Bettie Page, the pin-up model whose scantily clad (and sometimes unclad) poses helped ignite a storm of controversy in the 1950s, has died at the age of 85. Although her fame is not specifically tied to science fiction, fantasy, and horror, many young boys first became aware of her through ads for her posters that ran in the back pages of magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland.
Page provided the inspiration for the character of Betty in the Rocket Boycomic book; the character was played by Jennifer Connelly (THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL) in the movie version. One-named artist Olivia also based much of her erotic fantasy artwork on Page, re-imagining the vixen as a mermaid, a devil, an angel, etc. These paintings were collected in the coffee table volume Bettie Page.
Read the Variety obituary here.