HUGH HEFNER, FOUNDER OF PLAYBOY MAGAZINE, DIES AGED 91

‘American icon’ Hefner died at his Playboy Mansion home from natural causes, the publication announced

Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy magazine, has died aged 91.

Hefner, who founded the men’s lifestyle magazine in 1953, died at his home, the Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, and the publication announced.

Cooper Hefner, Hefner’s son and chief creative officer of Playboy Enterprises said in a statement: “My father lived an exceptional and impactful life as a media and cultural pioneer and a leading voice behind some of the most significant social and cultural movements of our time in advocating free speech, civil rights and sexual freedom. He defined a lifestyle and ethos that lie at the heart of the Playboy brand, one of the most recognizable and enduring in history.”

Hefner, who was born in Chicago in 1926 to Methodist parents, served in the US army in the Second World War, graduated from the University of Illinois and worked as a copywriter for Esquire before launching Playboy magazine in December 1953. The first issue, produced from his kitchen and financed with $8,000 from investors, featured nude photographs of Marilyn Monroe, taken years earlier, and sold over 50,000 copies.

The magazine became known for its sexually explicit content, as well as its publication of writers such as Ray Bradbury, Ian Fleming, Joseph Heller, Jack Kerouac and Margaret Atwood. Miles Davis was the magazine’s first interview. 

Other interviews included Fidel Castro, Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando and then-presidential candidate Jimmy Carter, who confided that he had “committed adultery” in his heart. John Lennon spoke to Playboy in 1980, not long before he was murdered.

The magazine’s “progressive” approach to sexuality made it a controversial publication, albeit wildly popular, and during the course of Hefner’s lifetime the Playboy brand expanded to include film and print media products, clothing, fragrances, jewellery and accessories and more, all marked with its distinctive “bunny” logo. At the time of Hefner’s death, the magazine itself was published in over 20 countries, with Playboy Enterprises claiming over $1bn in annual sales from its trademarked assets.

Hefner was married three times and is survived by his wife, Crystal, a former Playmate, and four grown children: Christie, who served as CEO of Playboy Enterprise for more than 20 years, David, Marston and Cooper.

Asked what he was most proud of in 1992, Hefner told the New York Times: “That I changed attitudes toward sex. That nice people can live together now. That I decontaminated the notion of premarital sex. That gives me great satisfaction.” 

Hefner closed the Playboy clubs in 1988, declaring them “too tame for the times” although he returned to the business in a limited way in Las Vegas in 2006.

In 2015, Playboy announced it would no longer publish pictures of fully nude women because such images were “passé” in internet age, but they returned in 2017. “Today we’re taking our identity back and reclaiming who we are,” Hefner said.

https://www.semperdiamondlodge.com/