Bettie Page

In 1943, she tied the nuptial knot with her classmate Billy Neal. The marriage did not work out for long and the two separated, with her filing for divorce in 1947.

After the dissolution of her first marriage, she went into a romantic relationship with industrial designer Richard Arbib and Armond Walterson. She tied the knot with the latter in 1958 but divorced five years later.

For a brief duration, she married Billy Neal yet again but separated shortly. In 1967 she went into the wedlock with Harry Lear, but separated in 1972.

Bettie Page was born to Walter Roy Page and Edna Mae Pirtle. She was the second of the six children born to the couple.

After her parents separated when she was ten, young Page took up the responsibilities of caring for her younger siblings. She got her father imprisoned for sexually molesting her and shifted to an orphanage for a year.

During her growing up years, she along with her siblings imitated her favourite star by trying on different makeup and hairstyles. These fun pastime acts eventually proved useful for her in her modelling career later on.

Academically, she attained her formal education from Hume-Goff High School, from where she graduated as a salutatorian with scholarship in June 1940. Scholastically proficient, she enrolled at the George Peabody College with an aim to take up a teaching profession.

It was while studying at the college that she first took to studying acting, with the hope of becoming an actor. Meanwhile, she secured a job for herself as a typist for author Alfred Leland Crabb.

Following her graduation, she briefly worked in San Francisco before moving to Haiti. In 1949, she finally relocated to New York City to launch herself as an actress. However, to support herself financially, she worked as a secretary.

It was in 1950 that she chanced upon meeting Jerry Tibbs, an aspiring photographer who professionally was a police officer. Tibbs clicked various snaps for her thus coming up with her first pinup portfolio.

Soon she became a member of the camera club, mostly formed to skirt the restrictions caused upon photography. She started her glam career by posing as the model for Cass Carr. Her no-inhibition personality and dare to bare attitude made her a hit among the photographers and the camera club.

She soon gained popularity in the erotic photography industry and became the cover girl for various men’s magazines, including Wink, Titter, Eyefull and Beauty Parade

From 1952 to 1957, she served as the model for Irving Klaw, who snapped her for mail-order photographs and short, black-and-white 8mm and 16mm ‘specialty’ films. In her shoots, she depicted various moods and scenarios for abduction, domination and slave training. She soon became the top pin-up model in New York.

A pinup model and sex symbol, she served as the Playboy Playmate of the Month in the January 1955 issue.