by Bodybuilding icon Lisa Lyon – who inspired Marvel’s Elektra – battling pancreatic cancer in hospice
Bodybuilding icon Lisa Lyon is in a hospice fighting pancreatic cancer.
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The 70-year-old posed for Playboy magazine in 1980 a year after winning the first International Federation of Bodybuilders Woman’s World Pro Bodybuilding Championship, and is said to be in a “grave condition.”
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TMZ reported she was recently transferred to a hospice in San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles.
The 1979 bodybuilding contest was one of only two competitions of the type she entered.
But she carved a career out of promoting the sport in magazines and in TV appearances – also writing Lisa Lyon’s Body Magic, published in 1981.
Her fans included Arnold Schwarzenegger, 76, who told TMZ: “She is the best. I love her.”
She is also credited with having inspired Marvel’s Elektra assassin character.
Lisa’s October 1980 Playboy cover made her one of the first bodybuilders photographed for the title.
Due to being a female figurehead in bodybuilding, she was admitted into the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Hall of Fame in 2000.
Lisa also posed for famed late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe whose subjects included Pop Art icon Andy Warhol.
He went on to produce a book on her called Lady Lisa Lyon.
Her acting career saw her star in Three Crowns of the Sailor, Getting Physical and Vamp.