comes out to try to steal a piece of pizza by now, right?
What's going on? Right shortly before midnight
one. Of Snyder's housemates used a
spare key to open the bedroom door.
What they found inside would make headlines the next morning.
(36:49):
Dorothy Stratton was lying nude on the bed, dead from a close
range shotgun blast to the left side of her face.
God damn. Jeez.
She'd been killed instantly. On the floor nearby was Paul
Snyder, also dead, the same shotgun beneath him.
Any word on if the cock and balls were out?
Well, I. Probably, yeah, Ben, simply.
Must know. I simply have to know that.
(37:11):
Detail where is beans and Franksout?
Yeah, this is. Matters kind of, because why was
she naked if he ain't? A note was never found.
Well, he probably. Defiled her body and then killed
himself. Yeah, that's probably right.
The LAPD determined the case wasa murder suicide.
Their reconstruction suggested that after Dorothy arrived and
(37:32):
the door closed, Snyder killed her first and then spent several
hours alone with her body. Gross.
Yeah, dude, come on now. Some Ed Gein shit going on
there. Headless woman.
Fuck. And after that he turned the gun
on himself. Detectives noted signs that her
(37:53):
body had been arranged postmortem.
Ohh God no. Like, forced it into places,
yeah. Details that while reported that
at the time, were deliberately not released in full due to
their disturbing nature. Oh my God.
Sitting her up and like. Having conversations with her
dancing Why'd you make me? Do this.
(38:14):
Dorothy, why'd you make me do this right?
Why are you not? Having your tea.
Oh my God, that's so. Scary.
It really is. The estimated time of death for
both was early to mid afternoon,likely within an hour or two of
Dorothy's arrival. The LA County coroner ruled
Dorothy's death a homicide and Snyder's a suicide.
Toxicology tests showed no drugsor alcohol in Dorothy's system.
(38:36):
The weapon, the Mossberg shotgunSnyder had bought just a day
before, was confirmed as the murder weapon.
Jesus and. No one thought to like be like,
hey, maybe don't, don't go to his house.
I hear he's he's been saying a lot of weird shit about Ted
playmates. Yeah, but that's his friends.
That's crazy how they did it. Fucking.
Warrant or try to help in any kind of way.
(38:56):
He didn't have an Instagram for Hurt A.
Stock to be like he seems unhinged right now, right?
That's true. The story broke the following.
Morning, playmate slain and murder suicide splash across
newspapers nationwide. Dorothy Stratton was 20 years
old. Oh my God.
That's how crazy. The crazy amount of success that
happened in such a small time, this whole this all happened.
(39:18):
Over three years, yes, whole, I thought A.
Little bit more time had passed than that.
Yeah, I thought a little more time when?
She was like claiming her independence and working on more
projects. She was a rocket man took.
Off right away and he was just on the ground like, oh fuck,
she's going far. Wow, I can't have that.
Yeah, fuck, she was. So young.
Yeah, she had been Playmate. Of the year, a budding actress
(39:41):
and just weeks away from what she and Bogdanovich believed
would be a breakout Hollywood career.
The news. Of Dorothy Stratton's death.
Spread fast. By the next morning, August
15th, 1980, major newspapers across America ran the story on
their front pages. Playmate slain and murder
suicide. Starlet Husband dead in
Hollywood tragedy. And that would annoy her to no
(40:03):
end, saying husband also dead. Yeah, because she was done.
With this fucking guy. Also tragedy.
Fuck, that's that's like I feel like it's derogatory like to her
and just it's like it's not a tread.
The guy was fucking nuts. Yeah, right.
Yeah, it's not a. Skiing accident?
Yeah, in the immediate. Aftermath 2 narratives took
shape 1 led by Hugh Hefner in the institution that was Playboy
(40:26):
cast Dorothy as a young woman tragically murdered by a jealous
husband. A cautionary tale about male
possessiveness, Hefner told reporters.
Dorothy represented the ultimaterealization of our dreams.
She was the embodiment of beauty, innocence and potential.
Wow, he. Emphasized Snyder's.
Background as a hustler and his growing isolation from Dorothy's
world. Playboy security confirmed that
(40:48):
Snyder had been banned from the mansion in the weeks leading up
to the murder. That's crazy.
He's clearly showing a pattern. It's like we said he even warned
her like that guy seems unstablesome.
Of them tried. The other narrative formed
around Peter Bogdanovic, who wasdevastated.
Dorothy had been living with himin Bel Air and had planned to
(41:09):
travel together shortly after the meeting with Snyder.
And that's not Why didn't he go with her?
I know it's kind of Why wouldn'the go with her?
Because he's the older man in this situation.
He's in his 40s. I know he's a victim in all this
too. And it's all, you know, Monday
morning quarterbacking. But if I had a young girlfriend
and she was going to meet up with this fucking 28 year old?
(41:29):
Sounds to me. Nightclub promoter.
Scumbag. Sounds like you've been a little
possessive, Kyle. That's hilarious.
I think she probably. Wanted to go alone.
She's like, I'm an adult. I'm gonna go.
Take care of. This damn that's also.
True. No.
Wow, Ben's sounding more feminist.
Look at that they. Said it couldn't be done.
I'll let you go by your fucking.Self, because I care about it.
(41:49):
Yeah. Yeah, you're strong enough to go
get shot in the room. Oh my God.
I loved her deeply, he said. She was a beautiful person in
every sense of the word. That's sad.
Dorothy's funeral took place on.August 20th, 1980 at the
Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, right
up next to UCLA. No, that's crazy.
It's the same. Cemetery where Marilyn.
(42:10):
Monroe is buried. Bogdanovich paid for the service
Hefner and several playmates attended.
Sounds like a hot. Ass.
I know I was going to say it's kind of a hot.
Because the emotions are. High.
Kind of want to see that. You know some people to get.
Laid after that. Thank God, yeah.
Sexy grief sex. Oh boy, it's just nice because.
(42:30):
Everything has to be. Goth because it's a funeral, so
yeah, but everyone's tits are. Probably still out.
I mean, they're sad. They're.
Mourning that you know they haveto get their tits out.
You have to. Those are the best.
Tissues. Yeah, exactly.
It's hard out there. Bogdanovich arranged to have.
Dorothy buried in a white coffinwith a single red rose.
He stood apart from the Playboy contingent during the service.
(42:54):
After the funeral, Bogdanovich entered what he described as a
period of isolation and grief. He he halted work for months
that eventually bought the rights to They All Laughed
himself and self distributed thefilm in 1981.
Oh wow, interesting. A move that bankrupted him.
But was intended to honor Dorothy's final performance.
(43:14):
Why wouldn't so it it just wouldn't.
Would they not put it out? No, they put it out, but I
guess. It didn't do as well.
It may not have done. Well, yeah.
In 1984. Bogdanovic published a book
entitled The Killing of the Unicorn Dorothy Stratton, 1960
to 1980, in which he blamed the Playboy environment for
contributing to Dorothy's death.What?
(43:36):
Interesting. Well, it's all I mean, I don't
think it's the Playboy environment.
I think it's whatever with the fuck environment Snyder was
creating for himself. It really was.
And. The people that he would talk.
To and say, oh, what about the dead playmates?
People like, oh, let's not tell her about that, right?
He. Argued that Hefner and his
circle. Encouraged a culture that made
(43:58):
young women vulnerable to men like Paul Snyder.
I mean, I could see that being the case.
As well. Yeah, I could, but Hefner.
Also directly. Told her to stay the fuck away
from this guy. He's a piece of shit.
Yeah. Hefner called.
The book a self-serving work accusing Bogdanovich of trying
to rewrite history to to absolvehimself.
That's actually very true. Because, well, I.
(44:18):
Mean he's right. Even though that he loved to
refer what he thought was all the right reasons, it was still
a man in his 40s that was going after a fucking 19 year old.
