Hugh Hefner

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Hugh Hefner

Hefner in 1979
Born April 9, 1926 (1926-04-09) (age 82)
Chicago, Illinois
Occupation Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises, Editor-in-chief of
Playboy magazine
Spouse Mildred Williams (1949–1959)
Kimberley Conrad (1989-separated in 1999)
Children Christie Hefner (b.1952)
David Hefner (b.1955)
Marston Hefner (b.1990)
Cooper Hefner (b.1991)
Website
www.playboyenterprises.com

Hugh Marston Hefner (born April 9, 1926) is an American magazine publisher best known as the founder, majority owner,[1] and Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises.[2]

Contents

Early life

Hefner was born in Chicago, the son of Grace Caroline (née Swanson) and Glenn Lucius Hefner. He went to Sayre Elementary School and Steinmetz High School in Chicago, then served in the U.S. Army during the closing months of World War II.

Hefner graduated from the University of Illinois in 1949 with a major in psychology and a double minor in creative writing and art. He explains that some of the ideas for the Playboy magazine came to him while he was a student there. Despite spending less than three years in college before graduating, Hefner found time to edit the magazine Shaft and sold cartoons to magazines. His first salaried job was with a firm that produced and printed cardboard cartons. In 1949 Hefner also completed a semester of graduate courses in sociology studies at Northwestern University, where he wrote a term paper examining U.S. sex laws in light of the newly published Kinsey Institute research on male human sexuality.[3]

After serving in the subscription department and as a copywriter for Esquire, he left in January 1952 after being denied a $5 raise. He worked at Children's Activities, then took his biggest gamble in 1953 by lending his furniture for $600 and raising $8,000 from 45 investors -- including $1,000 from his mother ("Not because she believed in the venture," he told E! in 2006, "but because she believed in her son") -- to launch Playboy. The undated first issue was published in December, 1953 and featured Marilyn Monroe on the cover, as well as in nude photographs inside. In a possible homage to this fact, Hefner owns the crypt in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California, beside that of Monroe.[4]

Private life

Hefner married fellow Northwestern student Mildred Williams[3] on June 25, 1949, and had two children, Christie and David Paul (b. 30 August 1955). Christie is Chairperson of Playboy Enterprises. Before their wedding, Mildred told Hefner that she had had an affair; he has called the admission "the most devastating moment of [his] life." A 2006 E! THS profile of Hefner revealed she allowed him to have sex with other women, out of guilt for her infidelity and the hopes that it would preserve their failing marriage. Mildred and Hugh divorced after ten years of marriage in 1959.

After his first marriage, Hefner's self-promoted public persona became that of womanizer and party animal. He has said that during some years, he was "'involved' with maybe eleven out of twelve months worth of Playmates."[5] Hefner has had sustained relationships with Donna Michelle, Marilyn Cole, Lillian Muller, Patti McGuire, Shannon Tweed, and Brande Roderick, all of whom were chosen "Playmate of the Year." Others include Barbi Benton, Karen Christy, ex-Sunday school teacher Sondra Theodore, and actress Carrie Leigh, who filed a $35 million alimony suit against him. Benton, who dated him for 8 years, remains a fixture in Hefner's life and a regular visitor to the Playboy Mansion, which she found for him. In 1971, Hefner has acknowledged, he experimented in bisexuality.[6]

On July 1, 1989, he ended a 30-year run as a bachelor and married Kimberley Conrad, that year's Playboy Playmate of the Year. They separated in 1999, though have yet to divorce.

After his separation from Conrad, Hefner began living with an ever-changing coterie of women, ranging in age from 18 to 28. He told Vanity Fair: "And here's the surprise bit—it's what they want!" Soon, Hefner assembled another coterie of girlfriends, notably Brande Roderick. In 2000 she left to take a role in popular series Baywatch. Later, Tina Marie Jordan became Hefner's "primary" girlfriend, and he quickly selected more young blondes for a changing posse of usually seven, one of whom was Holly Madison who joined in 2001. Shortly after Playboy's 50th anniversary, five of the girlfriends, including Izabella St. James, left, leaving Holly and Bridget Marquardt to tend to Hefner.

Hefner celebrating his 80th birthday with Kendra and Bridget in Munich, April 2006.
Hefner celebrating his 80th birthday with Kendra and Bridget in Munich, April 2006.

