Death of a Starlet

By Wondery

What's Death of a Starlet about?

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. All episodes of Death of a Starlet are available now. You can binge the series ad-free on Wondery+ or on Amazon Music with a Prime membership or Amazon Music Unlimited subscription.

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Wondery Presents This Is Ac...

03.14.2023

This Is Actually Happening, is a podcast that brings you extraordinary true stories of life changing events, told by the people who lived them. Now, This Is Actually Happening presents: Point Blank, a five-part series shedding a light on the ...

Death of a Starlet episodes:

03.14.2023 Wondery Presents This Is Actually Happening: Point Blank This Is Actually Happening, is a podcast that brings you extraordinary true stories of life changing events, told by the people who lived them. Now, This Is Actually Happening presents: Point Blank, a five-part series shedding a light on the ...
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01.23.2023 Wondery Presents: Frozen Head Hosted by Ash Kelley and Alaina Urquhart from the hit show Morbid. When 90-year-old Laurence Pilgeram drops dead on the sidewalk outside his condo, you might think that’s the end of his story. But, really, it’s just the beginning. Because ...
01.09.2023 Introducing SUSPECT: Vanished in the Snow For more than three and a half decades, the disappearance of 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews was a mystery – a riddle neither authorities nor her family members could solve. The residents of her cloistered Colorado hometown had scoured every inch of ...
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10.17.2022 Wondery Presents: The Generation Why Podcast The Generation Why Podcast released its first episode in 2012 and pioneered the true crime genre in the podcasting world. Two friends, Aaron & Justin, break down theories and give their opinions on unsolved murders, controversies, mysteries and conspiracies. One ...
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01.12.2021 Interview \| Marilyn Grabowski \| 7 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 ...
01.05.2021 Final Days \| 6 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 ...
12.29.2020 Rising Star \| 5 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 ...
12.22.2020 Playmate of the Year \| 4 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 ...
12.15.2020 Bunny Perfect \| 3 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. ...
12.08.2020 The Great Playmate Hunt \| 2 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. ...
12.08.2020 Strawberry Sundae Supreme \| 1 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 ...
11.19.2020 Introducing Death of a Starlet 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 ...