Yeah, she was 20. At the end.
Well, you know. The two men?
Never. Reconciled their accounts.
In 1983, director Bob Fosse released this the film *80
(44:40):
starring Mariel Hemingway as Dorothy and Eric Roberts as Paul
Snyder. Wow, a movie was made.
Yeah, the film. Was a gritty, unflinching
dramatization of the events based on a Pulitzer Prize
winning Village Voice article byTeresa Carpenter titled Death of
a Playmate. The movie ends with a murder
suicide framed through Snyder's perspective, but Donovich
(45:01):
objected to the film, believing it sensationalized Dorothy's
death. Why would they make it?
Through Paul Snyder's like perspective, yeah.
I don't like that, yeah. I mean, I guess with this Ed
Gein thing on Netflix that just came out, they try to make him
more of a humble character. They really do.
(45:21):
They make him. Look like, but I'm just a good
boy. Yeah, I'm a.
I'm a good. Person who did bad things, yeah.
I always say that after I dig upa grave and fuck the corpse.
Yep, I'm a good guy. Yeah, isn't how that works a
particular hobby? Very.
Particular Hefner. Portrayed by Cliff, Robertson
(45:43):
also criticized aspects of his depiction.
I mean, he's just upset with. That he doesn't give a fuck
despite mixed. Reviews. *80 remains the most
well known cultural retelling ofthe case.
Another option if people are looking is the 1981 made for
television movie Death of a Centerfold, The Dorothy Stratton
story starring who else but Jamie Lee Curtis.
(46:05):
Wow, shit, wow. Shit, Mariel Hemingway and Jamie
Lee Curtis high compliment. Yeah, well did they in the 1st?
Movie. Did they bring in Bugdanovich at
all? No, like did they did.
They have him as a. Character.
I wonder. I'm sure they did.
Yeah, they must have. Yeah, they must have.
(46:26):
While both of these movies cover.
The same tragic story *80 is generally considered a more
critically acclaimed and artistically developed film.
Roberts performance as Snyder was widely praised Hemingway and
Mariel Hemingway actually underwent surgery to make her
appearance closer to Dorothy's What?
What? Yeah.
Oh my God. A.
Decision that generated. Controversy at the time.
(46:47):
I wonder what she did. How everybody gets work done
they. Do I just watched half of the.
Movie. I'm going to finish the
second-half of the substance. I did end up falling asleep, but
it's very good. Oh, substance is great, yes.
It's a great. Commentary on all that?
Yeah, Yes. Oh yeah, it is.
Yes, Dorothy was 20 years. Old She had appeared in only a
(47:08):
handful of films, but her impactoutlasted many of her
contemporaries. Her name remains etched into
true crime history, not just as a tragedy, but as a mirror
reflecting the exploitative currents of late 70s Hollywood.
Yeah, seriously. I blame Dairy Queen for all of.
This. Why'd?
You hire her. Why'd you hire her?
(47:28):
No. Wow.
And with. That.
That'll take us too. Little thoughts #1 the Blizzard
thing, I agree. No need to turn it upside down.
Oh my God #2 this is fucking don't be a piece of shit.
(47:50):
Yeah, you know, and. If someone.
If obviously, if you hit your wagon to someone and then they
go off and be really, really successful, you didn't do
anything. You know she was the star,
right? The entire time She was just.
Waiting to get discovered? Yep, absolutely.
And. It's disgusting and very sad and
I guess just be careful out there.
(48:11):
Be careful about that, folks. I would totally agree.
I would definitely say stay awayfrom party promoters.
Absolutely if. You want if you want to go.
To like you want to have a really fun Friday night with
like the girls and a bottle or whatever the sparklers and the
club then fine have your have your little party promoter
friends do not let them try to become your manager on anything
(48:33):
they can't even manage themselves and I've said this
before if. A party promoter shows you a lot
of a lot of cash. That's all the money they have,
and most. Of it is.
Not their money. So they are not wealthy.
Yeah, yeah. And if you're a young girl?
Thinking that older men are all they're cracked up to be when
you're, you know, 16/17/18, whoever's trying to get you at
(48:54):
that age ain't worth it. Definitely not.
Yeah. No.
Oh. God, so I remember having
friends in like middle school. They were like, yeah, my
boyfriend's 22. And I'm like, yeah, that guy is
a creep. There's a fucking loser.
There's. A pedophilia?
Weird. Thing yeah worse than being a
loser they're. A fucking criminal, right?
Yeah, we I only had. One situation where our a friend
(49:15):
from high school went, she dateda a college kid.
Yeah. But yeah, in hindsight, so
fucking gross. Yeah, I like them when they're.
Still in high school? Yeah, that's some Loserville
shit. Especially if you're in college
and you just can't let that go. It's like, all right, you're
gonna move into criminal territory very soon.
But right now you're in Loserville, although in dazed
and confused. Matthew McConaughey tried to
(49:35):
make it look cool. I know he really did.
But he. Did not succeed.
He did. He did not succeed.
Dude. All right, everyone, thank you
all so much. For listening to this episode of
Death and Entertainment, check out OK Bud, Ben Castle Politics.
Support the shows. We got a bunch of merch coming
your way. Love yourself, be yourself, hail
yourself, and until next. Time don't go dying on us.
(49:57):
Bye, bye, bye. You have just heard a true.
Hollywood murder. Mystery.
I have never seen anything. Like this before the movies,
Broadway. Music.
Television, all of it. A place that manufacturers
nightmares. OK, everybody, that's a wrap.
Good night please. Drive home carefully and come
back again soon. Yeah.
What's up dead O universe? I'm Kyle Poof from Death and
Entertainment, and I'm here to tell you about death and
entertainment presents. The Hollywood Walk of Death.
Think Hollywood's all glitz and glamour?
Think again. Join me on the Hollywood Walk of
Death, the newest true crime walking tour that takes you to
the exact spots where Tinseltown's brightest stars met
their darkest ends. From scandals to cold cases,
you'll never look at the Walk ofFame the same way again.
(00:22):
Book your tour now at hollywoodwalkofdeath.com.
If you dare. Private tours now available.
Now sit back and enjoy the show.Live from Los Angeles 9. 11 What
is your emergency? Here in Hollywood now, 2 counts
of murder, injury and death. Oh my.
God. Shocking new details.
(00:42):
That has stunned the entertainment world.
This makes me a little nervous. The hair stood up on my arms.
Just like in the movies, What do?
You call this thing anyway. Death.
Entertainment. Greetings, demo universe.
How the heck are you? My name is Kyle Plouffe.
And I'm Jerry Aquino. And I'm Ben Kissel, today's
(01:03):
episode. We are thrilled to bring you the
story of the untimely death of Dorothy Stratton.
Woo. Stratton I.
Don't know a lot about her. Yeah, you're gonna find out.
I'm excited. You weren't reading Playboy for
the articles, no. No, I did not do the Playboy
research. Yeah, Jerry was in it for the
pictures. Yeah, pretty much.
(01:24):
The reading eludes me. There were some good articles
though. There were.
Let's be honest, Playboy had some good journalism.
I. Can't say I've ever read an
article on Playboy. Yeah.
Me either. Like ever.
Well, let's Stratton in. Oh wow.
Get into the show, Let's Go, 10881 Clarkson Rd. a modest
(02:06):
rented house in the Rancho Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.
It's Thursday, August 14th, 1980.
Inside, a meeting was meant to settle money and make a clean
break, but would not end that way.
By nightfall, police would find Dorothy Stratton, 20, dead from
a shotgun wound along with her estranged husband, Paul Snyder.
(02:27):
The case will be recorded as a murder suicide and the address
will enter Los Angeles's grim geography of celebrity crime.
