"She captured the imagination of a generation of men and women with her free spirit and unabashed sensuality," said agent Mark Roesler in a written statement. "She is the embodiment of beauty."
Page, said to be one of the most photographed people of the past century, became a recluse in recent decades. Yet, her images continued to be used around the world to market Bettie Page action figures, clothing lines and other merchandise.
The Web site, BettiePage.com, logs about 20 million hits a month, Roesler said. A TVGuide.com poll recently placed Bettie Page as the "ultimate sex goddess," outscoring others such as Marilyn Monroe.
Page was born to a poor family in Tennessee on April 22, 1923. While her birth certificate spelled her name "Betty," she changed the spelling later in life to "Bettie."
At a time when few women pursued a college education, Page earned a bachelor of arts degree in education from Peabody College in Tennessee in 1944, according to her official biography.
Her teaching career, however, was hampered by her looks, she said.
"I couldn't control my students, especially the boys," she is quoted as saying.
After her modeling career ended, Page returned to Peabody College to work on a master's degree, the bio said. Her southern drawl and a refusal to sleep with a Hollywood producer hampered her acting career, according to her bio.
"I didn't like his looks," Page said. "I wouldn't have gone to bed with him anyway. He was a creep. He drove off in his big car and scolded me, 'You'll be sorry.' I wasn't."
Page said she regretted not accepting studio boss Jack Warner's offer of another screen-test, but it came while she was trying to save her marriage to her first husband, Billy Neal.
Her modeling breakthrough began after she divorced Neal in 1947 when she met a police officer whose hobby was photography. He suggested the black bangs, which became her trademark, her bio said. Not long after, her images were everywhere, gracing magazine covers and locker pin-ups.
Page wore nothing but a Santa hat in Playboy's January 1955 centerfold. Playboy founder Hugh Hefner said her appearance in his magazine's first year was a milestone.
"She became, in time, an American icon, her winning smile and effervescent personality apparent in every pose," Hefner said.
