Her body was mortal, but the image that remains etched forever on our memories, is of a forever young and feisty Bettie Page.

A secretary-turned-model in the 1950s, Page struck saucy poses for publications like Beauty Parade, Twitter and an upstart rag called Playboy, ensuring her a legion of fans and cult following, long after her pinup days were over.  Three weeks ago, she was hospitalised for pneumonia, nine days ago, Betty suffered a heart attack, dying Thursday night at a Los Angeles hospital, aged 85.

A fixture in all the men’s magazines from 1951 to 1957, a resplendent Betty, with her trademark jet-black bangs and curvaceous figure, clad in slinky lingerie, bondage gear or other thematic costumes, if clad in anything at all, she set the stage for the 1960s sexual revolution.  And, none other than Hugh Hefner himself, picked her as Playboy’s January (1955) Playmate of the Month.

Born on 22nd April 1923, in Nashville, Tenn., Pages’ family that consisted of 3-boys and 3-girls were so poor she says that ‘we were lucky to get an orange in our Christmas stockings’, with the father molesting all three girls.  But, it began when on a walk along a beach at Coney Island, amateur photographer Jerry Tibbs spotted her and admired the 27-year-old Page’s firm, curvy body.  He asked her to pose, setting her up on a new career path.  Reflecting on the career that followed, she told Playboy in 1998 nudity didn’t bother her: ‘I never thought it was shameful.  I felt normal.  It’s just that it was much better than pounding a typewriter eight hours a day, which gets monotonous.’

Willing to be wild and sexy in front of the camera, Betty landed starring roles in dozens of silent fetish short stills, featuring her as a dominatrix.  And, it her featurette – ‘Leopard Bikini Bound’ that gave her biggest-selling still photo of all time.  A dancer and aspiring actress, the only time her voice was captured on film, was in the feature-length ‘Striporama’, wherein she had a small speaking role.

However, it was the 1950s and her risqué exposure came with a price.  In 1957, there were investigations over the possible perversity of such photographs and she was asked to testify before Congress.  Though, in the end, she never did take the stand, however, many negatives from her gigs as a mail-order pinup were destroyed, during proceedings.

In 1959, she gave up her life as a pin-up girl and became a born-again Christian.  Not long after, her second marriage collapsed, which caused her to suffer a nervous breakdown.  Her application to be a missionary in Africa but was rejected on the grounds of being a divorcee, but later she did end up working for Rev. Billy Graham’s ministry, though her later years were clouded with depression and other mental issues, spending 20-months in a state mental hospital in San Bernadino for acute schizophrenia.

While, Page may have turned her back on her past, it was not so for her fans.  A book called ‘A Nostalgic Look at Bettie Page’ was published in 1976, and won her a small but devoted following.  Ever since, photo re-issues, film collections and re-imagined accounts of her life and infamous career have poured forth, including a HBO’s 2005 film - ‘The Notorious Bettie Page’ starring Gretchen Mol.

Agreeing to be interviewed in the 1990s, Page however, refused to pose for the camera, stopping reporters from taking any photographs, preferring always to be remembered only as the sultry sexpot, she once was.

She may be gone, but as her agent Mark Roesler aptly put it: ‘She captured the imagination of a generation of men and women with her free spirit and unabashed sensuality.’  Pictures of her sensuous bikini or see-through lingerie clad figure, quickly tacked up on walls in military barracks, garages and elsewhere, still remain years later.