Bettie Page ‘critically ill’

Bettie Page, a 1950s pinup known for her raven bangs and saucy come-hither looks, was hospitalized in intensive care after a heart attack, her agent said Friday.

“She’s critically ill,” Mark Roesler of CMG Worldwide told the Associated Press.

He said the 85-year-old had been hospitalized for the last three weeks with pneumonia and was about to be released when she had the heart attack Tuesday. Page was transferred to another hospital in Los Angeles and remained in intensive care Friday.

A family friend, Todd Mueller, said Page was in a coma. When asked to confirm, Roesler said, “I would not deny that.”

Page, a secretary-turned-model, is credited with helping set the stage for the sexual revolution of the 1960s. She attracted national attention with photographs of her sensuous figure that were tacked up on walls across the country.

Roesler said CMG has represented some of the biggest celebrities over the decades, and that Page has been “one of our biggest clients. She’s right up there with Marilyn Monroe.”

Page’s photos included a centerfold in the January 1955 issue of then-fledgling Playboy magazine.