Paul Leslie Snider (April 15, 1951 – August 14, 1980) was a Canadian nightclub promoter and pimp who murdered his estranged wife, ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...

'' model and actress

Dorothy Stratten Dorothy Ruth Hoogstraten (February 28, 1960 – August 14, 1980), known professionally as Dorothy Stratten, was a Playboy Playmate and actress, originally from Canada. Stratten was the ''Playboy'' Playmate of the Month for August 1979 and Playm ...

. Following her murder, Snider killed himself.

Biography

Snider was born in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. By the mid-1970s, he was a nightclub promoter and pimp. In 1977, he met

at a Vancouver-area

Dairy Queen Dairy Queen (DQ) is an American chain of soft serve ice cream and fast food restaurants owned by International Dairy Queen, Inc. (a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway since 1998) which also owns Orange Julius, and formerly owned Karmelkorn and ...

, where she was working part-time while still attending high school and groomed her to become a model as well as his lover. In 1979, Snider sent professionally taken nude photographs of Stratten to ''

'' magazine and she was chosen as a

Playmate A Playmate is a female model featured in the centerfold/gatefold of ''Playboy'' magazine as Playmate of the Month (PMOTM). The PMOTM's pictorial includes nude photographs and a centerfold poster, along with a pictorial biography and the "Playm ...

for the month of August that year. Snider and Stratten moved to Los Angeles and married on June 1 in Las Vegas. While Stratten worked as a "

bunny Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit sp ...

" at the Century City

Playboy Club The Playboy Club was initially a chain of nightclubs and resorts owned and operated by Playboy Enterprises. The first Playboy Club opened in Chicago in 1960. Each club generally featured a Living Room, a Playmate Bar, a Dining Room, and a Club ...

, and was cast in a few television and film roles, Snider had engaged in numerous get-rich-quick schemes, including building and selling exercise benches. Stratten helped support Snider financially throughout their short marriage. In 1980, Stratten was named ''Playboy''s

Playmate of the Year This is a list of models who were chosen as a Playboy Playmate of the Year for the American edition of ''Playboy'' magazine. List of Playmates of the Year *1953: Marilyn Monroe *1954: *1955: *1956: *1957: *1958: *1959: *1960: Ellen Stratton ...

and was cast in the movie ''

They All Laughed ''They All Laughed'' is a 1981 American romantic comedy film directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring Audrey Hepburn, Ben Gazzara, John Ritter, Colleen Camp, Patti Hansen, and Dorothy Stratten. The film was based on a screenplay by Bogdanovic ...

'' (1981) directed by

Peter Bogdanovich Peter Bogdanovich (July 30, 1939 – January 6, 2022) was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian. One of the " New Hollywood" directors, Bogdanovich started as a film journalist until he was hired to work on ...

, with whom she began an affair. Stratten and Snider separated and he hired a private investigator to follow her.

Death

On August 14, 1980, Stratten was shot and killed in the West Los Angeles house she had shared with Snider, whose body was found next to hers. Police believed Snider raped and murdered Stratten, and then killed himself with the same shotgun. Snider's remains are buried at Schara Tzedeck Cemetery in

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capi ...

, British Columbia.

In popular culture

Snider has been portrayed in three films. The first was a made-for-television movie about the murder titled '' Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story'' (1981), which starred

Jamie Lee Curtis Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is an American actress, producer, children's author, and activist. She came to prominence with her portrayal of Lt. Barbara Duran on the ABC sitcom '' Operation Petticoat'' (1977–78). In 1978, she m ...

as Stratten and Bruce Weitz as Snider.

Bob Fosse Robert Louis Fosse (; June 23, 1927 – September 23, 1987) was an American actor, choreographer, dancer, and film and stage director. He directed and choreographed musical works on stage and screen, including the stage musicals ''The Pajam ...

's film ''

Star 80 ''Star 80'' is a 1983 American biographical drama film written and directed by Bob Fosse. It was adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning ''Village Voice'' article "Death of a Playmate" by Teresa Carpenter and is based on Canadian ''Playboy'' mo ...

'' (1983) dramatized Stratten's life and death.

Mariel Hemingway Mariel Hadley Hemingway (born November 22, 1961) is an American actress. She began acting at age 14 with a Golden Globe-nominated breakout role in ''Lipstick'' (1976), and she received Academy and BAFTA Award nominations for her performance in W ...

played Stratten, and

Eric Roberts Eric Anthony Roberts (born April 18, 1956) is an American actor. His career began with a leading role in '' King of the Gypsies'' (1978) for which he received his first Golden Globe Award nomination. He was nominated again at the Golden Globes ...

portrayed Snider. In the series '' Welcome to Chippendales'', he was played by Dan Stevens.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Snider, Paul 1951 births 1980 deaths 1980 murders in the United States 1980 suicides 20th-century Canadian criminals Burials in British Columbia Canadian Jews Canadian rapists Canadian male criminals Canadian murderers Crime in California Deaths by firearm in California Domestic violence in the United States Male murderers Murder–suicides in California People from Vancouver Suicides by firearm in California Violence against women in the United States