Hugh Hefner, who turned silk pajamas into a work uniform, women into centrefolds and sexual desire into a worldwide multimedia empire that spanned several generations of American life, passed away on September 27, 2017.
Hefner created Playboy as the first stylish glossy men's magazine and in addition to nude fold-outs, it had intellectual appeal with top writers such as Kurt Vonnegut, Joyce Carol Oates, Vladimir Nabokov, James Baldwin and Alex Haley for men who liked to say they did not buy the magazine just for the pictures.
The magazine's rabbit silhouette became one of the best known logos in the world and the “bunny” waitresses in his Playboy nightclubs were instantly recognizable.
American magazine publisher, founder and Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises, Hugh Hefner, passed away on Sept. 27, 2017.
“If there hadn’t been a Hefner, we’d still have sex. But maybe we wouldn’t be enjoying it as much.” With Playboy, Hefner helped slip sex out of the confines of plain brown wrappers and into mainstream conversation.
“Part of the reason that I am who I am is my Puritan roots run deep... And I think I saw the hurtful and hypocritical side of that from very early on.” In 1953, a time when the word “pregnant” was not allowed on sitcoms, Hefner published the first issue of Playboy, featuring naked photos of Marilyn Monroe and an editorial promise of “humour, sophistication and spice.”
Women were warned from the first issue: “If you’re somebody’s sister, wife, or mother-in-law,” the magazine declared, “and picked us up by mistake, please pass us along to the man in your life and get back to Ladies Home Companion.” In this June 2, 2006 photo, Hefner is seen with his girlfriends Bridget Marquardt (L) and Holly Madison (R) to celebrate his 80th birthday at Villa Miani in Rome.
In this 2008 photo, Hefner poses ahead of a news conference announcing the Playboy Jazz Festival, which is being continuously held every year since 1979. Hefner turned the magazine into a multimillion-dollar entertainment empire that at its 1970s peak included TV shows, a jazz festival and a string of Playboy Clubs whose cocktail waitresses, known as ‘bunnies’ wore bunny ears and cottontails.
“I’ve had a bachelor party for 30 years. Why do I need one now?” Hefner said on the eve of his marriage in 1989. The Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, where Hefner would hold lavish parties was sold out in 2016 for $100 million.
“Women are the major beneficiaries of getting rid of the hypocritical old notions about sex.” Hefner’s response to his feminist critics. By the 1970s, the Playboy magazine had more than seven million readers and had inspired such raunchier imitations
Drew Barrymore, Farrah Fawcett and Linda Evans are among those who have posed for the magazine. Several bunnies became celebrities, too, singer Deborah Harry and model Lauren Hutton, to name a few.
After a stroke, Hefner handed control of his empire to his daughter Christie. He continued to choose every month’s Playmate and cover shot. A 2001 photo of Hefner with his likeness in wax at the Hollywood Wax Museum.