Lisa Lyon, bodybuilding pioneer and playboy model who inspired Marvel’s Elektra, dies in hospice care at 70 after battling pancreatic cancer
Lisa Lyon, bodybuilding pioneer and playboy model who inspired Marvel’s Elektra, dies in hospice at age 70 after battling pancreatic cancer
Women’s bodybuilding pioneer Lisa Lyon has died aged 70 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. according to TMZ.
Lyon, who also posed for Playboy in 1980, had been treated at a hospice in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley.
Although she is best known as a bodybuilder, she is also said to have inspired Frank Miller to create the Marvel Comics character Elektra. In 2005, Jennifer Garner starred in the action film ‘Elektra’.
But Lyon’s impact extended beyond the comics world. She wrote a book about bodybuilding in 1980 – ‘Lisa Lyon’s Body Magic’ – and became friends with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
He is even quoted by TMZ as saying that Lyon is “the best – I love her.”
Women’s bodybuilding pioneer Lisa Lyon has died aged 70 after a battle with cancer
Lyon is said to have inspired Frank Miller to create the Marvel Comics character Elektra
In 2000, she was inducted into the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Hall of Fame and, according to GreatestPhysiques.Comdescribed as ‘a one-woman media relations activist on behalf of the sport and elevating bodybuilding to the level of a fine art’.
Lyon also modeled for Robert Mapplethorpe – a photographer best known for photographing the artist Andy Warhol.
According to numerous bodybuilding websites, Lyon was born in 1953 – meaning she is approximately 70 years old – but the exact date is not given.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, she also appeared in three films in the 1980s, after her profile rose following her Playboy work.
In 1983 she appeared in Thee Crowns of the Sailor and a year later she appeared in Getting Physical. Her last appearance, in 1986, was in Vamp.