this is "nightline." tonight, the death of a playmate. >> i'd never taken my clothes off for anyone i didn't know. >> the girl next door turned playboy centerfold. the object of obsession for one. >> she was the meal ticket. he loved her fame, but he was jealous because he was afraid that he could lose her. >> now the hollywood dream gone wrong. dorothy straten's rising fame. >> i'm in the middle of an another movie. >> his jealousy reaching a breaking point. >> he just out of control, o o his mind. >> "nightlinl be right back.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ the sun ♪ ♪ we need someone to lean on ♪ blow a kiss into the sun

♪ all we need is somebody to lean on ♪ ♪ ♪ good evening. thank you for joining us. she was a playboy centerfold in the center of attention in hollywood. the "it" girl of her time. dorothy stratton's star was on the rise until one man's jealousy took over. >> dorothy stratton was once in a lifetime. >> she was in every respect the

object of desire of dreams of many men. >> reporter: a hollywood dream gone wrong. a worker at dairy queen who became a playboy playmate. >> she has an innocence about her. >> reporter: her life memorialized in the film "star 80." >> she became sought after by every man in the world many. >> reporter: and the small-time promoter who couldn't let her go. >> i knew he was dangerous, and somehow or other she didn't see that. >> reporter: the rising hollywood star murdered when she was 20 years old. back in 1979, dorothy stratton was the angelic girl next door. >> i'm getting over my shyness fast. but i am very sensitive, and i'm very romantic. >> that's type of girl a lot of men fantasize about. a lot of men like the girl next door. >> are you the girl next door?

it seems to me i've never lived next door to anyone who looked like you. >> well, when i came from the town that i came from, i lived with my family still. i just graduated from high school. i worked in a dairy queen for four years wearing pigtails and no makeup. >> dorothy stratton was an angel. she was a sweet, effervescent angel. >> she was a young girl from vancouver, british columbia. >> very naïve, high school student, had no worldly experience. >> she is the daughter of a woman who came over after world war ii. she has almost never known her biological father. >> dorothy had started working at this dairy queen when she was 14. and she was really pleased to have found a job that young. >> she was 18 when a former pimp walked into the dairy queen. >> he's a scarycarycarycarycaryy

>> he drove a black corvette, star of david on his chest. he made a good living as a promoter for automobile and cycling shows but it wasn't enough to accommodate his extraf kbant tastes. so he began to procure girls and pimp them on the side. >> so he sees this sexy girl in the dairy queen. she's a child, basically. but, you know, hmm. hmm. what can happen for me, through her is of interest to me. >> he bought her beautiful jewelry, beautiful clothes. so she was totally taken in by him. >> paul snider worked her insecurity and gave her compliments in the places where she felt most vulnerable. and, when you're insecure, you hear those words, they fill

holes that you feel you're made up of. >> he's telling her, my goodness, you could be a playboy bunny. you could be this. you could be that. in her world, working in the dairy queen, not seeing a future for herself, that could be something. it was a whole new world for her. >> it took a little while to talk me into taking some test pictures. i had never taken my clothes off for anyone i didn't know. >> eventually, she said yes, and it was just this gradual experience of saying yes, a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more until you suddenly find yourself as a part of this completely different world, and it's hard to look back and sort of measure how far you have come. >> reporter: the photos are submitted to playboy, changing her life. >> to commemorate their 25th anniversary, playboy had a big

playmateun oueach, there were going to be lots of prizes and things like that. so dorothy was one of the runners-up. >> reporter: she didn't win but playboy knew they had a star on their hands. >> she ended up working as a playboy bunny at the club. >> a lot of women come to playboy and want to be in the magazine. they're beautiful, gorgeous, but not hugh hef in yner'ner'ner'nns girl next door. a lot of men want their women of having not been around too much. >> reporter: within a year she'd got and centerfold, "ms. august 1979." >> i noticed if you look at it, she's looking up. so you kind of saw the whites of her eyes. and i'm not going to asay it

exaggerated in a sense, but i don't think she recognized what power she had. >> the photos are incredible and hef's thrilled. you get your month. she was really happy hen. >> reporter: following her every step of the way, he saw dorothy as his golden ticket. >> the whole idea of the playboy mansion was to be cool. look, there are hot and cold running women here, just be cool. he knew dorothy was his meal ticket. >> who was going to give him access to anything in he looked like a putz. >> he had fur coats to the floor, chains, silk black shirts. he just was such a cartoon character. >> paul's offensive. paul is also, he looks looks los time shall

time, hef didn't. >> hefner took one look at snider and one word came into his mind. "pimp." that was the dirtiest word you could say at the mansion. >> reporter: so a new idea, male stripper, dancing at chippendale's. >> he had a gift. he is not a soft banana. >> but also you have to understand that just having the idea is different than bringing the idea off. from it went nowhere under his guidance but then of course became a huge, huge business for chippendale's. >> the partners he was involved with took the idea, looked the idea and kicked him out of it. so he said he got ripped off on that. >> reporter: taiat the same tim he was losing control over dorothy. >> when hef introduced her to the real manager and it affected him. he was not a happy camper.

