Who is Hugh Marston Hefner? The adult entertainment world knows Hugh Hefner as an
American magazine publisher, founder and
Chief Creative Officer of
Playboy Enterprises.
[1]
Early life
Hefner was born April 9, 1926 in
Chicago, Illinois, the elder of two sons born to Grace Caroline (née Swanson; 1895–1997) and Glenn Lucius Hefner (1896–1976), both teachers.
[2][3] Hefner's mother was of
Swedish descent and his father had German and English ancestry.
[4][5] On his father's side, Hefner is a direct descendant of Plymouth governor
William Bradford.
[6][7] He has described his family as "conservative, Midwest, Methodist."
[8] He went to Sayre Elementary School and
Steinmetz High School, then served as a writer for a military newspaper in the
U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946. He later graduated from the University of Illinois - Urbana/Champaign with a
B.A. in
psychology with a double minor in
creative writing and
art in 1949, earning his degree in two and a half years. After graduation, he took a semester of graduate courses in
sociology at
Northwestern University but dropped out soon after.
[9]
Career
Working as a
copywriter for
Esquire, he left in January 1952, after being denied a $5 raise. In 1953, he mortgaged his furniture, generating a bank loan of $600 (or $800—he cannot recall which) and raised $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, which was initially going to be called
Stag Party. The undated first issue, published in December 1953, featured
Marilyn Monroe from her 1949 nude calendar shoot and sold over 50,000 copies.
[10] Hefner, who never met Monroe, bought the
crypt next to hers at the
Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.
[11][12] After it was rejected by
Esquire magazine in 1955, Hefner agreed to publish in
Playboy Charles Beaumont's science fiction short story, "The Crooked Man," about straight men being persecuted in a world where homosexuality was the norm. After receiving angry letters to the magazine, Hefner wrote a response to criticism where he said, "If it was wrong to persecute heterosexuals in a homosexual society then the reverse was wrong, too." Hefner is portrayed as a gay rights pioneer in the documentary film,
Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel.
[13]
On June 4, 1963, Hefner was arrested for selling obscene literature after an issue of
Playboy featuring nude shots of
Jayne Mansfield was released.
A jury was unable to reach a verdict.
[14]
His former secretary, Bobbie Arnstein, was found dead in a Chicago hotel room 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 further claimed the government was out to get him because of
Playboy's philosophy and its advocacy of more liberal drug laws.
[15][16]
Hefner isin talks about making a film about his life.
[17] He has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame for
television and has made several movie appearances as himself. In 2010, he received a "worst supporting actor" nomination for a
Razzie award for his performance in
Miss March.
A documentary by Brigitte Berman,
Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel was released on July 30, 2010. This was reportedly the first time that Hefner granted full access to a documentary filmmaker.
[18]
In 1999, Hefner financed the
Clara Bow-documentary, "Discovering the It-girl." "Nobody has what Clara had. She defined an era and made her mark on the nation," he stated.
[19]
Personal life
Hefner married Northwestern University student Mildred Williams (born 1927) in 1949. They had two children,
Christie (born November 8, 1952) and David (born August 30, 1955).
[20] Before the wedding, Mildred confessed that she had had an affair while he was away in the Army. He called the admission "the most devastating moment of my life." A 2006
E! True Hollywood Story profile of Hefner revealed that Mildred allowed him to sleep with other women, out of guilt for her infidelity and in the hopes that it would preserve their marriage. They divorced in 1959.
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| Carrie Leigh | |
Hefner remade himself as a bon vivant and
man about town, a lifestyle he promoted in his magazine and two TV shows he hosted,
Playboy's Penthouse (1959–1960) and
Playboy After Dark (1969–1970). He admitted to being
"'involved' with maybe eleven out of twelve months' worth of Playmates" during some of these years.
[21] Donna Michelle,
Marilyn Cole,
Lillian Müller,
Shannon Tweed,
Brande Roderick,
Barbi Benton,
Karen Christy,
Sondra Theodore, and Carrie Leigh — who filed a $35 million
palimony suit against him — were a few of his many lovers. In 1971, he acknowledged that he experimented in
bisexuality.
[22] He moved from Chicago to Los Angeles.
Hefner had a minor stroke in 1985 at age 59. After reevaluating his lifestyle, he made several changes. The wild, all-night parties were toned down significantly and in 1988, daughter Christie began to run the Playboy empire. The following year, he married Playmate of the Year
Kimberley Conrad. The couple had two sons, Marston Glenn (born April 9, 1990) and Cooper Bradford (born September 4, 1991).
