Famous for : founding the Playboy magazine and for his unusual lifestyle at the Playboy mansion with his Playboy bunny girlfriends.
Hefner details : Born - April 9, 1926 Chicago, USA / Lives - United States of America
More Hefner : Girlfriend Holly Madison - Girlfriend Kendra Wilkinson - Girlfriend Bridget Marquardt
Hugh Hefner (born 1926), founder and publisher of Playboy magazine, helped usher in a new era of openness in American Culture.
When Playboy first hit the newsstands in 1953, it represented a new openness about sexuality that was beginning to influence American life. The magazine, which was the brainchild of a would-be cartoonist from Chicago named Hugh Hefner, was originally to be called "Stag Party," but Hefner, who wanted to suggest sophistication as well as high living and wild parties, eventually settled on Playboy. Hefner hoped to make his magazine the equal of others that featured female nudity as well as articles, such as Esquire, for which Hefner had also worked and which had recently stopped featuring suggestive photography.
Marilyn Monroe
Playboy was an instant sensation, mainly because Hefner had shrewdly purchased a nude photograph of actress Marilyn Monroe; it had been taken before her success in Hollywood, and Hefner used it as the centerfold of his first issue. Monroe was a star by the time the magazine was published, and the first issue sold out quickly. That issue included an editorial by Hefner that espoused the Playboy philosophy that was to become familiar over the years:
We like our apartment. We enjoy mixing up cocktails and an hors d'oeuvre or two, putting a little mood music on the phonograph and inviting in a female acquaintance for a quiet discussion on Picasso, Nietzsche, jazz, sex. … If we are able to give the American male a few extra laughs and a little diversion from the anxieties of the Atomic Age, we'll feel we've justified our existence.Trappings of Success
The immediate success of the magazine prompted Hefner to establish a proper office and staff for the magazine, and as of the fourth issue the Playboy empire was officially under way. Hefner's devotion to the magazine in its early years precipitated the breakup of his marriage: Hefner and his wife Millie were separated in 1957 and divorced in 1959. As he and his wife became increasingly estranged, Hefner and his associates began to embody the life-style about which they wrote, having almost weekly parties at the Playboy editorial offices. When the success of the magazine came to the attention of the mainstream public, Hefner was happy to portray himself as the playboy his magazine described. In 1959 he even hosted the television series "Playboy's Penthouse," a weekly talk show set in a bachelor pad, featuring plenty of the magazine's "playmates" and celebrities such as comedian Lenny Bruce and singers Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole.
Pursuit of Pleasure
For Hefner, his magazine and image were responses to the new mood of the country. He felt that the puritan ethic was eroding and that the pursuit of pleasure and material gain was the way of life for many Americans. As Hefner has been quoted, "If you had to sum up the idea of Playboy, it is antipuritanism. Not just in regard to sex, but the whole range of play and pleasure." For many the Playboy philosophy proved to be a welcome antidote from the repressive atmosphere of the 1950s. Over the years it has continued to have its followers, and Hefner's small magazine for men has become an empire extending well beyond magazine publishing.
New Directions
In the 1990s, the glamorous life-style at the Playboy Mansion began to change. After suffering a minor stroke in 1985, Hefner reevaluated his life and made several dramatic modifications to his life-style. Gone were the all-night pool-side parties, replaced with more restrained celebrations, and in 1988, Hefner turned over the business operations of Playboy Enterprises to his daughter Christie, one of two children he had with his first wife. After a second marriage to a former Playmate of the Year produced two sons, Hefner continued to enjoy his new role as a husband and father.
He also decided to focus on electronic communication, particularly the Internet, to promote his magazine. In 1996 Hefner told Associated Press writer Jeff Wilson, "We're extremely popular on the Internet and are going to be launching a pay site. You can actually get an electronic version of the magazine and go through archival things. We are also launching a Playmate fan club in which you can get information, download images and communicate with Playmates from all through the decades." But as a parent himself, Hefner believes that parents should be empowered with a device to block their children from viewing certain Internet features.
Hugh Hefner started the Playboy magazine for men during a time when nudity and sex were not talked about openly in public. The Playboy brand grew into a global media enterprise with the magazine published around the world, Playboy clubs, television, movies, radio, internet properties, and every type of merchandise possible.
Hugh Marston Hefner was born on the 9th of April, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. His parents Glenn and Grace Hefner were strict Methodist farmers from Nebraska. He graduated from the Steinmetz High School in Chicago, Illinois in 1944 and served time in the U.S. Army towards the end of the second world war. Hugh then graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a major in psychology.On the 25th of June in 1949 Hugh Hefner and Mildred Williams were married. The couple had two children together; Christie Hefner born on the 8th of November, 1952 and David Paul Hefner born on the 30th of August, 1955.
Hefner worked as a copywriter at the Esquire magazine before starting his own venture that would transform the rest of his life. The first issue of the Playboy magazine was published in December 1953. Marilyn Monroe was the first girl to be featured on the cover and as a centerfold for Playboy. Hefner had wanted to call the magazine "Stag Party" but was forced to change it to "Playboy" because of potential trademark issues with a magazine called "Stag".
The Playboy magazine went on to become one of the largest selling men's magazines in publication, even after more than fifty years in print. The magazine has found itself involved in controversy many times as it was one of the leading magazines to deal with nudity and sex. Celebrities that have appeared in the Playboy magazine over the years include Kim Basinger, Drew Barrymore, Samantha Fox, Nancy Sinatra, Rachel Hunter, Pamela Anderson, Mariah Carey, Jessica Alba and many more.
Hugh Hefner lived the life of a playboy as his first marriage with Mildred Williams did not work out. For thirty years he was a bachelor spoiled for choice and was the envy of single and married men around the world. In 1989 he surprised the world by marrying Kimberley Conrad. She was also the Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1989. Hefner and Williams had two children together; Marston Hefner born on the 9th of April 1990 and Cooper Hefner born on the 4th of September 1991. The marriage didn't work and the couple separated in 1999.
Since separating from Kimberly Conrad, Hefner has lived with up to seven girlfriends at a time. Hefner found that seven girlfriends created problems, but has been living with three young blonde girlfriends since 2004. The current Hefner girlfriends living with him at the Playboy mansion include Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson.
Hugh Hefner's daughter, Christie Hefner is the current Chairman and CEO of the Playboy Enterprises company.
Hefner has become a major part of popular culture. He is famous for wearing his bed robe, smoking a pipe, and for being surrounded by young beautiful women. He even has a subspecies of rabbit named after him and his famous bunny logo, called Sylvilagus palustris hefneri.
Hugh Hefner Quotes Hugh Hefner Quotes
I think that I am the luckiest cat on the planet and I'm living out my own dreams and fantasies and have been for a number of years and to remain at this stage of my life, you know, so alive and things have never been better.
Hugh Hefner - Lucky - Dreams - Life
I think that the major message of my life and what I hope to be remembered for is someone who managed to change the social sexual values of his time absolutely.
Hugh Hefner - Life - Change - Values