The Hindu : Barbie's creator dead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 29, 2002

International

International

Barbie's creator dead

Los Angeles: Ruth Handler, who created Barbie, the world's most popular doll, has died. She was 85. Ms. Handler, who also co-founded the Mattel toy company, died yesterday at Century City Hospital, a hospital spokesperson said without releasing details. Her husband, Elliott, told Los Angeles Times that his wife died of complications from colon surgery she underwent about three months ago. Since Ms. Handler's creation, named for her daughter Barbara, was introduced in 1959 it has become an American icon and a touchstone of cultural politics. The impossibly well-endowed doll — her original figure would be about 39-18-33 if she were human — has infuriated feminists, inspired artists and intrigued academics around the world. Barbie even was placed in the official "America's Time Capsule" buried in 1976. The original blue-eyed, blonde fashion model has morphed over the decades into a variety of ethnic looks and has had many careers, from astronaut to veterinarian. "My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be," Handler wrote in a 1994 autobiography.

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