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“We decided to do a documentary on the Dorothy Stratten story because of the complexity of the story,” said Muriel Pearson, senior producer with 20/20. “One of our interviewees, Mariel Hemingway, described it as, ‘The Hollywood dream gone wrong.’ One choice in her (Stratten’s) life — the decision to follow the desires of the man she thought she loved — altered the entire trajectory of her life.”

Stratten’s story has previously inspired the 1981 TV movie Death of a Centrefold and the 1983 film Star 80, as well as the book The Killing of the Unicorn. Stratten is also referenced as the “first-born unicorn” in the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ song Californication, in Bryan Adams’ tune The Best Was Yet To Come and in Canadian rock band Prism’s song Cover Girl.

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The 20/20 team, however, hoped to give a unique perspective on Stratten’s story, placing it in the context of the late 1970s and ’80s during the sexual revolution.

“The advent of the pill liberated women to make new choices about their sexuality. But it was, at times, a double-edged sword,” said Pearson. “We highlighted the duality of past and present by depicting a kind of double standard that was part of the Playboy philosophy.”

Kathryn Van Arendonk, who is featured in the documentary, described the iconic Playboy bunny as “sophisticated, but she’s also naïve. A bunny is available, but you cannot touch her. All of Playboy is about these contradictions between one idea and another, and then trying to live inside of them.”

The 20/20 documentary airs on Oct. 18 at 6 p.m. PT on ABC.

sip@postmedia.com

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– With research by Vancouver Sun librarian Carolyn Soltau

See the trailer below for The Death of a Playmate: The Dorothy Stratten Story.

Vancouver Sun

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Vancouver Sun