Gretchen Mol

plays Bettie Page


US actress Gretchen Mol poses during a photocall to the film 'The Notorious Betti Page' at the 56th Film Festival Berlinale in Berlin, Germany. A film about her, "The Notorious Bettie Page," is scheduled for release in April.


More than half a century after her pinup pictures first appeared in magazines, cult idol Bettie Page is finally earning a good income for her work.


From 1949 to 1957, Betti Page posed in thousands of photos in seductive nurse, teacher, cowgirl, and jungle costumes, her hair styled in kitschy bangs.


According to her agents at CMG Worldwide, Page's Web site, http://www.BettiePage.com, has received 588 million hits in the last five years. CMG markets not only Page's image but also those of Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana.


Bettie Page, 82, is slowed by ailments including diabetes and stabbing pains in her back, legs and hands.


But she still appeared recently wearing bright red lipstick to sign autographs of her pictures at CMG's offices. The company planned the event because demand for Page items is soaring.

"I'm more famous now than I was in the 1950s,"

she told the Los Angeles Times in a Southern drawl.


As she slowly signed, she reflected on her career.

"Being in the nude isn't a disgrace unless you're being promiscuous about it," she said. "After all, when God created Adam and Eve, they were stark naked. And in the Garden of Eden, God was probably naked as a jaybird too!"

Bettie Page has been living in different Southern California communities for the last 13 years. A film about her, "The Notorious Bettie Page," is scheduled for release in April.


Bettie Page complained that the word notorious is "not flattering," but the film's producer, Pam Koffler, said it was meant ironically.