But you guys, this story begins years earlier and hundreds of
miles away, with a shy teenager from Vancouver and a hustler who
saw her as a golden ticket. Oh.
Canada. Oh, Canada, Yeah, that's.
(02:49):
Right. Yeah.
Yeah, one of the few ones that actually I, I mean, I guess we
we've covered some Canadians. Absolutely.
And of course, when it comes to superstars, specifically in the
modeling world, Pamela Anderson,I believe, connect.
I believe she's also Canadian. Oh wow, I.
Did not know. That yeah, she was found in a
art. Was it an Argonauts football
game? She was in the crowd.
(03:09):
Really. Yeah, And then people were like,
she's real hot. And then they were like, get her
over here. And then she became a superstar.
Get the fucking. Here, back in the day when all
you have to do is attend a game.We got to go to more games.
Jerry, I'm telling you. I'm OK on that.
Yeah, look at that big beefy dude with that beautiful woman.
(03:30):
Something like that. Dorothy Rook Hoogstratton.
Name's Hoogstratton. OK, I guess you want to put on
some clogs. And Leader Hosen I know does.
She was born February 28th, 1960in Vancouver, BC.
She had Dutch immigrant parents Simon and Nellie Hoogstratton.
That explains the Hoog. The Hoog.
(03:51):
Very Dutch. And it's a fun, fun word.
Yeah, it sounds like they mix everything with chocolate.
She's the eldest of three. She had her brother John and he
was born in 1961 and a sister, Louise, who was born in 1968.
It's a lot of Hooges. A lot of Hooges.
It's a Hooges Hoog. Nice town.
This this whole town's getting taken over by Hoogs.
(04:13):
Hoogville. Wow, that's racist.
Sir oh man. Classmates remember her as a
gentle, reserved, shy girl. By 1977, she's attending
Centennial Centennial High School in Coquitlam and working
part time at Dairy Queen. Yo, I've been to Coquitlam.
I've been to Dairy Queen. I've been to Dairy Queen.
You know, we were on tour in Coquitlam.
(04:37):
Is that how you say that? Coquitlam something like I had
to write it out in Pet. Fall.
Very. Yeah.
It is, it is close enough. But the the craziest thing is
our taxi driver, he was eating cranberries, including the
seeds. Oh, he ate the seeds with the
cranberries, so. You heard it all the time.
Like heard it? Yup.
Oh God that sounds so annoying and considerate for a driver.
(04:59):
Yeah, I thought they were going to start growing inside of him
and it was going to be some sortof bizarre Goosebumps story
where he turns into a cranberry tree.
Be spitting out sunflower seeds in the passenger seat.
That's where she meets Paul Snyder, 26 years old.
He was a Vancouver club promoterwith a taste for the finer
things. Of course, as many club
(05:21):
promoters are. Like, you know, I like, I like
candles. I like flair.
I love flair. Yeah, you want you want a yacht?
I got a boy who knows a boy. We can get into his yacht.
We can get into. Nothing.
Yeah, we gotta like, be there. We gotta be out by 8:00 AM
though. Also do you can you bring like 7
of your best home girls? Yeah, I thought we gotta hang on
to the side of it. Yeah.
(05:42):
And wait till they don't notice.Yeah.
You you ever have a bottle of vodka?
You ever have a bottle of vodka with sparklers?
I kind of enjoyed the finer things in life, you know?
So he starts visiting her, giving her she was being
flattered at Dairy Queen, he wasoff in our rides, and he brings
(06:04):
Dorothy into a nightlife she's never known.
Just cut to him gaining 30 lbs. She's like, I hope she's notices
one day that I love her fucking consuming non-stop Dairy Queen
do. The do the thing do the frosty
thing where you where you give it to me but you turn it upside
down 1st to show me what a Blizzard.
It is I hate. That why?
Because who wants rock hard ice cream?
(06:25):
I want a little melty. It's very true, I do want it a
little bit melting. But it melts.
It melts throughout the process.It does melt throughout the
process. I thought you meant that you
hated like the actual act, the showmanship of turning it
upside. Down I also hate.
That I hate when they turn it upside down.
Don't do this. It does for some reason make it
seem like it's gotten dirty. Yeah.
Like it's facing the ground now.I don't know.
(06:46):
It's just a little weird, Yeah. I thought it was fun, I said.
A little scare like you got me, It's not gonna fall.
So there's some. Fucking frozen.
There's somebody who is on the brink of becoming the next mass
shooter who works at Dairy Queen, and they didn't flip it.
And someone's like, you're supposed to flip the Blizzard
upside down. So I make sure that it's all
hard. And then he gets fired and then
next thing you know a ball is shot up.
(07:07):
Yep. Yep, that's the Orange Julius.
Oh yeah, Snyder arranges professional nude photo shoots.
Oh, he arranges these for his little high school, for the
bling, for the girl who works atDairy Queen.
He's like, OK, I want to see your tits.
It's a lateral move. It's kind of a lateral move from
Butterfinger blizzards to you showing your tits.
(07:27):
Aren't party promoters supposed to be like 22?
This guy's 26. Oh no, there's tons of them that
are in their 30s and 40s and very weird.
God. Just hanging on to the
lifestyle. Yeah, that is true.
Party Promoters 26 by party promoter standard is you're up
there in your 60s or 70s. It's like, dude, if you're not
moving on from this, you will bethe creepy guy in the 30s and
(07:48):
the 40s. Absolutely.
Well, by the time you get to your 30s and 40s, if you're
still in the business, you kind of gain respect again.
Yeah, it comes back around. You can get back on the train.
Yeah, yeah. This guy knows what he's talking
about. He must, He's Bobby. 2 shoes.
What do you call him that he only wears 1 shoe?
OK, so he's arranging these nudephoto shoots, right?
(08:10):
And in summer of 1978, he submits them to Playboy's
editors in Los Angeles. Wow.
Now is she aware that these are going to be submitted into
Playboy or is this more him justtaking her career in his hands?
I feel like this is more him. Yeah, he's, he's starting to be
like, well, if I get this, then I could say I'm your manager
now. Yeah.
Also, all of this is being done with a Canadian accent.
(08:32):
Oh my God that sounds not serious.
I don't want to be able to take get serious.
You're gonna get right in the fucking centerfold, bud.
Shout out to our Canadian listeners.
We love you. As always, love you.
Like our third, third most popular nation, that's.
Amazing. Gotta visit Toronto.
Mm Hmm. So Dorothy, she was actually
(08:54):
still underage under British Columbia's rules at the time.
Oh wow, so she needed her mother's signature on the model
release. OK, she went to Mama.
Hoog. So Mama Hoog was like, all
right, let's let those Hoogs fly.
We come from a long line of HoosHoos.
Train. Yeah, the the look catches
(09:14):
Playboy's eye. The look which is just the naked
body. Yeah, look.
The look. Now what is it about?
Sting. Now this is this.
This is a unique thing. You keep going.
You see the way her labia kind of smiles at you?
God. Jesus Christ.
That's literally the silent partbeing spoken out loud.
But they said to her, yeah, whatthey thought she wanted to hear.
(09:35):
She's approachable, natural, photogenic.
Oh my God. I don't mean she.
Judging by the pictures that I did research, I know she is.
So they gave her an invitation for test shots.
So she's not in yet, but if she comes and shows her friggin butt
hole to them then maybe they might possibly think about
(09:58):
probably putting it in the magazine.
God damn that sucks. That sucks.
Sucks, sucks. Don't like her?
You say it. It's because it's.
True. Probably it is true.
You want it. If you want to make some money,
you got to do some work first. Yeah.
By August 1979, Dorothy is namedPlaymate of the Month.
Big ohh wow. Damn, immediately.
(10:19):
And in August, they really liked.
That's my birth month. It's a hard month to get on a
calendar because, you know, it'sstill the end of the summer.
