Paul Leslie Snider

Case record: Paul Leslie Snider

STATUS / Legal outcome

Paul Leslie Snider committed suicide by shooting himself the same day.

Overview

Paul Leslie Snider (April 15, 1951 – August 14, 1980) was the estranged husband of Playboy model Dorothy Stratten. He murdered her and committed suicide on August 14, 1980.

Background

Paul Snider met Dorothy Stratten in 1977 while Dorothy was working part-time at a local Dairy Queen in Vancouver, British Columbia. He promoted her by sending photos of her to Playboy. She was accepted to do photo sessions and became “Miss August 1979.” The two were married in June 1979.

Snider was born in Vancouver, British Columbia to Jewish parents. Snider had many money-making schemes, including forming the basic idea for what would one day become the Chippendales empire.

Dorothy Stratten (February 28, 1960 – August 14, 1980) was a Canadian model and actress. She found fame as the Playboy Playmate of the Month for August 1979 and subsequently Playmate of the Year for 1980. She was the second Playmate (after Lee Ann Michelle) to be born in the 1960s.

Dorothy was born Dorothy Ruth Hoogstraten in a Salvation Army hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia, to Simon and Nelly Hoogstraten, Dutch immigrants. In 1961, her brother John Arthur was born, and her sister Louise Stratten followed in May 1968. She attended Centennial High School in Coquitlam.

In 1977, while working part-time in a local Dairy Queen, Dorothy met a Vancouver-area promoter and pimp named Paul Snider, who had nude photos taken of her and eventually sent them to Playboy. Because she was underage, she had to obtain her mother’s signature to have the photos taken. In 1979, after having her surname shortened to Stratten, she became Playboy’s Miss August and found work as a Bunny at the Los Angeles Playboy Club. She also played the role of Miss Cosmos in the Buck Rogers television series.

In June 1979, Dorothy married Snider in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The relationship deteriorated as Snider became prone to fits of jealousy and controlling behavior. Dorothy developed a relationship with film director Peter Bogdanovich. Around the time of the separation, she began an affair with director Peter Bogdanovich, and she moved in with Bogdanovich. She also made plans to file for divorce from Snider.

Hugh Hefner reportedly encouraged Stratten to sever ties with Snider, calling him a “hustler and a pimp.” Rosanne Katon and other friends warned Stratten about Snider’s behavior. By August 1980, Snider’s grandiosity gave way to obsessive jealousy.

Dorothy was named as Playboy’s Playmate of the Year for 1980.

The offence

On August 14, 1980, Dorothy Stratten, 20, was killed with a shotgun blast to the face in the West Los Angeles apartment the two had previously shared.

Snider’s body was found next to hers. A coroner’s report showed that Snider died after Stratten did.

The incident was described as a murder-suicide. The meeting timing was given as “around noon” and then “shortly after 11:00 p.m.” Dr. Stephen Kushner was present as their friend during the meeting.

Shortly after 11:00 p.m., Kushner entered Snider’s room after receiving no response from knocking. He discovered Stratten dead from a gunshot wound to the head and Snider from a self-inflicted gunshot.

Necrophilia involving an “exercise bench” and medical tape was ascertained to have taken place, which helped to establish her murder as a cause célèbre in the moral debate over pornography which continues to this day.

Investigation / Coroner and legal actions

Members of Snider’s family petitioned a court to grant them all the assets of both Stratten and Snider, by virtue of the fact that Snider had “inherited” Stratten’s estate upon her death.

Dorothy Stratten is buried at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.

People and relationships mentioned

• Paul Leslie Snider — estranged husband of Dorothy Stratten.
• Dorothy Stratten — Playboy model and actress; victim of the killing.
• Peter Bogdanovich — film director; Dorothy’s relationship during the period before her death.
• Dr. Stephen Kushner — friend who entered Snider’s room after receiving no response from knocking.
• Hugh Hefner — reportedly encouraged Stratten to sever ties with Snider, calling him a “hustler and a pimp.”
• Rosanne Katon and other friends — warned Stratten about Snider’s behavior.
• Simon Hoogstraten and Nelly Hoogstraten — Dorothy’s parents.
• John Arthur — Dorothy’s brother (born in 1961).
• Louise Stratten — Dorothy’s sister (followed in May 1968).
• Louise Stratten — later married to Peter Bogdanovich (after Dorothy’s death).

Film and cultural portrayals

A television film and a feature film were made from the incident.

The television film Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story had Jamie Lee Curtis portraying Stratten and Bruce Weitz as Snider. Bob Fosse’s 1983 feature film Star 80 dramatized the incident, with Mariel Hemingway playing Stratten and Eric Roberts portraying Snider. The movie was filmed in the very same house and room where the actual murder/suicide occurred.

Peter Bogdanovich wrote a book about her titled The Killing of the Unicorn, released in the summer of 1984.

Four years later, at the age of 49, Bogdanovich married Stratten’s sister, Louise, who was 29 years younger than Bogdanovich. They divorced in 2001 after 13 years of marriage. It was stated that Bogdanovich, following her sister’s death, paid for Louise’s private school and modeling classes.

Bryan Adams co-wrote two songs about Stratten:

• “Cover Girl,” which became a hit for Prism in 1980.
• “The Best Was Yet to Come,” written with Jim Vallance; it appeared on Adams’ 1983 album Cuts Like a Knife and was later covered by Laura Branigan.

Additional context mentioned

Stratten and Carol Willis are the only two Playmates to die within a year and a half of their Playboy appearances. At 20 years of age, they were also the youngest.

Peter Bogdanovich’s movie They All Laughed (in which Stratten was cast) received poor press due to the circumstances of her death and no studio was willing to release the film. Bogdanovich personally financed the release, but the movie was a box office failure.