Bettie Page Hospitalized in L.A.

Bettie Page, the famous ’50s pinup whose trademark, jet-black hair has inspired a countless number of Halloween costumes, was hospitalized and in intensive care after suffering a heart attack, her agent said Friday.

“She’s critically ill,” Mark Roesler of CMG Worldwide told The Associated Press.

He said the 85-year-old had been hospitalized for the last three weeks with pneumonia and was about to be released when she had the heart attack Tuesday. Page was transferred to another hospital in Los Angeles and remained in intensive care Friday.

A family friend, Todd Mueller, said Page was in a coma. When asked to confirm, Roesler said, “I would not deny that,” but he would not comment further on her condition.

Page became famous in the 1950s for her fetish modeling and pinup photos, most of which have become iconic images in recent history. Â  In 1958, Page became a born-again Christian and faded into obscurity. Â  Her look and photos caught a resurgance in the 1980s, and the model gained a cult following quickly after.

Page was the subject of a 2005 film, ‘The Notorious Bettie Page’, starring Gretchen Mol as the model.

Source: Variety