Biography for
Ruth Handler More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

4 November 1916, Denver, Colorado, USA

Date of Death

27 April 2002, Century City, California, USA (complications from colon surgery)

Birth Name

Ruth Mosko

Spouse

Elliott Handler

(1938 - 27 April 2002) (her death) 2 children

Trivia

Children: Barbara and Ken

Creator of the Barbie doll.

"Barbie the teenage model" made its début at the American Toy Fair in 1959, becoming the success of the New York show with 350,000 units sold in the first year

Ruth and her husband started Mattel in a Los Angeles garage

The grown-up doll was partly inspired by Blonde Lilli, a German-made doll Ruth Handler had come across during a trip in Switzerland

Born Ruth Mosko, she was the youngest of 10 children of Polish immigrants who settled in Denver. Her father was a blacksmith who deserted the Russian army. Her mother was illiterate when she arrived in the United States in the steerage section of the steamship. Her mother's health was so frail that Mrs.Handler was reared by an older sister. Ruth was 19 when she left Denver for a vacation in Hollywood and wound up staying. Her high school sweetheart, Elliot Handler, followed her west and married her in 1938.

Survived by a brother, five grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.

She was found to have breast cancer in 1970 and had her left breast removed. She later developed a line of artificial breasts made of foam and silicon that she called "Nearly Me". She ran the breast prosthesis company, Ruthton Corporation, for 15 years, before selling it to a division of Kimberly-Clark.

She was a founder of Mattel and helped run the company for 30 years, until she and her husband, then co-chairmen, resigned in 1975.

In 1978, she and several other former officers of Mattel were indicted on charges of fraud and false reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission. She pleaded no contest to the charges, which investigators said resulted from attempts to influence stock prices, and was fined and sentenced to community service.

In 1942 they teamed up with another industrial designer, Harold "Matt" Mattson, to launch a business manufacturing picture frames. They later launched a sideline making dollhouse furniture. Within a few years, the company turned profitable and began to specialize in toys. It was called Mattel, fashioned from the "Matt' in Mattson and "EL" in Elliot.

She named the Barbie doll after her daughter Barbara Handler.

Personal Quotes

"My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices."

"Every little girl needed a doll through which to project herself into her dream of her future. If she was going to do role playing of what she would be like when she was 16 or 17, it was a little stupid to play with a doll that had a flat chest. So I gave it beautiful breasts."

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