Hmm, It's a major month. Hmm, It is.
Is it OK? Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. So it's January is the.
First one it is the first one it's it's the one where you
swear you have resolutions aboutthings.
Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say. Slowly taper them off.
I feel like January that's gonnabe.
(10:39):
I mean, you're all dumped out from the holiday.
You're probably still, you know,you got your Nutella pounds that
you put on. I don't know if the January
spread's gonna be great. Takes a while to get back into
the year. I guess so you.
Know feel like April. When the sun is shining.
The sun's shining. The the year hasn't been ruined
yet. Yeah, you're optimistic.
(11:00):
Right, so true. So that's August 79, Playmate of
the Month, 1980. She's named Playmate of the
Year. Let's go.
Wow. Her momentum is immediate.
Yeah, it doesn't take a long time at.
All no. So she jumps right in.
She's a very attractive girl, you know, gets immediate
attention and then instead of just becoming a straight up
(11:21):
model, she starts getting actingparts.
So she played bit parts in TV onBuck Rogers and Fantasy Island.
She was in comedy films such as Americathon.
OK. America Thong.
Americathon. Americathon.
Yeah, like a phone phonathon. Let's.
Put America right on, right on. Yeah, yeah.
That's where you just say as many.
(11:41):
All in today. That's where you just say as
many racial slurs as you can andthen when you the first person
to stop loses. It's the Americathon I.
Remember that differently. Hefner probably touts her
crossover potential. She thanks photographer Mario
Cassilli and appears on The Tonight Show after her Playmate
of the Year luncheon. Wow.
(12:03):
I didn't, you know, like for some reason I thought it was a
little bit more taboo then. But she was mainstream.
Playboy was totally mainstream at this time.
I guess so, yeah. I mean, 1980, yeah.
I would think that it reached some kind of mainstream
notoriety by then. OK, good.
It's not the 60s, right? Sexes have been a little more
like taboo. Maybe.
Yeah, in the 70s, full of Bush hair.
Are they even naked? Right.
(12:25):
Are they naked? I paid for, yeah, paid for a
naked. Vagina Snyder positions himself
as manager and coach. The relationship, unequal from
the start, grows tense as Dorothy's career accelerates.
Oh my God this is so classic. Friends and colleagues warn her
(12:45):
about his possessiveness. Oh.
It just seems like a Tina and Ike situation, yeah.
Oh yeah, where are you? Yeah, like is like, oh shit,
Tina's better. Yeah.
It's brutal, but it happens veryoften.
Yes, it does. In early 1980, Dorothy completes
the Playmate of the Year shoots in films Galaxina in Southern
(13:08):
California. You can't tell me that's not a
porno. It sounds very much like a
porno. It's gotta be a porno.
Galaxina. Let me do my research, Kyle.
Don't worry about it. It's a retro sci-fi movie from
1980. Oh my God.
So what do you think the porn name of this movie is?
(13:28):
I mean it's. Like the the equivalent.
That's a tough one because it's pretty on the nose for a porno.
Galaxy Anus. Oh, that's good.
See, you're good. Oh, that's great.
Yeah, that works right to the butthole.
Yeah, you just gotta switch up acouple.
Just gotta finale it a little. It's basically there.
Right. I had a so close.
I had a friend in New York City.She was a porn star in her first
(13:50):
movie that she was in. She had huge boobs and she was
in a movie called Mamazons and that shot her career.
That's a little too on the nipple for.
Me to the ceiling. Snyder is frequently present
when she's, you know, participating in business.
She's on film shoots or photo shoots.
(14:11):
He's always there just like, yeah, I think you should do
this. Why don't you turn a little bit
like that Get. Out of here, yeah.
Leave. Creepy.
He's driving, he's critiquing, he's arguing with her and with
producers and, you know, people who are photographers and people
working on set. Just annoying the fuck out of
everybody. And his credentials are he's a
Vancouver party promoter who sawher at Dairy Queen.
(14:32):
Yeah, that's his whole credential.
OK, and he's not even like, OK, the one I was gonna say the one
business smart decision he did was taking her photos and like
sending them to LA. Sure, but you can do that with a
bunch of girls. Yeah, that's what I was gonna
say. Like the one smart business.
What he should have done after that was like try to become an
actual manager, have like a bunch of different models.
Like no he's stuck with her and was just annoying her and was
(14:54):
like a Leech on her back. Mm hmm.
So that's not even smart business wise, right?
So the problem is that he didn'tdo this to more girls.
No the problem. That he could have.
He could have delegated his leadership could just like build
a business upon it instead of just like latching onto this one
girl being like her fucking likecreeper owner.
Right, he was just a Barnacle onher ship.
Yeah, like, that's just not evensmart because after she got so
(15:16):
big, it's like Ben said his onlycredential was being a freaking
party promoter, right? So and then then she had, she
gave him a really good shot to try to like expand that
business. Absolutely.
That's what I would have done. I agree.
So people on set, coworkers, everybody's noticing the strain.
On March 22nd, 1980, she flies to New York City for Peter
Bogdanovich's romantic comedy. They All Laughed.
(15:38):
It's her biggest role yet. She's playing opposite John
Ritter. Hell yeah.
One of my favorite comedic actors of all time.
Hell. Yeah, a romantic comedy is
called Their. They all laughed.
Makes me feel very small, like my penis is very small and
everything went horribly. Wrong, they all laughed.
The end. Just a mirror.
(15:59):
How was the date? Well, they all laughed.
But you're not funny, I know. Yeah.
During production, Dorothy and Peter Bogdanovich began a
relationship. Peter later says that he wrote
aspects of her character from what he learned about her
marriage. So he knew she was married and
(16:21):
right wasn't stopping him. Snyder wanted to follow her to
New York to be on the set of this movie.
Dorothy, she's starting to see ahead and seeing, you know, that
relationship is not going to be going well, right?
She sought space and professionalism.
So she was like, no, you have tostay in LA.
She's outgrowing all of this bullshit.
Basically. The production continues and the
(16:43):
relationship with Bogdanovich deepens.
A lot of things are getting deeper.
Deepening. The Great Deepening.
April 30th, 1980 at a Playboy Mansion luncheon.
Wait, they did lunch? Yeah, you would think like
luncheon always makes me think of my grandparents going to like
some event it. Was more like lunch on the
(17:05):
models. Oh, yes, yes, that's always,
that's the toughest gig. There was a person I knew that
did she was the sushi tray and it's you got paid.
She got paid pretty well, but it's just gonna be weird.
It was weird. She told me it was very weird.
Did she say it was weird? Yeah, I would definitely.
I don't know, maybe Papa Xanax? Yeah, well, you're covered in
(17:27):
like plastic because you don't want to infect.
So you're just like kind of hot.Also, it's just.
I wish it was like that. It There was a friend of mine at
the time. He's a comedian.
A lot of people know him. His 30th birthday party was at
the Creek in The Cave and they covered a model with chocolate
frosting and then handed out cookies and we all scraped.
The toy frosting on the toy. The naked woman's body the.
(17:49):
Toilet with the stage that was the Creek in The Cave.
Yes, I would. I would need to absolutely know
that she like just got out of the shower.
I did not care. Of course, you know, I was.
So I was. I was in my 20s at the time.
Yeah. I took a cookie on her butt and
did it. Oh, yeah.
And then Darren Soder goes, dude, why?
And I was like, why? What do you mean?
He's like hepatitis I. Was like soda or.
(18:11):
Something you guys could have hired someone with hepatitis
like I just trusted that everyone knew what the fuck they
were doing. That's hilarious.
Everyone at the Creek in The Cave is trash, was trash.
The odor is trash. Wait, there's a there's a naked
lady with like whipped cream monitor that you're dipping
cookies into? Yeah, there is definitely no
actual like policies in place totry to keep this.
