Dorothy Stratten’s Grave & Tombstone Message

Dorothy Stratten, a well-known Playboy Playmate with a blossoming film career, was murdered by her ex-husband, Paul Snider, who was fueled by jealousy.

She was killed August 14, 1980, after he invited her back to the apartment they once shared in Los Angeles, California. She was 20. Snider and Stratten met at the apartment to discuss a divorce settlement. At some point during the day, he killed her with a shotgun and turned the gun on himself. Her body was cremated, according to The Village Voice.

Stratten is buried in Los Angeles, California in Westwood Memorial Park, according to Find a Grave. Her gravestone message includes a quote from Ernest Hemmingway’s A Farewell to Arms.

On her Playboy Playmate data sheet, she listed “jealous people” as her major turnoff, according to her Find a Grave memorial. Her story will be featured on ABC’s 20/20 on Friday, October 18 at 9 p.m. EST.

Here’s what you need to know:

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Dorothy Stratten Is Buried Beneath a Moving Message About Bravery From ‘A Farewell to Arms’

Dorothy Stratten is buried at Westwood Memorial Park in West Los Angeles, according to Find a Grave. Her tombstone lists her birth date and date of death, followed by a moving message about bravery and living life to the fullest. The message is a portion of a quote from Ernest Hemmingway’s A Farewell to Arms.

It says:

Dorothy Stratten

Feb. 28, 1960 – August 14, 1980.

If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them…it kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure that it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.

We love you. D.R.

The Hemingway quote became a piece of trivia.

“Ironically, Hemingway’s granddaughter Mariel Hemingway portrayed her in Bob Fosse’s Star 80,” her IMDB profile said.

Star 80 is a film about Stratten’s life and death. It was released in 1983. It was filmed in the house where Stratten was murdered, according to IMDB.

Playboy issued a statement immediately after her death, which said, “The death of Dorothy Stratten comes as a shock to us all…As Playboy’s Playmate of the Year with a film and television career of increasing importance, her professional future was a bright one. But equally sad to us is the fact that her loss takes from us all a very special member of the Playboy family,” according to a 1980 issue of The Village Voice.

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Stratten is Buried Near Her Former Home in Los Angeles, California Alongside Many Other Celebrities

Dorothy Stratten is buried in Westwood Memorial Park, also known as Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park, and Sunset Cemetery, according to FindaGrave. It is located at 1218 Glendon Ave in West Los Angeles. Her burial plot is located in Section D-3170.

Other celebrities buried in Westwood Memorial Park include Milton Ager, a composer who died in 1979, Journalist Shana Alexander of 60 Minutes, Phyllis Avery, a Broadway actress, and Roberta Beatty, a 1920s actress known for Honor Among Lovers.

Stratten’s Find a Grave biography says:

Actress, Model. Born in Vancouver, BC, Canada, she grew up in a rough neighborhood, and worked at a local Dairy Queen. She began to come into her own as a model in her late teens, appearing on a TV episode of Fantasy Island in 1978. Paul Snider, a promoter, began dating her and convinced her to pose for nude photographs, while attempting to get her selected as Playboy’s 25th Anniversary Playmate. Although she lost out to Candy Loving, she was made Playmate of the month for August 1979. Soon afterwards, she married Paul Snider, who wanted more control over her personal life as well as professional life. After the centerfold was published, she found work in films, including ‘Skatetown’ (1979), ‘Autumn Born’ (1979), and ‘Americathon’ (1979), and her big break came with the lead role in ‘Galaxina’ (1980). Clearly she was a rising star. In 1980, Playboy announced that Stratten would be the 1980 Playmate of the Year. Meanwhile, things were not going well with her marriage. Snider was present on the set of Galaxina, interfering with her acting, and when he discovered she was developing a close relationship with director Peter Bogdonavich, Snider and Stratton separated. Snider remained in their Los Angeles apartment, and Stratton moved in with Peter Bogdonavich in Bel Air. Snider then hired a private detective to follow her around and report on her activities. One evening, Snider convinced her to come to their apartment, where he tied her up and put a shotgun to her head, pulling the trigger. He then turned the gun on himself. Since her death, she has been the subject of a number of movies and TV stories, including two by Playboy, and one on ‘E! True Hollywood Stories.’ In the 1983 film “Star 80” about her life, the murder scene was filmed in the actual apartment where she died. On her Playmate data sheet, she listed ‘jealous people’ as her major turn-off. Later, Peter Bogdanovich married her younger sister, Louise Stratten.

READ NEXT: Dorothy Stratten’s Cause of Death: Learn More About the Playmate’s Brutal Murder

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