Introducing Death of a Starlet
Hollywood & Crime
Audible
4.6 • 2.5K Ratings
🗓️ 19 November 2020
⏱️ 2 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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 own beauty. But to the men in her life -- magazine mogul Hugh Hefner, director Peter Bogdanovich, and small time hustler Paul Snider -- Dorothy represented the promise of better things -- a centerfold on her way to movie stardom, a muse who could help revive a dying career, and a ticket to the Hollywood dream.
But who was Dorothy really? And how did her rise to fame ultimately lead to her death?
This is a six-part series about love, sex and murder in 1970s Hollywood when glitter pants and roller skates were all the rage, and the Playboy mansion hosted the biggest party in town.
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.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I got a $65,000 Russian saver for a coat and a $25,000 check. |
| 0:14.0 | Dorothy Stratton was a rising star. |
| 0:17.0 | She was blonde and beautiful, a shy girl with a big heart who worked at the dairy queen |
| 0:23.0 | until she was plucked from obscurity and put on the cover of Playboy Magic. |
| 0:28.0 | I'm sure that this has been many a girl's dream and it's been mine. |
| 0:34.0 | From centerfold to movie roles and she was in love on the way to a Hollywood ending. |
| 0:44.0 | And then it all went terribly wrong. |
| 0:48.0 | A beautiful young woman loving what was described as a Hollywood fairy tale. |
| 0:53.0 | A fairy tale that's always happened. |
| 0:55.0 | The year has been found shot to death, killed apparently by her estranged husband. |
| 0:59.0 | May have shot his wife because he was disfunded over the breakup of the American. |
| 1:04.0 | Marilyn Monroe called Hollywood a place where they'll pay you a $1000 for a kiss and 50 cents for your soul. |
| 1:12.0 | Dorothy Stratton would find that out firsthand. |
| 1:15.0 | Playboy founder Hugh Hefner thought Dorothy was going to be his breakout star. |
| 1:20.0 | Legendary director Peter Bogdanovich saw her as his muse. |
| 1:25.0 | And her small time hustler boyfriend from home thought Dorothy was his ticket to the big time. |
| 1:31.0 | But who was Dorothy really? |
| 1:34.0 | And who were these three men who fought her heart? |
| 1:37.0 | This is a six-part series about love, sex, and murder in 1970s Hollywood |
| 1:43.0 | where temptation lurks around every corner and nothing is what it seems. |
| 1:49.0 | Surrounded as you are in the entertainment magazine business by so many con men, |
| 1:53.0 | isn't it awfully hard to live a normal life now? |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Audible, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Audible and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.