(18:31):
Just just Kyle Plouffe being like, do you do weddings?
Yeah, just in case I get married.
Do you like, do weddings? I think my wife would really
enjoy this. My future wife that doesn't
exist. This would be a good appetizer,
yeah, for the wedding. Imagine you fucking propose an
idea to your wife when you're planning your wedding.
Fantastic if we eat a bunch of whipped cream off a chick.
No, but like everybody, a whole family.
Like everybody. Not just me, I don't want it to
(18:52):
be weird like. We can do the thing where we
cross each other's hands and we like.
Feed each other. Do that with our tits, yeah.
Good news and bad news. Good news is you just saved
$20,000. Bad news, we're not getting
married, you fucking asshole. And I have hepatitis.
I have hepatitis. Hefner tells the press that she
received two 200,000 in cash andprizes for Playmate of the Year.
(19:14):
Oh. That's not bad.
That's pretty good. Yeah, very good. 1980 let's go.
For real. That night she appears on Johnny
Carson. The next morning she leaves on a
short Canadian publicity tour that ends in Vancouver, OK, and
Snyder shows up. It's not gonna be good.
Took a Greyhound bus pissed off.Oh my God.
I don't know if it was a bus, but I imagine, yeah, just doing
(19:35):
it's. Actually hilarious, like a four
hour ride and they're like Oh mygoodness, she's going to talk.
Can't wait to see her face. There is a total lack of logic
when people are like just go fora ride, relax.
People just sit there and get more and more angry.
The further you drive, the angrier you get.
Yeah. It's not relaxing as many people
(19:55):
might think. Yeah, so Snyder shows up and
he's. He's angling to say that he's
her manager and he can get her nightclub appearances, but the
clubs gonna give him the cash. Ohh.
My God, what a scumbag. He pockets all the fees.
Ohh my. God, she finds out about it.
The marriage fractures further because even as Dorothy's public
(20:17):
image was rising behind closed doors, the marriage was
unraveling. I mean, yeah, completely.
I don't even know what how he convinced her to marry her in
the first place. Well, I think she was very
young. It sounds like technically it
was illegal for her him to. Even date.
Her, yeah, Let alone take nude pictures, right, but.
Jesus. So he was not just her husband,
(20:38):
as we've said, he had positionedhimself as her manager, promoter
and self-imposed Svengali from the very beginning.
I'm dead basically. Yeah, that dynamic worked when
Dorothy was a teenager working at Dairy Queen, but by 1980 it
had become unsustainable. Yeah, that makes sense.
There has to be 1 moment where she looked at him and just like,
(20:59):
you're a moron, yeah. Wow, yeah.
I wonder what that moment was. It's definitely happens all the.
Time. I know, oh, I've seen the crack.
Just a little twinge in the eye.Be like, oh, you think I'm
really stupid? There's no way that I can come
back from that. Dorothy was now Playmate of the
Year, with studio auditions, film roles and television
(21:20):
appearances. She was moving in circles Snyder
could only access through her, and that was really eating at
his fucking craw. He.
Has a little fucking male ego, yeah.
She didn't need him anymore. Get out of here.
Friends at the Playboy Mansion recalled Snyder hovering during
conversations, interjecting during interviews and coaching
Dorothy on how to speak to interviewees and executives or
(21:44):
interviewers. Sorry.
Oh, you don't want to do it thatway?
You want to sound more Canadian?By mid 1980, Playboy security
and Mansion staff had started discouraging his presence at
events which that hand up. Excuse me, can't come in.
Oh. For Dorothy, that's what a shit
position because you know, how do you, you can't bridge those
(22:04):
two things anymore because he fucked it up so bad.
But I think she's actually excited about it because she's
annoyed by him. She doesn't like him.
She's realizing he's just a fucking hanger on a Leech.
And she's banging one of the biggest directors at the time,
Peter Bogdanovich. So it it does seem like she
might be a little scared of him as well.
Yeah. With good reason.
Yeah, multiple sources confirm that Hefner personally warned
(22:27):
Dorothy about Snyder's controlling behavior.
Do you have any idea how bad youhave to be for Hugh Hefner to be
like, listen, honey, this guy's kind of a creep, babe, get off
my Dick. I'm talking this guy's kind of a
creep. OK, yeah, bring in playmate #8 I
need my ass scrubbed. It's not even Babe I.
Trust this guy if I were you. Will you all stop sucking my
Dick? I'm talking straight truth over
(22:49):
here. Yeah.
Yeah. When Hugh Hefner is your gauge
for who's good and bad, Yeah. That's a pretty low bar.
Yeah, well, interesting. According to Hefner's later
interviews, Snyder had become, quote, a hustler hanging on the
edges of the Playboy world. What a loser.
The message to Dorothy was clear.
She had outgrown him. Oh yeah, definitely.
(23:11):
Yeah. He was just like fucking hanging
around in the backyard in the pool, just talking to other
playmates. Like, you know, I'm the reason
that Dorothy even made this far.OK.
Got it. I know, Paul, I know.
You're really cool, yeah. Snyder, meanwhile, was in
financial trouble. Dorothy's income was technically
(23:32):
still entangled with his She waspaying for the house, the car,
and much of their shared lifestyle.
Oh. Damn, still needs her.
Yeah. But once, yeah, sorry, you can
go ahead. No, go on.
I was just going to say something that's it's mildly
sexist, but I think that's I think that's wrong.
I think it's wrong for the womanto pay for everything, but I
don't I don't know you sexist. I don't know.
(23:54):
I just feel like that's. What a fantastic position of
power to be in for her. She's like, yeah, I've outgrown
you and but it but it but it does add a lot of pressure that
he needs her so much because sheoutgrew him, but he still has to
be latched on. Outgrown within like 2 calendar
years. Well, seriously, yeah.
Doesn't take long. She shot up to fame very
(24:17):
quickly. She did and he was an he was an
asshole. He matched it all with the same
level of grossness. Yeah.
So once she left for New York tofilm, they all laughed.
She stopped sending money back and the money flow slowed for
him because he didn't have all the access to all the money and
everything. Go get a job.
Snyder responded by while she was gone, he sold her Playmate
(24:40):
prizes. Wow.
What, he pawned her Jaguar? What?
What an asshole. Tried to make quick cash off of
nightclub appearances that wouldnever be fulfilled.
He hired private investigators to follow her on the East Coast.
Oh my God. He read her mail that arrived at
the house. He called friends constantly for
(25:01):
updates on her whereabouts. Wow.
Also they all laughed. Aubrey.
Audrey Hepburn was in that movie.
Yes, yeah. John Ruder and Audrey Hepburn.
Yeah, Jesus. Yeah, it was a huge.
Film. Huge.
Absolutely massive. If Audrey Hepburn laughed at me
when I took my pants down, I I would jump off a bridge.
They all laughed and laughed. You call that a cock?
(25:24):
I didn't even call it a cock, I called it Mr. Bean.
That's Mr. Bean to you. By June 1980, Dorothy had begun
living largely apart from him, which is great.
She'd spent weeks in New York filming and then traveled to
Europe with Peter Bogdanovich. When she returned to Los Angeles
in July, she moved straight intoBogdanovich's Bel Air home.
(25:46):
She was, for all practical purposes, living a separate
life. Yeah, sounds like the only thing
that was keeping them together was the paperwork.
Absolutely. Really.
Oh God, because I sound so. Dumb too, just like just doing
all of these like get quick, getrich quick schemes after she
left. Like you're not think, you're
not thinking, man, no. He's not.
Yeah, 'cause even. When he takes the cash from
(26:07):
these places, he can pawn it offand be like, oh, well, she
didn't want to do it, but they'll still be like, oh,
you're the one that took the money.
