Abbye Stockton

Abbye "Pudgy" Stockton, Eville (August 11, 1917 – June 26, 2006), was an American professional strongwoman and forerunner of present-day female bodybuilders, who became famous through her involvement with Muscle Beach in the 1940s.

Early life Abbye Eville was born on August 11, 1917, and moved to Santa Monica, California, in 1924. She acquired the nickname "Pudgy" as a child, and the name stuck, even though she weighed approximately 115 pounds at a height of 5'2". She began dating UCLA student Les Stockton during her senior year of high school; they were married in 1941. She posed with many of the top male bodybuilders of the time, including John Grimek and Steve Reeves.

From 1944 to 1954, Stockton wrote a regular column on women's training, "Barbelles", in Strength & Health magazine, Abbye died on June 26, 2006, at the age of 88 from complications due to Alzheimer's disease.

Legacy Stockton is regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of female bodybuilding. Writing for Barbend, Brooke Siem wrote, "Abbye was the role model women from the 1940s had been thirsty for — strong, independent, successful, and feminine. In 2002 she summed up her life in two sentences that still ring true today, 'People used to say that if women worked out, they would become masculine-looking or wouldn’t be able to get pregnant. We just laughed because we knew they were wrong.'"