The true story of Canadian Playboy playmate-turned-Hollywood actress Dorothy Stratten who was on the verge of stardom (having just starred in Galaxina) when she was murdered by her small-time hustler husband Paul Snider.
Director Bob Fosse’s last movie is a disturbing look at the drive of fame and the price often paid to achieve it.
Stratten is brilliantly portrayed by Mariel Hemingway (complete with breast enlargements), but it’s Eric Roberts as her psychotically jealous mentor/spouse who registers the strongest impact.
Cliff Robertson appears as Hugh Hefner, overseeing an empire of temptations that call forth the dark forces of Snider’s mind.
Based in part on Teresa Carpenter’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Village Voice article, Death Of A Playmate, the film is a downbeat and dark fairy tale of Tinseltown’s tarnished ethics.
Dorothy Stratten
Mariel Hemingway
Paul Snider
Eric Roberts
Hugh Hefner
Cliff Robertson
Dorothy’s mother
Carroll Baker
Aram Nicholas
Roger Rees
Geb
David Clennon
Private Detective
Josh Mostel
Director
Bob Fosse
