Blaze Starr (born Fannie Belle Fleming in January 1, 1932), is an American former stripper and burlesque star. Her vivacious presence and inventive use of stage props earned her the nickname "The Hottest Blaze in Burlesque". She was also notorious for her affair with Louisiana governor Earl Long.  Starr was born in rural Wilsondale, West Virginia, to Lora Evans and Goodlow Mullins (later changed to "Fleming").  Fleming left home and moved to Washington D.C. when she was sixteen, where Red Snyder discovered her either working in a doughnut shop (according to her autobiography) or as a hat check girl (according to other sources).
Snyder became Fleming's first manager, encouraged her to start stripping, and gave her the stage name Blaze Starr. After he attempted to rape her, however, Starr left Snyder.

Starr moved to Baltimore, Maryland, eventually becoming a headliner at the Two O'Clock Club nightclub. Starr rose to national renown after she was profiled in a February 1954 Esquire magazine article, "B-Belles of Burlesque: You Get Strip Tease With Your Beer in Baltimore". The Two O'Clock Club remained her home base, but she began to travel and perform in clubs throughout the country.  Starr's striking red hair, voluptuous figure and on-stage enthusiasm were a large part of her appeal. The theatrical flourishes and unique gimmicks she used in her stage show went beyond established burlesque routines like the fan dance and balloon dance.
Perhaps her most famous prop was a couch that she rigged to smolder and then appear to burst into flame as she sat on it and undressed. 

Starr eventually bought the Two O'Clock Club on The Block in Baltimore, Maryland. Some of her costumes and other memorabilia have been displayed at the Museum of Sex in New York City and the Burlesque Hall of Fame. In the early 1980s, Starr made an appearance at the Mitchell Brothers' O'Farrell Theatre in San Francisco, California.   She retired from stripping in 1983, and by 1989 had become a gemologist and spent several holiday seasons selling hand-crafted jewelry at the Carrolltowne Mall in Eldersburg, Maryland, near Baltimore.