Barbie creator dies at age of 85

Ruth Handler, who created Barbie, the world's most popular doll, has died aged 85.

Ms Handler, who also co-founded the Mattel toy company, died yesterday at Century City Hospital.

Her husband, Elliott, told the Los Angeles Times that his wife died of complications from colon surgery she underwent about three months ago.

The well-endowed doll, named after Ms Handler's daughter Barbara, would be about sized 39-18-33 if she were human. Barbie was even placed in the official "America's Time Capsule" buried in 1976. More than one billion Barbies have been sold in 150 countries.

Ms Handler was born Ruth Mosko, the youngest of 10 children of Polish immigrants who settled in Denver. She moved to Southern California at 19, later marrying her high school boyfriend and studying industrial design.

Eventually the Handlers began making and selling plastic bowls, mirrors and other household goods. The garage business boomed and was followed in the 1940s by a picture frame company.

Mattel grew out of a sideline business making dollhouse furniture from the frame scraps. The company had early successes with a child-sized ukulele and the Burp gun, cap pistol.

In her 1994 autobiography, Ms Handler wrote: "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."

In the same year, she said: "Over and over I've had it said to me by women. She was much more than a doll for them. She was part of them."

Barbie's birth came at a time when the usual doll was a baby. Ms Handler decided to create a more mature toy after noticing that her daughter liked to play with paper cutout dolls of teenagers and career women.