1950s pinup model Bettie Page dies in LA at 85

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:14:28 GMT — LOS ANGELES (AP) - Bettie Page, a 1950s pinup model who helped set the stage for the 1960s sexual revolution, has died. She was 85.

Her agent Mark Roesler says Page died Thursday night at a Los Angeles hospital after suffering a heart attack nine days ago. He says she never regained consciousness.

Page attracted national attention with magazine photographs of her sensuous figure in bikinis and see-through lingerie that were quickly tacked up on walls across the country.

Her photos included a centerfold in the January 1955 issue of then-fledgling Playboy magazine, as well as controversial sadomasochistic poses.

Roesler says Page had been hospitalized for three weeks with pneumonia and was about to be released when she suffered the heart attack Dec. 2.