The secret of 'Playboy': 'The mogul' Hugh Hefner

Hugh Hefner was the founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine, a world-famous erotic publication known for its revealing photographs.

The first issue of Playboy was published in 1953, featuring Marilyn Monroe in a nude calendar photoshoot; it sold over 50,000 copies.

Hugh Hefner expanded the Playboy brand into a network of Playboy Clubs around the world . He lived in luxurious mansions where his Playboy buddies shared stories of wild party life, attracting media attention.

Hugh Hefner with Playboy models

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Hugh Hefner was born on April 9, 1926, in Chicago, USA, the eldest son of Glenn Lucius Hefner (1896–1976), an accountant, and his wife Grace Caroline Hefner (1895–1997), a teacher. His parents were from Nebraska. He had a younger brother, Keith (1929–2016). His mother was of Swedish descent, while his father was of German and English descent.

Hugh Hefner attended Sayre Elementary School and Steinmetz High School, then worked for a military newspaper from 1944 to 1946 as a writer. Hefner graduated from the University of Illinois in 1949 with a Bachelor of Psychology degree, followed by degrees in Creative Arts. After graduation, he took a graduate course in Sociology at Northwestern University.

Start a business with a few thousand USD borrowed.

In January 1952, Hefner left his job writing advertisements for Esquire after being denied a $5 raise. In 1953, he secured a $600 mortgage and raised $8,000 from 45 investors (including $1,000 from his mother). “Not because she believed in the business, but because she believed in her son,” he stated on E! in 2006.

Playboy mogul with his second wife, Kimberley Conrad, photo taken in 1989.

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Playboy magazine was originally called Stag Party . The first issue, published in December 1953, featured superstar Marilyn Monroe in a nude calendar photoshoot from 1949.

In 1961, Hefner saw Dick Gregory perform at the Herman Roberts Show Bar in Chicago and hired Gregory to work at the Chicago Playboy Club. Hefner promoted a hedonistic lifestyle in his magazine and in the television shows he produced, such as Playboy's Penthouse (1959–1960) and Playboy After Dark (1969–1970). He was also the creative director of Playboy Enterprises, the publishing group that ran the magazine.

On June 4, 1963, Hefner was arrested for promoting pornography after publishing a Playboy magazine issue featuring Jayne Mansfield naked in bed with a man. During the 1960s, Hefner created racially diverse clubs, interviewed Malcolm X in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. in 1966, and others.

The cover of the first issue of Playboy magazine featured a photo of Marilyn Monroe.

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Hefner made guest appearances in films like Sex and the City and Robot Chicken . In 2009, he received a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actor for his performance in Miss March .

In 2012, Hefner announced that his youngest son, Cooper, would succeed him as the face of Playboy .

Even in death, I want to lie next to a beautiful woman.

Hugh Hefner married Northwestern University student Mildred (Millie) Williams in 1949, and they had a daughter, Christie (born in 1952), and a son, David (born in 1955). Before the wedding, Mildred confessed to having an affair while her husband was serving in the military. Hefner revealed that Mildred allowed him to have sexual relations with other women out of guilt for her infidelity, hoping it would keep their marriage from falling apart. However, they still divorced in 1959.

Hefner reinvented himself, admitting to affairs with Donna Michelle, Marilyn Cole, Lillian Müller, Shannon Tweed, Barbi Benton, Karen Christy, Sondra Theodore, Carrie Leigh, and others. In 1971, he bought a second mansion in Los Angeles and moved there in 1975.

Crystal Harris and Hugh Hefner married in 2012.

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On March 7, 1985, Hefner suffered a mild stroke at the age of 59, forcing him to change his lifestyle. He reduced his late-night parties, and his daughter Christie took over the commercial operations of Playboy in 1988. The following year, he married Kimberley Conrad, who was 36 years younger than him. The couple had two sons, Marston Glenn (born in 1990) and Cooper (born in 1991). Hefner and Conrad separated in 1998, and Hefner filed for divorce from Conrad in 2009, citing "irreconcilable differences." The divorce was finalized in 2010.

Hefner was dating seven women simultaneously. Brande Roderick, Izabella St. James, Tina Marie Jordan, Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt, and Kendra Wilkinson were all his former lovers.

In January 2009, Hefner began a relationship with Crystal Harris, who was 60 years younger than him. She became his "number one girlfriend" after Holly Madison ended her seven-year relationship with him. On December 24, 2010, he became engaged to Harris, but she broke off the engagement on June 14, 2011, five days before their planned wedding. Hefner and Harris later reconciled and married on December 31, 2012.

Hefner died at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles on September 27, 2017, at the age of 91. The cause of death was sepsis due to an E. coli infection. He was buried at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles, next to Marilyn Monroe's grave, which he had paid $75,000 for in 1992. "Being next to Marilyn Monroe is too sweet an opportunity to pass up," the mogul told the Los Angeles Times in 2009.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bi-mat-playboy-ong-trum-hugh-hefner-1851428593.htm