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DISGRACELAND

Dorothy Stratten: A Playboy Pinup, a Private Investigator, and a Chilling Murder

DISGRACELAND

Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts

Music, True Crime, Society & Culture

4.613.4K Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Dorthy Stratten went from Dairy Queen counter girl to Playboy pinup to murder victim – in just two years. Hugh Hefner called her the next Marilyn Monroe. A major Hollywood director wrote a role in his new film just for her, confident that she would make the leap from centerfold to starlet. But all of that was cut short on August 14, 1980, when a private investigator stumbled upon a brutal murder scene that shook the entertainment industry to its core.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis.

0:15.0

This is a story about murder, about obsession, about sex, sex appeal, about Hollywood, and about one of the most

0:24.6

beautiful women to ever arrive in that town, Dorothy Stratton.

0:29.6

Dorothy didn't make great films, but there was a pretty okay film that was made about her,

0:35.6

Star 80, directed by Bob Fosse.

0:39.0

And Dorothy Stratton didn't make great music either.

0:42.6

But she did inspire great music, that's for sure.

0:46.8

Unlike that music I played for you at the top of the show,

0:49.2

which, of course, was not great music.

0:52.3

That was a preset loop from my Melotron called DimeSpot for Days,

0:57.8

MK1. I played you that loop because I can't afford the rights to Magic by Olivia Newton-John.

1:07.0

And why would I play you that specific slice of leg warmer cheese, could I afford it?

1:12.9

Because that was the number one song in America on August 14, 1980.

1:19.7

And that was the day a private investigator stumbled upon a brutal murder scene that would shock Los Angeles to its core.

1:27.9

On this episode, Sex, obsession, murder, Hollywood, and Dorothy Stratton.

1:35.8

I'm Jake Brennan, and this is The Scraiceland.

1:39.9

Music I'm You want to know the secret to a successful stakeout, you got to savor every smoke. See, what

2:21.3

you do is when you're about to go park your ass in one spot for a while, get yourself a fresh

2:26.3

pack. That's 20 in all. And after you get your seat adjusted just right, you light the first one,

2:33.2

take a puff and count to five. Now check the door

2:36.9

of the place you're watching and then the window. Maybe the skylight if it's some Bel Air mansion.

2:42.9

And then you exhale. So you can't drink because then you're going to have to piss. You can't do the

...

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