Hugh Hefner's cousin. Hugh Hefner's mistress spoke about the hell that was going on in his harem. His IQ was very high

His life story is like a movie, it’s not for nothing that there is a documentary series about him, and soon a full-length film.

Today we took the liberty of telling you about Hef better.


1. Hef was in the psychology department at the University of Illinois and completed his degree in just two and a half years.

2. The Playboy founder served as an infantry clerk in 1944 during World War II. After returning, he married Mildred Williams. They divorced after 10 years and had two children, Christy and David.



Hef in 1944. Mildred and Hef. Thanksgiving, 1945

3. During a semester of graduate school, Hef wrote an article titled "Sexual Behavior in United States Law." He received the highest grade (A) for his research from his professor, which was then downgraded to a B+ due to the findings.

4. Subsequently, Hef was hired as a copywriter for men's magazine Esquire, but he quit very soon after he was refused a $5 raise.

Rare frame. Hef singing into a microphone in 1946

5. Hefner immediately began to make plans to create his own men's magazine. He took out a $600 loan from a local bank and borrowed another $8,000 from friends and relatives. With this money, he was able to make and publish the first issue of Playboy magazine.

6. Hefner's mother lent him $1,000 to give him the chance to try out his magazine.

7. In early 1953, Hef served as circulation manager for the children's magazine Children's Activities.

It's hard to imagine clubs across the country with girls with horns on their heads

8. At night, he worked at a men's magazine, mailing letters as "Hugh Hefner, Chief Editor', or 'Hugh Hefner, advertising director', or 'Hugh Hefner, circulation director'. "It was literally a one-man team," he once joked.

9. The magazine was originally called Stag Party ("Bachelor Party" or "Bachelor Party"). Hef even asked his friend, cartoonist Arv Miller, to develop an appropriate emblem - he drew a deer dressed in a tuxedo (stag is also a deer, translated from English).

10. Prior to the release of the first issue, in September 1953, Hef received a letter from a lawyer in a magazine called Stag about the rights to the title.

11. I needed to come up with a different name. So Hugh decided to borrow the name from a small car dealership where another friend of his worked. It was called Playboy (at that time this word also denoted sports cars).

12. Later, the artist Arthur Pohl depicted a rabbit in a tie for the emblem.

The first issue of Playboy cost 50 cents.

13. “If we had not changed the logo then, I think that this interview would not have happened now. It's hard to imagine clubs all over the country with girls with horns on their heads,” Hef once joked in an interview.

14. Wanting to attract potential readers, Hef recalled how in the army he stuck photos of actresses above the bed. So he came up with the idea of ​​placing on the spread of the magazine beautiful girl, which could then be hung on the wall as a poster.

15. One of his friends, John Baumgart, was the owner of a Chicago wall calendar company with nude girls. Hef enlisted the help of a friend and bought from him for $ 50 a photograph of the young actress Jean Mortenson, who later took the pseudonym Marilyn Monroe. Hef put the photo on the cover of the first issue of Playboy.

16. Since the $8,000 collected by Hef was only enough to pay for the printing, he did not have a separate editorial office - the layout of the issue was drawn up, drawn, corrected and glued together in the kitchen of his own apartment. Hef was not sure that the first issue would be followed by the second, so he did not even put a date on its cover.

I wanted to show that beauty is in everyone, that it is everywhere.

17. However, the sales success exceeded all expectations. In 1953, 70,000 copies of the first issue of Playboy were printed, of which 52,000 were sold (at a price of 50 cents per issue). This allowed Hefner to pay for the printing of the second issue.

18. Curiously, the first Girls of the Month, like Marilyn Monroe, were actually the girls on the wall calendars.

19. Gahan Wilson, one of Hef's favorite cartoonists, first appeared in the magazine in the mid-1950s. Since then, his illustrations have appeared in almost every issue of Playboy.

20. In 1955, Hef published a fictional story in Playboy called The Crooked Man ("The Hunchback" or "The Crooked Man"), which was shown as the norm. The material caused a controversial reaction in society.

21. Hef soon came up with the idea of ​​publishing in the magazine not only photos of aspiring actresses and models, but also ordinary girls (also giving them the title of "Girl of the Month"). He began by posting in Playboy pictures of Charlene Coralis, who worked as an editor in the subscriptions department (in the magazine, her photos appeared under the assumed name of Janet Pilgrim).

