Blaze Starr, the voluptuous stripper who was billed as the Queen of Burlesque and whose affair with a Louisiana governor was the basis of a 1989 movie, died on Monday in Wilsondale, W.Va., the coal country town in which she was born. She was 83.
With thickly luxurious, fiery red hair, an ample bosom and a penchant for playful humor, Ms. Starr stoked the imaginations of legions of admirers from the runways of clubs across the country for more than 30 years, seducing many men along the way.
Her most famous affair, with Gov. Earl K. Long of Louisiana, who was married, caused a scandal that was the basis of the Ron Shelton film “Blaze,” starring Lolita Davidovich in the title role alongside Paul Newman as the governor. The film drew on her memoir, “Blaze Starr: My Life as Told to Huey Perry,” published in 1974.