We'll fucking kill you. Yeah, he's not thinking that.
She wrote to Snyder outlining plans for an amicable
separation. Which emphasis on her part is
amicable. On his, not so much.
Oh yeah, definitely seems so. There was no formal divorce yet,
(26:29):
but she intended to end the marriage, split assets and move
on with her life and career. So we got her into this mess
splitting. Assets.
Thank you for Snyder. This was the final humiliation
he had discovered. Thorothy molded her career and
brought her to Playboy. Oh what he tells himself in the
morning every fucking day. Please, without her, you took
(26:51):
pictures of nothing and you did nothing right?
And he's pissed because now she was becoming famous without him.
He told friends she owed him everything.
I cannot stand that I know such a man.
Yep. One friend One friend later
(27:12):
testified that Snyder referred to Dorothy as quote his
creation. Ill it was it was off dude.
Like she didn't exist before you.
Right. It was Mon Pahog.
Yeah, that's the creation. Her parents.
And this is the most hack fucking line sentiment of all
time. And this he actually said this
out loud. He said if he couldn't have her,
(27:34):
no one else could. Wow, He's he's just the whole
bag of cliches. Yeah.
The lamest. He's even lame when it comes to
plotting the murder of his wife.Bro, come on.
At the Playmate of the Year luncheon in April, he'd largely
been sidelined. Dorothy appeared on The Tonight
Show that night without him by her side.
Around that time, Hefner reportedly barred Snyder from
(27:55):
the mansion for inappropriate behavior.
Yep. Snyder felt cut off from not
only Dorothy, but the glamorous world had used her to enter.
Oh my God. And again, to get to get kicked
out of the Playboy Mansion. Yes, seriously.
He's literally like just like doing rails off of like some
girl's ass and he's like get that guy out of here.
He's being inappropriate. It's like what?
(28:16):
The stay, stay still, stay still.
So seriously, not again. We cannot have that kind of
behavior in this house. Can you just do the cocaine off
the massive glass table please, like everybody fucking else?
A. Puff of air.
You wasted so much coke with that fart it.
Just goes at the air. That's funny.
(28:38):
If I ever did ayahuasca, that's how I want it delivered you.
Just poisonous plant it into my face.
Yeah. Wow.
Throughout July and early August, Snyder grew more
isolated, telling friends about quote hunting, his new interest
in hunting and wanting to buy a shotgun.
That's not even what you hunt ifyou don't hunt with a shotgun.
(29:00):
Elmore Fudd does. Yeah, but he's a cartoon.
And he never shoots anything. Yeah, that's.
True, that's exactly mine. You don't shoot with a shotgun.
Pesky wabbit. I know they're always wearing
dresses and shit. And he's trying to fuck her too,
when Bugs Bunny's wearing the dress.
Yeah. Fucking getting that pronoun
right. That's being all woke, yeah.
He would ask. Disturbing questions about
(29:21):
playmates who had died to his friends being like what about
that girl that died? What about what happened to her?
Oh, so he's like trying to? Figure out some kind of viable
death excuse to try to make up or just.
Gloating that he's like thinkingabout this and doing this to
Dorothy. You know, it's actually kind of
interesting because. Back in the day, you have to
(29:41):
actually ask your friends these stupid questions, not Google.
Yeah, now you. Now we get it.
Yeah. We get it in.
Post we're like oh they googled how did all the Playboy models
die but he actually has to ask his friends yeah he literally
he's like hey how did. This model die.
Interesting. Here we go.
Interesting. That's when we actually had to
talk to each other. Yeah, OK.
Also would have been nice if oneof his friends are like, maybe
(30:03):
just divorce her bro. Yeah, maybe just grant her a
divorce and move on with her. Maybe just fucking go away.
Maybe, like I said at the beginning when she started
getting famous, if he just put his brain to being like a larger
manager for more like women in like the right way, then he
wouldn't have to like, just completely be like just devoted
to her and just needing her completely.
(30:23):
Yeah, you become the pimp. Yeah, yeah.
And then you have many hosts. Yeah.
Oh, that's. So that's what we want to have
happen here. I feel like can't.
You guys keep flipping the sentiment.
I know what. You said you know what I mean.
I know what you. Mean.
Yeah, exactly. He.
Could have not gone psycho over.One bitch, is what I'm saying
right? Right, because she became.
(30:44):
The pimp, Yes. Oh, yeah.
OK, so while all this is happening and he's asking
questions about playmates that died, he's bragging about
wanting to buy a shotgun and telling his friends, oh, I'm a
I'm a hunter now, even though I live in fucking Los Angeles,
right? And there's not much to kill out
here unless you go way up to like, Big Bear or something.
It was during this period that he arranged to meet Dorothy at
(31:04):
their old house on Clarkson Roadto talk things out.
Oh my God. Oh no it doesn't.
You don't need to talk things out.
Sometimes you just have to end things.
Yeah, he why and why. Yeah, why did she go so Dorothy
while? She's, you know, trying to break
off. She's away from Paul's control.
For the first time in years, shewas experiencing something new.
(31:25):
Independence, attention that wasn't mediated through Paul in
a career that seemed to be blooming.
And like I said, she had been with this.
Guy Bogdanovich, he was then in his early 40s.
So she has something for an older man.
Definitely seems that way. They they say men in their 40s.
Are the most attractive seasonedman seasoned?
Man, it's unfortunately. Very true.
(31:46):
My 40s is weird. Let's go.
I'm one year away from my 40s. That's what they said dudes,
dude. The little salt and pepper look,
It's just chef's kiss. I guess we really rock that
well. So big Donovich.
He had been a celebrated director earlier in the decade
with the Last Picture Show in Paper Moon, and though his
career was in a cooling period, he still commanded prestige.
(32:09):
Dorothy confided to friends thatshe was in love with him.
Oh wow. Special kind of love a
Hollywood. Love by the time.
Production wrapped. On, they all laughed.
Their relationship was serious. Dorothy moved into the Bel Air
home, began making plans for thefuture.
She intended to continue acting,pursue more film roles and make
a clean break from Snyder. Snyder, on the other side of
(32:32):
town, meanwhile, was selling furniture from their shared
home, arranged to buy a used Mossberg 12 gauge pump action
shotgun and following Dorothy's movements through informants.
Creepy. Weird.
On August 13th. Snyder paid $100 in cash for the
shotgun, telling the seller he planned quote to go hunting.
Uh huh. And right just.
(32:53):
Just telling. Everyone just announcing, you
know I like to hunt, right? Wink.
A wink. That thing I always like to do,
Wink. A wink.
Kill my wife. Wink That night he showed the
shotgun to his friends and againmade comments about playmates
who had died young. How?
How does he connect? Those dots, he's just.
He's boiling up the gun. You remember how this lady died?
(33:15):
Weird, right? Yeah.
So he. Bought the gun the day before
they made that plan to meet up together.
So the next morning, August 14th, Dorothy did agree to meet
Snyder at the house. She was carrying $1100 in cash
to help settle some financial matters.
To pay his ass off. Even was.
Going to give him more money. You know, friends later said.
(33:36):
That she was nervous but felt itwas something she needed to do
to finalize the separation. That's just a good.
Vancouver gal. She arrived around.
Noon By mid afternoon, Snyder's roommates noticed the door to
his bedroom was closed and both cars were still outside.
They assumed the couple had reconciled and left them alone,
(33:56):
which is hilarious 'cause this was her house and Snyder's
living there with roommates. With roommates?
What? The fuck so.
Sad there's so many. People in New York, too, that'll
like, be the first person on a lease, and then when their
roommates move out, they have other people move in but make
sure they pay enough to cover the rent and more.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. They do that all the time.
It's a little New York hustle, Snyder.
(34:16):
'S fucking doing that shit for. Sure, most likely.