22. By the way, Hef and Coralis met from time to time.

He asked to be addressed exclusively as "Mr. Playboy", drove a white Mercedes and smoked a pipe.

23. “I wanted to show that beauty is in everyone, that it is everywhere. So that the very concept of “Girl of the Month” suggests that this is your neighbor,” said Hef.

24. The idea turned out to be revolutionary, the issues of the magazine were sold out instantly, and in the late 50s Playboy was already published with a circulation of 1 million copies, overtaking even Esquire.

25. With over $6 million in annual retail sales alone, Hefner developed the idea of ​​the "girl next door" and sought beautiful women countrywide.

26. Hef invented his own image for himself - he asked to be addressed exclusively as "Mr. Playboy", drove a white Mercedes and smoked a pipe.

27. The idea of ​​jazz festivals sponsored by Playboy Enterprises, held annually on the stage of the Hollywood Bowl, belongs to Tony Bennett.

28. It is curious that Hef published a large material in the magazine about Charlie Chaplin at a time when he was the most hated man in America.

29. In October 1959, Hef advertised in Playboy offering "keys" to the Chicago nightclub Gaslight, where his friends worked. To which he received about 3 thousand reader responses.

30. Then Hef decided to open his own club. The first Playboy establishment appeared in Chicago in February 1960; within a year, similar clubs opened in Miami, New Orleans and New York.

31. During segregation, Hef opened his clubs on principle to people of all races.

32. In 1961, Dick Gregory became the first black comedian to perform at the Chicago Playboy Club, opening the door for other black performers.

33. Hefner's new coup was the placement of serious texts on the pages of Playboy.

If I'm going to be cursed by other people, then at least for the things I truly believe in.

34. In September 1962, Alex Haley had his very first Playboy interview with iconic American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. “Curiously, Miles talked more about racing than about music,” Hef later joked.

35. Soon the magazine published interviews with Vladimir Nabokov, Fidel Castro, Martin Luther King, Andy Warhol and others. famous people.

36. A guest who paid $25 for a "key" to enter the Playboy Club had access to a restaurant, bar, jazz, and cabaret. Local artists, comedians and musicians performed at the club. Drinks and food were served to the guests by girls dressed as rabbits. They were dressed in tight-fitting bodysuits (in ten colors), with bunny ears on their heads and a fluffy bunny tail attached to the back. Each also had a personalized rosette. Some of the girls were featured naked in the magazine. Curiously, guests were not allowed to touch the Playboy Bunny. Also, the girls were not allowed to meet with the guests of the institution outside the club and even just tell them their last name and give a phone number.

Chicago police arrest Hef on obscenity charges

37. The Playboy Bunny became the sex symbol of the 60s. Many models wanted to get this position. The girls who were hired were promised career growth and good earnings, up to $200 a week.

38. The main reason Hef bought his famous Chicago mansion in 1960 was to have a place where he would like to take a break from work. “However, very quickly I transferred all the work to the Playboy Mansion. I have been working from home since the early 1960s. I like this state of affairs,” Hef recalled.

39. The Playboy Mansion even had an underwater bar, which could only be reached by a fire pole (or, as it is called in Russia, a pole).

40. Hef started his famous column called Playboy Philosophy in 1962. It was published from December 1962 to January 1966. “It was kind of a response to all of our critics and chewing on important things. I thought that if I were to be cursed by other people, then at least for those things that I truly believe in, and not those that are mistakenly attributed to me, ”said Hef.

41. Hef had his personal lawyer defend Lenny Bruce when the comedian was arrested in Chicago while performing in late 1962. Hef later wrote a series of articles for the magazine criticizing the unfairness of Bruce's arrest.

42. In June 1963, Chicago police arrested Hef on obscenity charges based on an illustration by Jane Mansfield in the June 1963 issue of Playboy. Hef felt that the real reason for the arrest was his editorials defending Lenny Bruce as well as criticizing the Chicago police and government. A jury of 11 women and one man could not reach a verdict.

43. In the mid-1960s, there were already more than 1 million people in 30 Playboy clubs around the world, in total, Playboy sold 2.5 million "keys" worth more than $60 million.

My thoughts and dreams have always been about Hollywood

45. During police clashes with protesters at the Democratic National Convention in 1968, one of the law enforcement officers hit a passing Hef on the back with a rubber truncheon.

