1. Linnea Eleanor "Bunny" Yeager was an American photographer, pin-up model, actress and author.
31 Facts About Bunny Yeager
1. 2.
Linnea Eleanor Yeager was born in the Pittsburgh suburb of Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, to Raymond Conrad and Linnea Yeager on March 13,1929.
3.
Bunny Yeager's family moved to Florida when she was 17.
4.
Bunny Yeager adopted the nickname "Bunny" from Lana Turner's character Bunny Smith in the 1945 movie Week-End at the Waldorf.
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Bunny Yeager graduated from Miami Edison High School and afterwards enrolled at the Coronet Modeling School and Agency.
6.
Bunny Yeager became one of the most photographed models in Miami.
7.
Bunny Yeager designed and sewed many of the outfits she and her models wore, at one time boasting that she never wore the same outfit twice while modeling.
8.
Bunny Yeager designed and produced hundreds of bikinis when the two-piece swimsuit was a new fashion item and is credited with its popularity in America.
9.
Bunny Yeager entered photography to save money by copying her modeling photographs, enrolling in a night class at a vocational school in 1953.
10.
Bunny Yeager became a technically skilled photographer noted for, among other things, her early use of the fill flash technique to lighten dark shadows when shooting in bright sun.
11.
Bunny Yeager was one of the first photographers to photograph her models outdoors with natural light.
12.
Bunny Yeager met Bettie Page in 1954, and took most of the photographs of her that year.
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The most famous images of Page by Bunny Yeager include the January 1955 Playboy centerfold in which she kneels wearing only a Santa hat while hanging a silver ornament on a Christmas tree and a series of photographs with a pair of live cheetahs.
14.
Bunny Yeager was a very prolific and successful pinup photographer in the 1950s and 1960s, so much so, that her work was described as ubiquitous in that era.
15.
Bunny Yeager continued to work extensively with Playboy shooting eight centerfolds in addition to covers and pictorial spreads.
16.
Bunny Yeager discovered Lisa Winters, the first Playmate of the Year.
17.
Bunny Yeager appeared in the magazine as a model five times.
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Bunny Yeager's work was published in mainstream magazines including Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Pageant, Redbook and Women's Wear Daily.
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Since 2002, Bunny Yeager's work has been exhibited in contemporary art galleries.
20.
In 2012 Bunny Yeager had two exhibitions in Germany, "Funland" at Gallery Schuster Potsdam and "Femme Fatale" in December 2012 at Gallery Schuster Berlin.
21.
Bunny Yeager had a show at the Sofia Vault in Sofia, Bulgaria in October 2013.
22.
Bunny Yeager had her own studio in the Wynwood Art District of Miami, part of the Center for Visual Communication.
23.
Bunny Yeager was married twice, first to Arthur Irwin who died in 1977 and then to Harry Schaefer who died in 2000.
24.
Bunny Yeager died on May 25,2014, of congestive heart failure at age 85 in North Miami, Florida.
25.
Bunny Yeager is credited with helping to popularize the bikini in America.
26.
Bunny Yeager's books, including Photographing the Female Figure which sold over 300,000 copies, have influenced several generations of photographers.
27.
Bunny Yeager was on I've Got a Secret and To Tell the Truth.
28.
Bunny Yeager was a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1966 to discuss her book, How I Photograph Myself.
29.
Bunny Yeager had small roles in a number of television series including Miami Vice and made occasional appearances singing in Miami nightclubs.
30.
Bunny Yeager was played by Sarah Paulson in the 2005 film The Notorious Bettie Page.
31.
Bunny Yeager was featured on a 2006 CNN story about the 60th anniversary of the bikini.