>> hugh hefner saw her as someone who could be in movies and posters and shows and someone who could represent as an ambassador the playboy brand in a way that he'd been struggling to find. >> hefner was never the hollywood insider that he wanted to be. and the big producers would come to his parties and would party. but they never gave him respect. so, in order to get respect, he needed to field a star, break through star. that would give him legitimacy. and he had high hopes that dorothy could do that. >> and then in '79, playboy did an hour-long special for the abc televisi television network, featuring the village people and richard dawson who was then the host of "family feud." >> reporter: that show gave her an

an entre into hollywood. >> by 1980, she's starring in hollywood pictures. >> i've done it for you. i love you, sergeant thorp. >> she plays this perfect female robot. sexy, but you can't actually have sex with her perfect only as a tool to the men around her. >> reporter: her rise to stardom also seemed to be on a perfect track. >> she couldn't believe all this was happening to her. >> aven >> every minute there was something new and exciting and people are fawning all over her. >> paul snider would say we're on a rocket ship to the moon! it's we, we, we. >> reporter: but he couldn't turn her back on the man who plucked herrom on security one year earlier. >> she was the meal ticket. he loved her fame but he was jealous because he was afraid he could lose her, which he did. >> reporter: despite objections from the playboy empire, dorothy

marries him. in everybody w >> everybody was upset. there wasn't one person happy for her. >> paul scared me, he had that need to control. as a woman, i knew that he was dangerous. and somehow or another, she didn't see that. >> she never felt there was any danger in anything with paul snider. >> reporter: but, when she falls in love with another man, dorothy had no idea how dangerous her husband would become. the 2020 c-class family. lease the c 300 sedan for just $419 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer.

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>> reporter: it was 1980, and dor dorothy stratton was chosen as play meat of theie playmate of the year. he's been the object of desire for men around the world. >> i got a $65,000 russian fur coat. a $25,000 check. $15,000 ring. hand-built brass bathtub worth $13,000. so so many things i can hardly remember. in that's not a bad deal. >> no, it's not a pbad >> he taook that money andried

to buy a hot car. >> how does your husband feel about this, playmate of the year? >> he's very encouraging, very proud of me. it it's great for his >> they both started to have other lives. and being the kind of possessive man he was, he didn't want her to have this other life. >> as she started to slip away, he artstarted to realize n n n n admiring him, hugh hefner wasn't going to call him back and he lost it. >> reporter: soon, she fell in love with another man. director peter bogdanovich. >> i'm in the middle of another movie called "they all laughed."

audrey hepburn is starring. >> it was absolutely a movie about peter. very auto biographerical. >> will you marry me? >> okay, i will. >> you will? >> why, yes, after my divorce. >> there were fireworks, and i could tell that he was crazy about her. >> she moves essentially out of the hotel she's saying in for production and moves in with him. they ray try to keep it sea cor, but the world finds out. >> when you're comparing fillet mignon to hot dog on a stick, there's a big difference. >> reporter: but paul was not going to let her go easily. >> for paul, losing dorothy to peter bogdanovich was like the ultimate insult, because petter in his own way was a much

paul. he had discovered a star. just like when he found her it at the dairy queen. >> i just knew he was capable of doing harm and she should be really careful. he's the kind of guy that could kill her. >> reporter: when she asked him for a divorce, paul became distraught and angry. >> it was after dorothy confessed that she loved bogdanovich and wanted to make a financial settlement. >> first, he's lent lent lent lt caliber pistol. but the friend takes it back. so he buys a shotgun. >> it is a very powerful weapon. it's something that's going to stop you right in your tracks if you get hit. >> he just got out of control. way out, i mean, he's out of his

mind. >> the day of the murder, dorothy decided, against everyone's direction, to go to paul and try to negotiate a payment settlement with him. >> reporter: she went into his house and never cam out. hours later, paul's housemates discover the horrific scene. >> the first thing you see is paul laying on the carpet. but, instead of a whole head, it it's like his head is like this thick because he blew the whole front of his face off. >> she was sort of against the firewall. >> they were both naked. >> she's dead, he's dead. >> it looked like it was a horror movie, a sustained horror movie, like mannequins and fake blood. it's a picture that never goes

away. a mental picture that's stuck in here forever. >> she was violently raped by paul before he killed her. >> he shot himself in the left temple, right behind his eyes and killed him instantly. >> he knew by taking her he was done. so he also took himself. >> she becomes immediately upon her death, frozen as some kind of archetype of women in hollywood and fantasy and the perils of the hollywood life. >> so young. so young. >> the real tragedy of dorothy's life is that she couldn't live long enough to tell her own

story. >> reporter: she was only 20 years old when she was killed. >> reporter: when we come back, remembering the north star of congress. in a clinical study, 4 out of 5 users felt better joint comfort. take the ultra challenge. try move free today. wewith some healthy halloween treats today. these are called veggie fruit chews. mine tasted like poopoo! mine tastes like broccoli, yuck! i want candy! governot just the powerful and well-connected. that's the american promise. but big corporations and special interests real people.ol.nog'enr the caates runng president ha but we can't get anything done unless we make our democracy serve the people again. i'm tom steyer. i approve this message. i'm running for president because it's time our

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and finally tonight, remembering congressman cummings. >> my parents began their lives as sharecroppers, on the same land where their poor parents once worked asss >> his life, his love, was always his hometown. when baltimore burst into flames after the burden ofmurder of a in custody, he came home. >> we want to talk to you. >> that booming voice was his trademark. no-nonsense his style. and as chairman of the house oversight and reform committee, he was a fierce critic of the trump administration. >> none of us! would have our children in that

position! >> described by colleagues as a north star, cummings will be remembered for his fairness, social conscious and determination. that's "nightline." you can always catch our full episodes on hulu. thanks for the company, america. have a great weekend. goodnight.