46. Actor Yul Brynner asked Hef for his personal one to pick up Vietnamese children (military orphans) who arrived in San Francisco and take them to new families throughout the country. During the flights, the children were looked after by the Playboy Bunny girls.

47. Hef set a special subscription price for the magazine for all members of the clergy, in the hope of allowing free debate between church and secular society.

Hefner never met Marilyn Monroe in person

48. Playboy circulation in the US in the early 70s exceeded 7 million copies - a record for glossy publications, and an annual profit of $ 11 million. And in 1971, Playboy Enterprises went public - its shares appeared on the New York Stock Exchange. Success allowed to start conquering foreign markets. In August 1972, a German edition was released, followed by an Italian version three months later. A little later, French, Brazilian, Japanese, Mexican and Spanish editions saw the light in turn.

49. In 1975, after spending years between Chicago and Los Angeles, Hef bought a mansion on the West Coast (in California). “I have always lived in two cities: my roots are in Chicago, but my thoughts and dreams are always about Hollywood,” he said.

Hef and Barbie Benton

50. The idea to buy a house in Los Angeles was suggested to Hef by a former girlfriend, Barbie Benton.

51. Hef bought a replica of his Hollywood Walk of Fame star and installed it on the grounds of his Chicago mansion.

52. Hefner never met Marilyn Monroe in person.

Nothing beats censorship like humor

53. But he bought a place in the cemetery next to his favorite actress in 1992 for $75,000 in order to "stay there forever." The location is in Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

54. Hef holds the Guinness World Record for owning the world's largest collection of magazine clippings.

55. Every Monday, Hef invited his closest friends to his mansion for dinner and a movie. Such days were called Manly Night.

Movie schedule for the evening at Hef's mansion

56. The Playboy founder has appeared on the television series Handsome, Sex and the City, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Simpsons, and the television program Single Comedian.

57. Hef has donated more than $1 million to help save the iconic Hollywood symbol (the big sign), which he considers "Hollywood's Eiffel Tower."

Hef liked to sleep in a nightcap

58. Hefner's Big Bunny private jet cost a little more than $5 million, but now it costs about $32 million. It was used for discos and could accommodate 16 people at once.

59. In response to the government's attempt to remove Playboy magazines from stores in the 1980s, in December 1986, Hef launched the "Women of the 7-Eleven" campaign. “We decided that satire would be the best answer. Nothing can fight censorship like humor,” he said.

60. In 1985, Hef suffered a stroke. He always referred to this incident as a stroke of luck because, he claimed, this incident changed his character and the direction of his life.

61. In 1989, Hef married Girl of the Year Kimberly Conrad. The wedding ceremony took place at the Playboy Mansion. They have two joint children with Kimberly - Marston and Cooper. The latter is currently the chief creative officer of Playboy Enterprises.

By the way, Hef has a genius IQ of 152.

62. Hef liked to sleep in a nightcap. He had two favorite nightcaps at once, one with the Jack Daniel's logo, and the second with the Pepsi logo.

63. Hef's favorite movie is Casablanca.

64. Khef's favorite food is fried chicken.

It's not actually a chicken in the photo. Hef took a picture of his Thanksgiving dinner, so it's most likely a turkey

65. Hef had over 200 silk robes in his wardrobe.

66. In 2007, Hef told Esquire magazine that he "slept with thousands of women - and they all still feel good about him."

67. The rabbit species Sylvilagus Palustris Hefneri was named after Hefner.

68. Hef's daughter, Christy, was CEO Playboy Enterprises from 1988 to 2008.

69. Hefner's personal film archive included over a thousand films.

70. Hef once hosted a Saturday Night Live broadcast in 1977.

71. By the way, Hef has a genius IQ of 152.

Most of the facts in this list are taken from Brigitte Berman's documentary Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel, as well as from the biography of Hugh Hefner by American journalist Steven Watts and other sources.

Hugh Marston Hefner was born on April 9, 1926 in Chicago, USA. After graduating from school in 1944, he joined the army, fought in the last months of World War II. After the army, he graduated from the psychology department of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

During his studies, Hugh managed to earn money in Shaft magazine, in a local art studio, and even published his own satirical comic book That Town Toddlin, which tells about the life of a big and noisy Chicago. But the guy quickly got bored with the creative profession of a comic artist, so he got a job as an advertising manager at a local plastic packaging company.

Later, in the winter of 1951, Hugh was the editor of the famous men's magazine Esquire, which tells its readers about business, politics, fashion, etc. But Hefner had to give up a career in this publication, as a request for a raise wages he was answered abrupt rejection. After being fired from his post as editor, Hugh began to pursue his dream - the creation of Playboy.

From that moment on, Hefner begins to raise money to create his own magazine. He earns $600 in loans, borrows $8,000 from investors and $1,000 from his own mother, and gets started. The magazine's working title was "Stag Party" ("Bachelor Party"), but Hefner abandoned this name so as not to conflict with the "men's magazine" Stag Magazine that existed at that time, and he did not lose.

In December 1953, Hefner released the first issue of Playboy magazine with Marilyn Monroe on the cover, with a circulation of 70,000 copies. By the end of the decade, the magazine had a circulation of over one million copies. At the same time, Hefner held the first Playboy Jazz Festival at a stadium in Chicago.

Hugh marries Mildred Williams on June 25, 1949. Their marriage lasted 10 years. In 1952 their daughter Christy was born, in 1955 their son David Paul was born. In 1959, Hugh divorced and lived as a bachelor for 30 years, although he had constant relationships with many girls. And only in 1989 he marries model Kimberly Conrad, with whom he will also live for 10 years. Since 2000, Hugh Hefner has lived in his mansion with 7 girls aged 18 to 28. In December 2010, Hefner and 25-year-old Playboy model Crystal Harris announced their engagement. But their wedding took place only on December 31, 2012.

Hugh Hefner raised the prestige of his offspring to such a height that John Updike, Kurt Vonnegut and Tom Clancy agreed to publish their works in it, Dennis Rodman, Tommy Hilfiger, Kevin Spacey, John Travolta and Bill Gates were among the interviewees, and they were easily allowed to be photographed for the magazine consent Katarina Witt, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Sharon Stone and many other stars.

In August 2009, Hefner found a buyer for his family mansion, which he had been trying to sell since March 2009 due to the move of his sons Marston and Cooper to university residences. The buyer was 32-year-old millionaire Daren Metropoulos, who offered $18 million for the property. The family mansion is located next to another building owned by Hefner, which houses the offices of Playboy magazine. The mansion, built in 1929, includes five bedrooms, seven toilets and a huge garden with a swimming pool.

Books have been written about him: Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream, Hugh Hefner's Playboy, Playboy 2000 - The Party Goes On. In 1992, the documentary "Hugh Hefner: Once Upon a Time" was made about him, in 1998 the film "Playboy: The Story of X" was released, in 2009 - the film "Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel". Hefner has played himself in films and TV shows such as Sex and the City, Shark, Las Vegas.

In 1998, he was inducted into the American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame. In 2002, he received the Henry Johnson Fisher Prize, America's highest publishing award.

Hugh Hefner died on September 27, 2017 at the age of 91. Hugh Hefner was buried in Westwood Memorial Park next to the grave of Marilyn Monroe.

27.09.2017

Hugh Hefner
Hugh Marston Hefner

American publisher

Editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine

News & Events

Hugh Hefner passed away on this day a year ago.

American publisher, founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine, and founder of Playboy Enterprises. Hugh Hefner died on September 27, 2017 at the age of 91. Hefner was buried in Westwood Memorial Park next to the grave of Marilyn Monroe.

On September 27, 2017, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner died at the age of 92. He died surrounded by his family in own house from old age. For the last five years of his life, he was married to model Crystal Harris, who was 60 years his junior.

At the beginning of 2016, the Planet publishing house published a book by Alexander PUMPYANSKY called Rollercoaster. The author worked for Komsomolskaya Pravda for many years, and traveled around the United States back in Soviet times. He managed to see the country at a turning point, in the most tense and stormy decades of the 20th century for it.

With the permission of the author, we are publishing excerpts from an essay dedicated to Hugh Hefner, the owner of Playboy, who entered the minds of millions of men as the very ideal, cheerful, cheerful and luxurious Playboy with a capital letter.

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Five lessons from Hugh Hefner's life.“Laugh at every opportunity, especially at yourself” (c) Hugh Hefner We recall the quotes of the legendary founder of Playboy

famous bed

1971 1340 North State Parkway is one of the most famous addresses in Chicago. Impressive four-story mansion. English Victorian style. The walls should hold the shadows of famous guests, including Teddy Roosevelt and Admiral Peary. The procedure is like entering Ali Baba's cave... ceilings frescoed with flowers, Italian marble fireplaces. Above one of them is Picasso's "Nude". Fountains and even caves... They talk about secret doors, sliding walls, secret passages. A special place in the house is occupied by a cinema hall with a screen like in a real cinema. All places are pre-scheduled - depending on the proximity to the Master, who appears last, without fail in silk pajamas, in order to occupy something indistinguishable from the throne.

The Playboy Mansion is a set for the filming of Girls of the Month, a place for receiving business partners, a hotel with five-star rooms for star guests.

Somewhere in the depths of this ever-swarming social hive, Hefner built for himself "private apartments" with several entrances, however, always closed, and without windows. Their heart is something that the language does not dare to call a piece of furniture. Artifact. Thing in itself. "The world's largest swivel bed" - 8.5 feet in diameter (2.6 meters. - Ed.), Which not only rotates 360 degrees, but also tilts at different angles.

And yet, they say, on the top floor of the mansion there is a dormitory - a hostel, the place of residence of two dozen girls who have descended from the pages of the magazine ...

Some doors swung open and Hefner entered. Luxurious glossy girls supported him under both arms. Hefner invited me to a bar for a short chat. “Now I need to talk to the guests,” he said, “and at two in the morning I have an interview with the correspondent of the English Guardian. Are you ready to chat together?" "OK". "See you then, but for now," Hefner gestured broadly, "you'll find all the drinks in the world here."

At two in the morning we met again. It was my shame. No matter what I asked, none of Hefner's answers could be printed in my newspaper...

Playboy was an absolute taboo in the Soviet Union. The customs officers hunted him with voluptuous zeal. For the sterile Soviet consciousness, this was the exact embodiment of the forbidden fruit.

500 dollars for Marilyn

Let's fast forward twenty years.

In September 1952, Hefner wrote a letter:

"Dear friend!

All the last time... I've been busy over my head, preparing a deal that will bring money to you and me. Stag party - a brand new magazine for men - will be released this fall. The first issue of the Stag party will feature a photo of Marilyn Monroe from the famous calendar - in color! In fact, each issue of the Stag party will contain amazing, full page color photo naked girl - in the richest and most natural colors ...

Yours cordially

Hugh Hefner, general manager."

The letter was addressed to the 25 largest magazine distributors in the US. Quite a bold letter. Hefner was 26 years old, he had absolutely nothing behind his soul - no editorial office, no money. Even the name "Playboy" did not yet exist, but there was a rather stupid Stag party (stag - moose, bachelor, party - a party, together some kind of "porn-hoofed party"). But it turned out that he has an idea and it will shoot so that the most successful project in the history of American media will be born.

The cheeky letter to the publishers, oddly enough, turned out to be realistic. It already stated the formula of the publication, which will remain unchanged: brilliant full-color full-blooded full-length female figures plus high-quality liberal journalism.

And the jackpot was announced - a nude photo of Marilyn Monroe.

Takeoff on the "Golden Dream"

The math behind this deal is worth replicating. Three years ago, in 1949, the aspiring actress posed for a professional Los Angeles photographer. “There was nothing on me but radio waves,” Marilyn would later say in her inimitable manner to Life magazine. The photographer sold the entire photo shoot - 3 nude poses plus 3 semi-nude - to Hefner for $500, who bought such shoots for future use. But when the first film with Monroe came out on the screen, he decided it was time. Production costs cost another $600. In the light of Hefner will release the "sexiest" and previously unprinted photo, he will call it "Golden Dream". “I just don’t know how much this photo can be valued,” he will say later.

The first issue of Playboy sold 50,000 copies, which Hefner did not count on. It was almost a vertical takeoff...

The post office flatly refused to deliver the "obscene" magazine. It was a punch in the gut. Backed up against the wall, Playboy sued, accusing her of violating the first amendment to the constitution. Post Office vs Playboy. "Pornography" against "freedom of speech" - the process turned out to be louder than ever. By winning it, Hefner not only saved the distribution channels of the magazine, he raised Playboy to an ideological pedestal.

In 1956, Playboy surpassed Esquire magazine in terms of circulation. By 1959, the coveted one million copies had been reached.

In 1971, when I arrived at the Playboy mansion, it had a monthly circulation of 7 million copies.

The photographs in the magazine became more and more perfect. The magazine has developed its own nude culture, its own approach and choice. Of course, to show, say, Pamela Anderson in all its glory was a matter of honor for Playboy, and she appeared on the center spread 13 (!) times, at different times of her life, each time demonstrating the enduring perfection of her figure - a very clear lesson in resilience. But more often, not goddesses, not fatal beauties and not vamps were selected. The heroine of "Playboy" was "the girl from the next entrance."

"Playboy failed to awaken the seven beauties"

Fidel Castro, Martin Luther King, Jimmy Carter, Princess Grace, Frank Sinatra, The Beatles - together and separately, Wayne Gretzky, O. J. Simpson, Francis Ford Coppola, Jack Nicholson, Anthony Hopkins, Clint Eastwood, Carl Sagan, Steve Jobs... What a parade? All these people appeared in the magazine.

The best writers of the Anglo-Saxon world published their new stories here. Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Jack Kerouac, Ian Fleming, Norman Mailer.

"Playboy" from the press sprouted into the movies. Like hot cakes, tapes with names like “Playboy. Barefoot beauties”, “Playboy. Hot lips, hot legs. Playboy clubs have opened in different cities with their branded "hostesses" in laconic rabbit costumes - "bannies".

And in the center of this victorious procession is a man in silk pajamas and with a smoking pipe - Hugh Hefner. Always surrounded by the girls of our dreams.

“Yes, I slept with, it seems, with eleven girls of the month,” he modestly looks around the 1960 lived.

“How many women have I had? Don't know. Probably over a thousand...

This is the patriarch summing up. A beautiful easy life - all for show. Everyone expects only feats and miracles from him - 60 years in a row. “Heard he has the twins Sandy and Mandy as his favorites, and how does he just tell them apart?” - “You have yesterday's news, today he lives with three“ bunnies ”- soul to soul, he tells it himself” ... And the music is getting louder, and the stakes are growing ... Gentlemen, an implausible sensation! A new attraction, and only once: on the famous spinning bed, the elderly Hef with seven beauties ...

The details that leaked later are sad. Seven beauties could not awaken the sleeping hero.

On December 31, 2012, at the age of 86, for the third time, on the second attempt, he joined the knot of legal marriage - with Miss December 2009. In the first attempt a year and a half earlier, the 24-year-old bride ran away right from the crown, just like in the movie of the same name.

However, as in the film, the heroes were waiting for a happy ending. “Only those who do not know us and think in stereotypes talk about age,” Hefner repeats, as if arguing with someone. “All our friends think it’s decided in heaven.”

And this is the "icon of the sexual revolution of the 60s"?

Orgon booth for Bond

The phrase "sexual revolution" belongs to Wilhelm Reich. His main book, published in 1948, is called The Function of Orgasm. Orgasm carries an energy he called orgone. “Physical ailments are the result of a violation of the natural capacity for love,” wrote Reich. This energy permeates nature and space, it is she who manifests herself in the northern lights.

Well, since it is a kind of physical energy, then it can be captured and collected. Why did he design a special steel booth. He even showed it to Einstein, but he quickly lost interest in the experiment.

Scientists were not imbued with the miraculous properties of the Reich booth. But the artists stood behind her mountain. Sean Connery is said to have regularly climbed into a magical booth during the filming of Bond to recharge with orgone. Judging by how impeccably sexy his character is, he succeeded.

All this, however, did little to convince the FBI. Reich was declared a charlatan, what he is doing is a “new cult of sex and anarchy” and a “sex racket” and was imprisoned. On November 3, 1957, he died in his cell from a heart attack.

Ten years later, Time magazine called him a "prophet," adding, "now it may seem that all of America has become a solid orgone booth."

Sexual revolution

And around sparkled and boiled new life! The Woodstock Festival thundered - 400,000th youth gathering in the open air. The language of Anglo-American idioms has been forever enriched by the great hippie slogan "Love, don't fight!". Make love not war!

Worth clarifying. Are revolutionaries making a revolution? It just seems so. In fact, it is the revolution that makes the revolutionaries.

What did every decent American girl think after 16? About how to get married by the age of 22, and then a house, children ... Divorce was not just a rarity - it was wildness, the scrapping of a life program. Sex before marriage is a family disaster. Sex outside of marriage is a venture for professional conspirators. The family is the main manifestation of maturity and social responsibility! What is left of this today?

A revolution of morals unparalleled in speed, depth and scope - that's what happened.

The contraceptive pill finally turned the world upside down, it appeared just in 1960. Pregnancy is no longer a burden, but a choice. In a conspicuous place on the shelves of bookstores - an unheard of thing - appeared a popular book by Dr. David Rubin with a top ten title - "Everything you always wanted to know about sex (But were afraid to ask)". Sex has shifted towards education. It has become a favorite subject of literature and cinema...

“I didn't set out to be a revolutionary at all,” Hefner says. - My idea was to create a mainstream magazine for men that would include sex. It turned out to be a very revolutionary idea."

The name of the creator of Playboy even adorned the Red Book. The name Sylvilagus palustris hefneri is given to an endangered subspecies of marsh rabbits. Hefner made a grant to save them...

And he also bought himself a plot in a cemetery in Westwood Village - next to Marilyn Monroe. During his lifetime, Hugh Hefner never met her. But she was his business angel. The moment will come, and this angel and the most desirable woman of the twentieth century will always be there.

The Star Life of Hugh Hefner.

No one is surprised by the fact that the creator of the world's most popular erotic publication never suffered from a lack of female attention and enjoyed tremendous popularity among the opposite sex. Despite his occupation and the environment of thousands of beauties, Hef, as Hugh liked to call himself, was a good husband, family man and father, who even spent the last minutes of his life in the company of relatives.

Mildred Williams

The first legal wife of the conqueror of women's hearts was his classmate named Mildred Williams. The marriage of Hefner and his wife was concluded in 1949, it lasted a long 10 years, during which Millie gave birth to two children for a young journalist: daughter Christy and son David Paul. Unfortunately, the couple could not get along - Mildred filed for divorce, took the children and gave the press a reason for the scandal, saying that Hugh turned out to be a real tyrant and raised his hand to her more than once.

Hefner's 30 years of bachelorhood after divorcing his first wife ends in 1989, when the now middle-aged publisher marries a model named Kimberly Conrad. This marriage of the founder of Playboy lasted exactly twice as long as the previous one, but in fact the couple had not been together since 1999. The reason was Hef's hot temper and Kimberly's jealousy. During the marriage, two more children were born in the Hefner family: Marston and Cooper. Later, in one of his interviews, Hugh will emphasize that in none of his marriages he has ever cheated on any of his wives.

In 2010, rumors spread in the press that the world's main playboy was preparing for his third wedding with model Crystal Harris, but the blonde changed her mind and the celebration fell through. Crystal admitted that intimacy with the elderly Hugh did not suit her, and she was afraid of responsibility.

Two years later, the insatiable ladies' man still won the hand of a young beauty. At the time of the wedding, Hugh was 86 years old, and his wife was already 60 years younger. As a wedding gift, the bride received a huge Vacation home 557 sq. m. worth more than $ 5 million. Also during the marriage, the couple signed an agreement that Harris would not be included in her husband's will, and his inheritance would be divided among the children, and some would go to charity.

Hugh Hefner's Favorite Bunnies

In addition to the three wives in the life of a man like Hef, of course, there was a colossal number of women whom he affectionately called bunnies in honor of the main symbol of his magazine. They accompanied Hugh to different periods his bachelor life, brightening up Hefner's loneliness between marriages.

Tina is a classic Playboy beauty who was involved with Hugh in the early 2000s. The girl became the model of the year in 2002 and is considered one of the canonical female images magazine.

Sitting alongside Tina, Kendra is one of Mr. Playboy's three most famous bunnies. Barely an adult busty blonde with a snow-white smile appeared in Hefner's mansion in 2004 to celebrate his birthday, as he immediately spotted the beauty. On the offer to stay and live with the king of erotic journalism, Wilkinson agreed without hesitation. Later, when the girl left the mansion with several friends, she admitted to the press that she had long dreamed of returning to normal life.

The three reference “bunnies” are closed by Holly Madison, who was brought to Hefner’s bedroom at that time by the main girl in his mansion, Tina Jordan. Platinum hair color, huge breasts and a pretty face, which plastic surgeons later worked on - all the standards of the classic Playboy model were met, and Holly became part of the community until 2008.

Bridget was the most public of all the residents of the Hefner mansion. In the company of this charming blonde, Hugh took part in a reality show that told the viewer about the secrets of life in a mysterious mansion of debauchery. The girl left Hef's possessions in the company of her friend Holly Madison in 2009.

One of the few girls in Hugh Hefner's army of brunettes, Ukrainian model Daria Astafieva, has always been the reason for the jealousy of his bride Krystal. The girl received an invitation to the Playboy mansion personally from the owner when he saw her photo shoot in one of the magazines. Daria left Hef's "family" after Hugh announced her engagement to Harris.

Twins Carissa and Christina arrived at Hef's house in late 2008 and immediately became one of the hottest contestants on the show, which skyrocketed in ratings with the arrival of the girls.

What a colorful and full of charming women the life of a journalist who has devoted many years to working on his favorite business can be. Despite the fact that Hugh himself is no longer alive, his magazine will leave the memory of this man in the hearts of fans and ordinary men who are not indifferent to female beauty.

The deceased Hugh Hefner was no other than a playboy. Meanwhile, like every other person, there were some episodes in his life that could add other impressions to the image of an avid womanizer.

Hugh Hefner is a distant relative of D. Bush and D. Kerry.


The common ancestors of these influential Americans were Thomas and Welsian Richards Weymouth, emigrants from England who lived in the Plymouth colony in the early 17th century.

At 16, Hugh Hefner was rejected by a girl from his school.

If you think that this favorite of women has always been lucky, then you are mistaken. Like every man, Hefner also had setbacks in his life. After he was rejected by a girl from the school where he studied, Hefner asked to never call him Hef again and began to respond exclusively to the name Hugh, completely changed his wardrobe and began to draw comics about himself. In them, he was a lucky handsome man, surrounded by a crowd of girls. prophesied?

Passion for busty blondes.


Hugh Hefner loved different women, but he preferred busty blondes to everyone. This passion was formed under the influence of watching films with Alice Fay. The big-breasted diva with blond hair remained his ideal woman until the end of her life.

Member of the Second World War.


Hefner's service in the army fell on the last months of World War II. He served as a military clerk in an infantry regiment, drawing cartoons for a military newspaper.

Lost virginity after 20 years.


Hefner, despite his playboy fame, remained a virgin for a long time. His first woman was Mildred Williams, whom he married at the age of 23. When he found out that his wife had a lover before him, he was so shocked that after that he always felt another man in their bed. After a divorce from his first wife, Hefner did not have a serious relationship with women for more than 30 years.

Intellectual.


Hefner's IQ was 152.

The name "Playboy" magazine was coined by accident.


According to the original plan, the magazine was to be called Stag Party ("Bachelor Party"). And only when it turned out that a publication with that name already exists, after a brainstorming session, Playboy was born. In fact, this is an ordinary brand of not too well-known - a name that has become a legend.


The famous Playboy logo in the form of a rabbit became the second sign of the publication. At first, the dollar sign was in the form of a logo. The image of a rabbit, as a creature with an indomitable temperament, was complemented by a strict collar and bow tie - this indicated the intellectual focus of the magazine.

Organized a foundation for the legalization of marijuana


In 1970, Hefner spent five thousand dollars, which became the start-up capital for NORML, a foundation whose activities were associated with the struggle to legalize marijuana in the United States. Hefner supported the fund financially and repeatedly transferred significant amounts to its account.

Twice restored the famous Hollywood sign


Hefner restored the sign twice at his own expense. The second time he invested the missing 900 thousand dollars to buy the land under the sign and transfer it to the Los Angeles Park Department.

Got into the Guinness Book of Records.


Hefner got into the Guinness Book of Records several times. He became world famous not only as the editor-in-chief with the longest career in one place (over 60 years), but also as the owner of the largest collection of personal press clippings.

M. Monroe.

M. Monroe is an iconic name in Hefner's life. This woman became the first model to appear on the cover of the magazine. Hefner bought this picture from the photographer who took Marilyn for a 1949 erotic calendar. Monroe received only $50 for that shoot, Hefner got $500.
All his life Hugh Hefner considered Monroe the greatest woman of his time, and during his lifetime for $ 75 thousand he bought a place for his grave next to the burial of a Hollywood diva.