Bunny Yeager, renowned pinup photographer, dies at 85

Model turned photographer Bunny Yeager died in North Miami Sunday of heart failures. She was 85. Yeager, best known for photographing pinup girls, rose to fame in the 1950s with her nude and semi-nude portraits. She is credited with launching "Queen of Pinups" Bettie Page to worldwide stardom after their multiple collaborations in 1954. After a decades-long hiatus that began in the 1970s Yeager revamped her career in 2010 with a museum exhibition -- the first of her career -- of self-portraits shown at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. More exhibitions ensued, including last year's Bunny Yeager: Both Sides of the Camera, which was shown at the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale. A book featuring more than 250 unpublished photos from Yeager will hit shelves in October and include text by Petra Mason. Yeager's photographs are famous for their unique composition and exotic scenery. She is credited with turning pinup photography into photographic art and her work appeared in magazines like Playboy, Cavalier, Escapade, Nugget, Fling, Sunbathing, National Police Gazette and Figure Quarterly. Yeager is survived by her two daughters, Lisa Irwin Packard and Cherilu Irwin Duval, and four grandchildren.