Ruth Marianna Handler (née Mosko; November 4, 1916 – April 27, 2002) was an American business magnate and inventor.

She is best known for inventing the Barbie doll in 1959[2] and being co-founder of toy manufacturer Mattel with her husband Elliot, as well as serving as the company's first president from 1945 to 1975.

[3] The Handlers were forced to resign from Mattel in 1975 after the Securities and Exchange Commission investigated the company for falsifying financial documents.

The summer of her sophomore year at University of Denver, she went to Los Angeles and landed a job at Paramount Studio.

)[9] When sales fell during World War II, Mattel began making toy furniture.

Observing her daughter Barbara and friends having fun with paper dolls and role-play adult scenarios, Ruth noticed a market void.

The Lilli doll was based on a popular character in a satirical comic strip drawn by Reinhard Beuthin for the newspaper Bild.

Premiering on March 9, 1959 at the American International Toy Fair in New York City,[12] the first Barbie doll cost $3 and was an instant hit.

With the help of new business partner Peyton Massey and under her new company, Ruthton Corp., she manufactured a more realistic version of a woman's breast called Nearly Me, aiming to boost women's confidence regardless of their health.

She was chosen Woman of the Year in Business by the Los Angeles Times, inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame by the Toy Manufacturers of America, received the Volunteer Achievement Award from the American Cancer Society and was the inaugural Woman of Distinction of the United Jewish Appeal.

In the film, the ghost of an elderly Handler resides in an office on the 17th floor of Mattel's El Segundo headquarters.