Death of a Starlet
In August of 1980, Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten was found dead at just 20 years old. She was the girl next door with the shy smile and whispery voice who didn’t know her own beauty. To Hugh Hefner, she was his next Marilyn Monroe. To famed director Peter Bogdonovich, she was his muse. And to her husband, Paul Snider, she was his ticket to fame and fortune. All three ambitious men adored her. Only one of them murdered her. How did Dorothy’s Hollywood dreams lead to her death? From Wondery, and the team behind the hit series Hollywood & Crime (The Dating Game Killer, The Wonderland Murders) comes a six-part series about love, sex and murder. Co-hosted by Tracy Pattin and Josh Lucas.
Episodes
Nineteen eighty was going to be Dorothy Stratten’s year. Playboy’s Hugh Hefner thought it might even be her decade. She was just 20 years old, the girl next door with the shy smile and whispery voice who didn’t know her own beauty. But to the men in her life -- magazine mogul Hugh Hefner, director Peter Bogdanovich, and small time hustler Paul Snider -- Dorothy represented the promise of better things -- a centerfold on her way to ...
Seventeen-year-old Dorothy Stratten is working at Dairy Queen in East Vancouver when a man walks in who will change her life. His name is Paul Snider and around town he’s known as a hustler and a pimp. Paul sees Dorothy as his ticket to Hollywood. As their relationship progresses, Paul tries to convince Dorothy to pose nude to enter a Playboy 25th Anniversary playmate hunt.
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After seeing Dorothy’s photos, Playboy flies her to LA for a test shoot. At the Playboy mansion, Dorothy meets Hugh Hefner for the first time. Back in Vancouver, Paul makes sure whatever fortune falls upon Dorothy benefits him as well.
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Dorothy and Paul move to LA where Dorothy starts shooting her centerfold pictorial. To make ends meet, she gets a job as a Bunny at the Playboy Club where she learns being a Bunny isn’t as glamorous as it seems. Paul works his next hustle by convincing a club owner to try out a new idea -- male Chippendales dancers.
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It’s the beginning of a new chapter when Dorothy meets director Peter Bogdanovich and he asks her to audition for a role in his new film. Then when Dorothy’s Playboy centerfold issue comes out, it puts her on a path toward Playmate of the Year. When she hires a business manager, it sets Paul off who vows to do whatever it takes to keep control of her career.
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Dorothy heads to New York to start shooting with Peter on his film. As the two grow closer, the crack starts to widen between her and Paul. In LA, Paul concocts a series of schemes to get a cut of Dorothy’s money.
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As Dorothy’s career continues to blossom, Paul’s life is falling apart. He embarks on a series of desperate measures to win Dorothy back and hires a private investigator to follow her. As Dorothy pulls farther away, Paul begins to lose control setting them on a catastrophic course.
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Tracy speaks with Playboy’s veteran photo editor and close friend to Dorothy Stratten, Marilyn “Mo” Grabowski. Mo opens up about her 40 year career at Playboy, her friendships with Dorothy and Hugh Hefner, meeting the man who killed Dorothy, and why she thinks Dorothy’s story continues to captivate audiences to this day.
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MANslaughter tells intertwining stories about how one gunshot on a cold Wisconsin night in 1970 dramatically changed multiple lives. A bullet brutally tore through decorated law enforcement veteran LaVerne Stordock. Decades later, his niece, Dorothy Marcic, transformed herself into an amateur detective in a quest for truth and closure about that night. At the center of Dorothy’s investigation...
A charismatic Russian woman arrives in the US on a mission to improve relations between the two countries, and she soon makes some powerful friends. But who is Maria Butina? And who is she working for? As Maria gets closer to the rich and connected she also attracts the attention of the FBI. In the politically charged world of US-Russia relations, everyone has secrets and almost nothing is what it seems. From Wondery, the makers of...
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