Paul Leslie Snider (April 15, 1951 – August 14, 1980) was a criminal Canadian nightclub promoter and pimp who murdered his estranged wife, Playboy model and actress Dorothy Stratten. Following her murder, Snider killed himself.[1][2]
Paul Snider | |
|---|---|
| Born | Paul Leslie Snider April 15, 1951 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Died | August 14, 1980 (aged 29) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Suicide by gunshot |
| Resting place | Schara Tzedeck Cemetery, New Westminster, British Columbia |
| Spouse | |
Biography
editSnider was born in Vancouver. By the mid-1970s, he was a nightclub promoter and pimp.[1] In 1977, he met Dorothy Stratten at a Vancouver-area Dairy Queen, where she was working part-time while still attending high school. In 1979, Snider sent professionally taken nude photographs of Stratten to Playboy magazine and she was chosen as a Playmate for the month of August that year. Snider and Stratten moved to Los Angeles and married on June 1 in Las Vegas.[3]
While Stratten worked as a "bunny" at the Century City Playboy Club, and was cast in a few television and film roles, Snider had engaged in numerous get-rich-quick schemes, including building and selling exercise benches. Stratten supported Snider financially throughout their short marriage.
In 1980, Stratten was named Playboy's Playmate of the Year and was cast in the movie They All Laughed (1981) directed by Peter Bogdanovich, with whom she began an affair. Stratten and Snider separated and he hired a private investigator to follow her.
Death
editOn August 14, 1980, Dorothy Stratten was shot and killed in the West Los Angeles house she had shared with Snider, whose body was found next to hers. Police believed Snider raped and murdered Stratten, and then killed himself with the same shotgun.[1][4]
Snider's remains are buried at Schara Tzedeck Cemetery in New Westminster, British Columbia.
In popular culture
editSnider has been portrayed in three films. The first was a made-for-television movie about the murder titled Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story (1981), which starred Jamie Lee Curtis as Stratten and Bruce Weitz as Snider. Bob Fosse's film Star 80 (1983) dramatized Stratten's life and death. Mariel Hemingway played Stratten, and Eric Roberts portrayed Snider.[4] In the series Welcome to Chippendales, he was played by Dan Stevens.
References
edit- ^ a b c Carpenter, Theresa (November 5, 1980). "Death of a Playmate" (PDF). The Village Voice. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
- ^ Stone, Michael H.; Brucato, Gary (2019). The New Evil: Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. pp. 53–57. ISBN 9781633885325.
- ^ Vargas, Theresa (September 29, 2017). "Hugh Hefner, the murder of Dorothy Stratten and the dark side of Playboy". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
- ^ a b Canby, Vincent (November 10, 1983). "Screen: 'Star 80,' a Sex-Symbol's Life and Death". The New York Times. Retrieved May 2, 2009.