Lisa Lyon obit

BODYBUILDING STAR LISA LYON

DEAD AT 70 

She was not on the list.

Lisa Lyon -- a game changer in professional women's bodybuilding -- has died, TMZ has learned.

A close friend who has been helping Lisa and her family tells us, Lisa died Friday at her home in the San Fernando Valley, where she was in hospice care. We're told the cause of death was stomach cancer.

Lisa famously posed for Playboy back in 1980, and the year before she won the first International Federation of Bodybuilders Woman's World Pro Bodybuilding Championship. It was a huge achievement that really put women's bodybuilding on the map.

She became a staple on the TV talk show circuit, also appearing in a slew of health and fitness magazines. She even wrote a book -- "Lisa Lyon's Body Magic" -- which was published in 1981.

She also modeled for iconic photog Robert Mapplethorpe.

Lisa was inducted into the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federal Hall of Fame back in 2000 ... for helping to elevate bodybuilding into an art form.

And speaking of elevating bodybuilding, Arnold Schwarzenegger told TMZ, "She is the best. I love her."

Lyon also had a short acting career:

She was on an episode of Little House on the Prairie in 1975

She was on an episode of Bert D'Angelo Superstar in 1975

Mathilde in Three Crowns of the Sailor from 1983

Pilar Jones in the bodybuilding movie Getting Physical from 1984

Cimmaron in Vamp, a low-budget 1986 film starring Grace Jones

In creating the Marvel Comics character Elektra, Frank Miller initially used Lyon as a basis for the character's appearance.

Lisa was 70.

 

RIP