Dorothy missed a dinner appointment.
That evening with Bogdanovich, when no one could reach her,
concern began to spread. Oh shit.
She never misses. She never misses coming to
Pete's Clam. Shout.
A check? No.
With Bogdanovich, No, definitelynot.
But before we reveal. What's behind that door?
(34:38):
Let's go back to let's go back to the actual location, 10881
Clarkson Road, West Los Angeles,a modest rental home shared by
Paul Snyder and a couple of malehousemates.
So like I said, she arrived around noon.
She parked outside, walked up the steps and entered the home.
Snyder's housemates saw her arrive but didn't overhear any
arguments. The bed door, bedroom door was
(35:00):
closed not long after. Neighbors later told police they
heard nothing unusual. No shouting, no fighting, no
gunshots. Do you have any idea how sad it
is? For a 40 year old or whatever
the age that he is, for a man ofthat age to be like, let's talk
and then you go to his house andbe like and let's go to my room.
We don't want to anger the roommates.
(35:21):
Can you keep it down? That's weird.
Come on, I guess. Shotgun blasts inside.
A closed room can be muffled significantly by the walls and
ambient daytime noise. Can it?
I guess. I guess.
But it sounds like fucking. I think his roommates were.
Probably real dumb. Too.
Maybe we were just fucking stoned.
Yeah, it could be. By mid to late afternoon,
(35:43):
Dorothy. Had not re emerged and the
bedroom door remained closed. One of Snyder's housemates came
home, saw her car still in the driveway and assumed they were
having a reconciliation. Maybe they're having a a a hate
sex encounter make up sex some. Make up sex.
Snyder had often talked. About getting her back so nobody
disturbed them, but that doesn'tmean.
(36:05):
That she wanted him back, Right?Well then, why'd you?
Show up is what the roommates would probably say that evening.
Peter. Bogdanovich grew worried Dorothy
had missed their dinner plans and wasn't answering the phone.
Her friends and colleagues couldn't reach her either.
At this point, Snyder's roommates were beginning to
realize that the closed door, unchanged since noon, was
(36:27):
unusual. That yeah all.
All fucking day the doors just closed and silent with two
people in there and they're like, huh, Probably banging,
yeah. He usually.
Comes out to try to steal a piece of pizza by now, right?
What's going on? Right shortly before midnight
one. Of Snyder's housemates used a
spare key to open the bedroom door.
What they found inside would make headlines the next morning.
(36:49):
Dorothy Stratton was lying nude on the bed, dead from a close
range shotgun blast to the left side of her face.
God damn. Jeez.
She'd been killed instantly. On the floor nearby was Paul
Snyder, also dead, the same shotgun beneath him.
Any word on if the cock and balls were out?
Well, I. Probably, yeah, Ben, simply.
Must know. I simply have to know that.
(37:11):
Detail where is beans and Franksout?
Yeah, this is. Matters kind of, because why was
she naked if he ain't? A note was never found.
Well, he probably. Defiled her body and then killed
himself. Yeah, that's probably right.
The LAPD determined the case wasa murder suicide.
Their reconstruction suggested that after Dorothy arrived and
(37:32):
the door closed, Snyder killed her first and then spent several
hours alone with her body. Gross.
Yeah, dude, come on now. Some Ed Gein shit going on
there. Headless woman.
Fuck. And after that he turned the gun
on himself. Detectives noted signs that her
(37:53):
body had been arranged postmortem.
Ohh God no. Like, forced it into places,
yeah. Details that while reported that
at the time, were deliberately not released in full due to
their disturbing nature. Oh my God.
Sitting her up and like. Having conversations with her
dancing Why'd you make me? Do this.
(38:14):
Dorothy, why'd you make me do this right?
Why are you not? Having your tea.
Oh my God, that's so. Scary.
It really is. The estimated time of death for
both was early to mid afternoon,likely within an hour or two of
Dorothy's arrival. The LA County coroner ruled
Dorothy's death a homicide and Snyder's a suicide.
Toxicology tests showed no drugsor alcohol in Dorothy's system.
(38:36):
The weapon, the Mossberg shotgunSnyder had bought just a day
before, was confirmed as the murder weapon.
Jesus and. No one thought to like be like,
hey, maybe don't, don't go to his house.
I hear he's he's been saying a lot of weird shit about Ted
playmates. Yeah, but that's his friends.
That's crazy how they did it. Fucking.
Warrant or try to help in any kind of way.
(38:56):
He didn't have an Instagram for Hurt A.
Stock to be like he seems unhinged right now, right?
That's true. The story broke the following.
Morning, playmate slain and murder suicide splash across
newspapers nationwide. Dorothy Stratton was 20 years
old. Oh my God.
That's how crazy. The crazy amount of success that
happened in such a small time, this whole this all happened.
(39:18):
Over three years, yes, whole, I thought A.
Little bit more time had passed than that.
Yeah, I thought a little more time when?
She was like claiming her independence and working on more
projects. She was a rocket man took.
Off right away and he was just on the ground like, oh fuck,
she's going far. Wow, I can't have that.
Yeah, fuck, she was. So young.
Yeah, she had been Playmate. Of the year, a budding actress
(39:41):
and just weeks away from what she and Bogdanovich believed
would be a breakout Hollywood career.
The news. Of Dorothy Stratton's death.
Spread fast. By the next morning, August
15th, 1980, major newspapers across America ran the story on
their front pages. Playmate slain and murder
suicide. Starlet Husband dead in
Hollywood tragedy. And that would annoy her to no
(40:03):
end, saying husband also dead. Yeah, because she was done.
With this fucking guy. Also tragedy.
Fuck, that's that's like I feel like it's derogatory like to her
and just it's like it's not a tread.
The guy was fucking nuts. Yeah, right.
Yeah, it's not a. Skiing accident?
Yeah, in the immediate. Aftermath 2 narratives took
shape 1 led by Hugh Hefner in the institution that was Playboy
(40:26):
cast Dorothy as a young woman tragically murdered by a jealous
husband. A cautionary tale about male
possessiveness, Hefner told reporters.
Dorothy represented the ultimaterealization of our dreams.
She was the embodiment of beauty, innocence and potential.
Wow, he. Emphasized Snyder's.
Background as a hustler and his growing isolation from Dorothy's
world. Playboy security confirmed that
(40:48):
Snyder had been banned from the mansion in the weeks leading up
to the murder. That's crazy.
He's clearly showing a pattern. It's like we said he even warned
her like that guy seems unstablesome.
Of them tried. The other narrative formed
around Peter Bogdanovic, who wasdevastated.
Dorothy had been living with himin Bel Air and had planned to
(41:09):
travel together shortly after the meeting with Snyder.
And that's not Why didn't he go with her?
I know it's kind of Why wouldn'the go with her?
Because he's the older man in this situation.
He's in his 40s. I know he's a victim in all this
too. And it's all, you know, Monday
morning quarterbacking. But if I had a young girlfriend
and she was going to meet up with this fucking 28 year old?
(41:29):
Sounds to me. Nightclub promoter.
Scumbag. Sounds like you've been a little
possessive, Kyle. That's hilarious.
I think she probably. Wanted to go alone.
She's like, I'm an adult. I'm gonna go.
Take care of. This damn that's also.
True. No.
Wow, Ben's sounding more feminist.
Look at that they. Said it couldn't be done.
I'll let you go by your fucking.Self, because I care about it.
(41:49):
Yeah. Yeah, you're strong enough to go
get shot in the room. Oh my God.
I loved her deeply, he said. She was a beautiful person in
every sense of the word. That's sad.
Dorothy's funeral took place on.August 20th, 1980 at the
Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, right
up next to UCLA. No, that's crazy.
It's the same. Cemetery where Marilyn.
(42:10):
Monroe is buried. Bogdanovich paid for the service
Hefner and several playmates attended.