[23] The
E! True Hollywood Story profile noted that the notorious
Playboy Mansion had been transformed into a family-friendly homestead. After he and Conrad separated in 1998, Conrad moved into a house next door to the mansion. According to an update on Hefner's
Twitter account on April 25, 2010, Conrad and her mother are moving to Reno in a new home to be closer to family.
Hefner then began to move an ever-changing coterie of young women into the Mansion, even dating up to seven girls at once, among them,
Brande Roderick,
Izabella St. James,
Tina Marie Jordan,
Holly Madison,
Bridget Marquardt,
Rachael O'Neill, and
Kendra Wilkinson. The
reality television series
The Girls Next Door depicted the lives of Madison, Wilkinson and Marquardt at the Playboy Mansion.
[24] In October 2008, all three girls made the choice to leave the mansion. Hefner was quick to rebound and soon began dating his new "Number One" girlfriend,
Crystal Harris,
[25] along with 20-year-old
identical twin models
Kristina and Karissa Shannon.
[26] The relationship with the twins ended in January 2010.
[27] After an 11-year separation, Hefner filed for divorce from Conrad stating irreconcilable differences.
[28] Hefner has said that he only remained married to her for the sake of his children,
[29] and his youngest child had just turned 18.
[23] The divorce was finalized in March 2010.
[30] On December 24, 2010, Hefner presented an engagement ring to Harris, publicly announcing the proposal the following day.
[11] Hefner and Harris had planned to marry June 18, 2011.
[31][32] Harris called off the wedding just 5 days before they were due to be wed.
[33].
Politics and philanthropy
The
Hugh Hefner First Amendment Award was created by Christie Hefner "to honor individuals who have made significant contributions in the vital effort to protect and enhance First Amendment rights for Americans."
He has donated and raised money for the
Democratic Party.
[34]
In 1978, Hefner helped organize fund-raising efforts that led to the restoration of the
Hollywood Sign. He hosted a gala fundraiser at the Playboy Mansion and personally contributed $27,000 (or 1/9 of the total restoration costs) by purchasing the letter Y in a ceremonial auction.
[35][36]
Hefner donated $100,000 to the
University of Southern California's
School of Cinematic Arts to create a course called "Censorship in Cinema," and $2 million to endow a chair for the study of American film.
[37]
Both through his charitable foundation and individually, Hefner also contributes to charities outside the sphere of politics and publishing, throwing fundraiser events for Much Love Animal Rescue, as well as
Generation Rescue,
[38] a controversial
autism campaign organization supported by
Jenny McCarthy.
On April 26, 2010, Hefner donated the last $900,000 sought by a conservation group for a land purchase needed to stop the development of the famed vista of the
Hollywood Sign.
[35]
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Who is Hugh Marston Hefner? The adult entertainment world knows Hugh Hefner as an American magazine publisher, founder and Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises.[1]
Swedish descent and his father had German and English ancestry.[4][5] On his father's side, Hefner is a direct descendant of Plymouth governor William Bradford.[6][7] He has described his family as "conservative, Midwest, Methodist."[8] He went to Sayre Elementary School and Steinmetz High School, then served as a writer for a military newspaper in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946. He later graduated from the University of Illinois - Urbana/Champaign with a B.A. in psychology with a double minor in creative writing and art in 1949, earning his degree in two and a half years. After graduation, he took a semester of graduate courses in sociology at Northwestern University but dropped out soon after.[9]
Hefner married Northwestern University student Mildred Williams (born 1927) in 1949. They had two children, Christie (born November 8, 1952) and David (born August 30, 1955).[20] Before the wedding, Mildred confessed that she had had an affair while he was away in the Army. He called the admission "the most devastating moment of my life." A 2006 E! True Hollywood Story profile of Hefner revealed that Mildred allowed him to sleep with other women, out of guilt for her infidelity and in the hopes that it would preserve their marriage. They divorced in 1959.
He has donated and raised money for the Democratic Party.[34]
Both through his charitable foundation and individually, Hefner also contributes to charities outside the sphere of politics and publishing, throwing fundraiser events for Much Love Animal Rescue, as well as Generation Rescue,[38] a controversial autism campaign organization supported by Jenny McCarthy.
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