In 2004 Kendra Wilkinson (also blonde, aged 18) was asked to move into the Mansion to become girlfriend number 3. The 2005-07 E! reality television series The Girls Next Door follows these three girlfriends, Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson in their life with Hef around the Mansion and on travel.

In 2008, Hefner made news when he offered a magazine pictorial to 15 year old Miley Cyrus. Hefner said she was a "pretty lady" but would have to wait until she was 18 to appear in the magazine.[7]

An urban legend persists about Hefner and the Playmate of the Month related to markings on the front covers of the magazine. From 1955 to 1979 (except for a six month gap in 1976), the "P" in Playboy had a number of stars printed in or around the letter. The legend claims that this was either a rating that Hefner gave to the Playmate according to how attractive she was, the number of times that Hefner had slept with her, or how good she was in bed. Another rumor was that if the stars were inside the "P", Hefner had slept with the Playmate, while if they were outside, he didn't sleep with her. In reality, the stars, which ranged in number between zero and twelve, were solely used to indicate the domestic or international advertising region for that particular printing.[citation needed]

Hefner has donated millions of dollars to the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts. In 1992, he gave USD $100,000 to create a course, Censorship in Cinema; in 1995 he donated $1.5 million to endow the Hugh M. Hefner Chair for the Study of American Film; and in 2007 he donated $2 million for a central exhibition space in the school's new headquarters complex.[8]

Hefner has 4 children: Christie Hefner (born November 8, 1952) and David Hefner (born August 30, 1955) with Mildred Williams, and Marston Hefner (born 9 April 1990) and Cooper Hefner (born 4 September 1991) with Kimberley Conrad.

Politics

Hefner has always espoused a shared liberal/libertarian stance in his editorials and in his life. On June 4, 1963, Hefner was arrested for selling obscene literature after an issue of Playboy featuring nude shots of actress Jayne Mansfield was released. Six months later, a jury was unable to reach a verdict.

His former secretary, Bobbie Arnstein, was found dead in a Chicago hotel room at the age of 34 after an overdose of drugs in January 1975. Hefner called a press conference to allege that she had been driven to suicide by narcotics agents and federal officers. Hefner, whose mansions in Chicago and Beverly Hills had come under the scrutiny of federal agents because of alleged drugs parties, claimed the Government was out to get him because of Playboy's philosophy and its advocacy of more liberal drug laws. Incidentally, Hefner insists to this day that no illegal drugs are allowed on the grounds of any of his mansions, and has stated that anyone found to have brought illegal drugs onto the grounds, or used them while on the grounds, is subjected to immediate and permanent expulsion from the Playboy Mansions.[9]

The Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards were created by daughter Christie in 1979 "to honor individuals who have made significant contributions in the vital effort to protect and enhance First Amendment rights for Americans."

Hefner and his family have donated and raised great amounts of money for the Democratic Party.[10]

Health

Hefner suffered a mild stroke in 1985.[11]

Hefner in pop culture

References

  1. ^ SEC Def14A see "Playboy Stock Ownership"
  2. ^ He is also the editor-in-chief of Playboy Magazine.Playboy Enterprisese Inc. Corporate Officers
  3. ^ a b Playboy Time Line.
  4. ^ Westwood Village Memorial Cemetery
  5. ^ Acocella, Joan. "The Girls Next Door." New Yorker, 20 March 2006.
  6. ^ "Faces of the Week." BBC News. 26 May 2006.
  7. ^ Hefner Invites Cyrus To Pose For Playboy - Entertainment News Story - WCAU | Philadelphia
  8. ^ Hefner Gives $2M to USC Film School, Associated Press, November 16, 2007.
  9. ^ IMDB 3 January, 2008.
  10. ^ Tapper, Jake. "Hef in a Huff." Salon.com, 11 August 2000.
  11. ^ Hefner Reported Well After a Mild Stroke - New York Times

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
v • d • e
Playboy Enterprises
Key people
Christie Hefner (Chairman and CEO) · Hugh Hefner (Editor-in-Chief, CCO and Founder)
Business
groups
 
Miscellaneous
Annual Revenue: ▲ $331.14 mil. USD (FY 2006) · Employees: 789 (full time) · Stock Symbol: NYSE: PLA, PLAA · Website: PlayboyEnterprises.com


Persondata
NAME Hefner, Hugh Marston
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hef
SHORT DESCRIPTION Founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine
DATE OF BIRTH April 09, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH