To be buried next to Marilyn Monroe: Seven facts about Hugh Hefner

Hugh Hefner managed to combine Playboy magazine with his public playboy lifestyle to help bring in the sexual revolution of the 1960s, but here's some things you may not know about him.

2011 file photo shows American magazine publisher, founder and Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises, Hugh Hefner

2011 file photo shows American magazine publisher, founder and Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises, Hugh Hefner Source: AAP

Seven facts about Playboy Magazine founder Hugh Hefner

  • Hefner founded Playboy magazine in 1953, using a picture of a nude Marilyn Monroe, a $US600 loan against his furniture and investments from family members to launch the magazine with a total of $US8000. It became one of the most talked-about publishing empires in history.
  • Hefner used the pages of his magazine to write lengthy articles fighting censorship and promoting various other libertarian causes.
  • He opened his first Playboy Club in Chicago in 1960. Eventually there were dozens of clubs as far as Japan and Jamaica and they featured the hottest entertainers of the time, such as Sammy Davis Jr. and Sonny & Cher. The clubs began closing in the late 1980s amid escalating costs.
  • In 1985 Hefner suffered a stroke that left him temporarily partially paralysed and unable to speak. He fully recovered.
  • From 2.5-hectare Holmby Hills estate in Los Angeles, Hefner kept close tabs on the magazine. He had final say on the centrefold, cartoons and overall editorial direction.
  • Hefner arranged to be buried in a crypt next to the grave of Marilyn Monroe in a Los Angeles cemetery.
  • Hefner reportedly drank as many as 36 bottles of Pepsi a day.

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2 min read
Published 28 September 2017 5:54pm
Updated 28 September 2017 6:11pm
Source: AAP

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