Sounds like a hot. Ass.
I know I was going to say it's kind of a hot.
Because the emotions are. High.
Kind of want to see that. You know some people to get.
Laid after that. Thank God, yeah.
Sexy grief sex. Oh boy, it's just nice because.
(42:30):
Everything has to be. Goth because it's a funeral, so
yeah, but everyone's tits are. Probably still out.
I mean, they're sad. They're.
Mourning that you know they haveto get their tits out.
You have to. Those are the best.
Tissues. Yeah, exactly.
It's hard out there. Bogdanovich arranged to have.
Dorothy buried in a white coffinwith a single red rose.
He stood apart from the Playboy contingent during the service.
(42:54):
After the funeral, Bogdanovich entered what he described as a
period of isolation and grief. He he halted work for months
that eventually bought the rights to They All Laughed
himself and self distributed thefilm in 1981.
Oh wow, interesting. A move that bankrupted him.
But was intended to honor Dorothy's final performance.
(43:14):
Why wouldn't so it it just wouldn't.
Would they not put it out? No, they put it out, but I
guess. It didn't do as well.
It may not have done. Well, yeah.
In 1984. Bogdanovic published a book
entitled The Killing of the Unicorn Dorothy Stratton, 1960
to 1980, in which he blamed the Playboy environment for
contributing to Dorothy's death.What?
(43:36):
Interesting. Well, it's all I mean, I don't
think it's the Playboy environment.
I think it's whatever with the fuck environment Snyder was
creating for himself. It really was.
And. The people that he would talk.
To and say, oh, what about the dead playmates?
People like, oh, let's not tell her about that, right?
He. Argued that Hefner and his
circle. Encouraged a culture that made
(43:58):
young women vulnerable to men like Paul Snyder.
I mean, I could see that being the case.
As well. Yeah, I could, but Hefner.
Also directly. Told her to stay the fuck away
from this guy. He's a piece of shit.
Yeah. Hefner called.
The book a self-serving work accusing Bogdanovich of trying
to rewrite history to to absolvehimself.
That's actually very true. Because, well, I.
(44:18):
Mean he's right. Even though that he loved to
refer what he thought was all the right reasons, it was still
a man in his 40s that was going after a fucking 19 year old.
Yeah, she was 20. At the end.
Well, you know. The two men?
Never. Reconciled their accounts.
In 1983, director Bob Fosse released this the film *80
(44:40):
starring Mariel Hemingway as Dorothy and Eric Roberts as Paul
Snyder. Wow, a movie was made.
Yeah, the film. Was a gritty, unflinching
dramatization of the events based on a Pulitzer Prize
winning Village Voice article byTeresa Carpenter titled Death of
a Playmate. The movie ends with a murder
suicide framed through Snyder's perspective, but Donovich
(45:01):
objected to the film, believing it sensationalized Dorothy's
death. Why would they make it?
Through Paul Snyder's like perspective, yeah.
I don't like that, yeah. I mean, I guess with this Ed
Gein thing on Netflix that just came out, they try to make him
more of a humble character. They really do.
(45:21):
They make him. Look like, but I'm just a good
boy. Yeah, I'm a.
I'm a good. Person who did bad things, yeah.
I always say that after I dig upa grave and fuck the corpse.
Yep, I'm a good guy. Yeah, isn't how that works a
particular hobby? Very.
Particular Hefner. Portrayed by Cliff, Robertson
(45:43):
also criticized aspects of his depiction.
I mean, he's just upset with. That he doesn't give a fuck
despite mixed. Reviews. *80 remains the most
well known cultural retelling ofthe case.
Another option if people are looking is the 1981 made for
television movie Death of a Centerfold, The Dorothy Stratton
story starring who else but Jamie Lee Curtis.
(46:05):
Wow, shit, wow. Shit, Mariel Hemingway and Jamie
Lee Curtis high compliment. Yeah, well did they in the 1st?
Movie. Did they bring in Bugdanovich at
all? No, like did they did.
They have him as a. Character.
I wonder. I'm sure they did.
Yeah, they must have. Yeah, they must have.
(46:26):
While both of these movies cover.
The same tragic story *80 is generally considered a more
critically acclaimed and artistically developed film.
Roberts performance as Snyder was widely praised Hemingway and
Mariel Hemingway actually underwent surgery to make her
appearance closer to Dorothy's What?
What? Yeah.
Oh my God. A.
Decision that generated. Controversy at the time.
(46:47):
I wonder what she did. How everybody gets work done
they. Do I just watched half of the.
Movie. I'm going to finish the
second-half of the substance. I did end up falling asleep, but
it's very good. Oh, substance is great, yes.
It's a great. Commentary on all that?
Yeah, Yes. Oh yeah, it is.
Yes, Dorothy was 20 years. Old She had appeared in only a
(47:08):
handful of films, but her impactoutlasted many of her
contemporaries. Her name remains etched into
true crime history, not just as a tragedy, but as a mirror
reflecting the exploitative currents of late 70s Hollywood.
Yeah, seriously. I blame Dairy Queen for all of.
This. Why'd?
You hire her. Why'd you hire her?
(47:28):
No. Wow.
And with. That.
That'll take us too. Little thoughts #1 the Blizzard
thing, I agree. No need to turn it upside down.
Oh my God #2 this is fucking don't be a piece of shit.
(47:50):
Yeah, you know, and. If someone.
If obviously, if you hit your wagon to someone and then they
go off and be really, really successful, you didn't do
anything. You know she was the star,
right? The entire time She was just.
Waiting to get discovered? Yep, absolutely.
And. It's disgusting and very sad and
I guess just be careful out there.
(48:11):
Be careful about that, folks. I would totally agree.
I would definitely say stay awayfrom party promoters.
Absolutely if. You want if you want to go.
To like you want to have a really fun Friday night with
like the girls and a bottle or whatever the sparklers and the
club then fine have your have your little party promoter
friends do not let them try to become your manager on anything
(48:33):
they can't even manage themselves and I've said this
before if. A party promoter shows you a lot
of a lot of cash. That's all the money they have,
and most. Of it is.
Not their money. So they are not wealthy.
Yeah, yeah. And if you're a young girl?
Thinking that older men are all they're cracked up to be when
you're, you know, 16/17/18, whoever's trying to get you at
(48:54):
that age ain't worth it. Definitely not.
Yeah. No.
Oh. God, so I remember having
friends in like middle school. They were like, yeah, my
boyfriend's 22. And I'm like, yeah, that guy is
a creep. There's a fucking loser.
There's. A pedophilia?
Weird. Thing yeah worse than being a
loser they're. A fucking criminal, right?
Yeah, we I only had. One situation where our a friend
(49:15):
from high school went, she dateda a college kid.
Yeah. But yeah, in hindsight, so
fucking gross. Yeah, I like them when they're.
Still in high school? Yeah, that's some Loserville
shit. Especially if you're in college
and you just can't let that go. It's like, all right, you're
gonna move into criminal territory very soon.
But right now you're in Loserville, although in dazed
and confused. Matthew McConaughey tried to
(49:35):
make it look cool. I know he really did.
But he. Did not succeed.
He did. He did not succeed.
Dude. All right, everyone, thank you
all so much. For listening to this episode of
Death and Entertainment, check out OK Bud, Ben Castle Politics.
Support the shows. We got a bunch of merch coming
your way. Love yourself, be yourself, hail
yourself, and until next. Time don't go dying on us.
(49:57):
Bye, bye, bye. You have just heard a true.
Hollywood murder. Mystery.
I have never seen anything. Like this before the movies,
Broadway. Music.
Television, all of it. A place that manufacturers
nightmares. OK, everybody, that's a wrap.
Good night please. Drive home carefully and come
back again soon. Yeah.
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