Playboy has issued the following press release..
Hugh M. Hefner, the American icon who in 1953 introduced the world to Playboy magazine and built the company into one of the most recognizable American global brands in history, peacefully passed away today from natural causes at his home, The Playboy Mansion, surrounded by loved ones. He was 91 years old.
Starting from his kitchen table 64 years ago, Mr. Hefner’s uncompromising vision drove the creation of not just the iconic and groundbreaking magazine, but what has become one of the world’s most enduring and recognizable brands. In the process, Playboy became the largest-selling and most influential men’s magazine in the world, spawning a number of successful global businesses. To this day, the magazine is published in more than 20 countries around the world and products featuring the company’s trademarks drive more than $1 billion in sales annually.
“My father lived an exceptional and impactful life as a media and cultural pioneer and a leading voice behind some of the most significant social and cultural movements of our time in advocating free speech, civil rights and sexual freedom. He defined a lifestyle and ethos that lie at the heart of the Playboy brand, one of the most recognizable and enduring in history. He will be greatly missed by many, including his wife Crystal, my sister Christie and my brothers David and Marston and all of us at Playboy Enterprises,” said Cooper Hefner, Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises.
After serving in the Army, attending college and working for number of years in the magazine publishing industry, Mr. Hefner became convinced that there was a market for an upscale men’s magazine. By putting up his furniture as collateral for a loan and borrowing the rest from family and friends, Mr. Hefner published the very first issue of Playboyin December of 1953. The magazine was an instant sensation.
From the very start, Playboy was about more than just the beautiful women featured in its pages. Mr. Hefner took a progressive approach not only to sexuality and humor, but also to literature, politics and culture. Within its pages, Playboy published fiction by such writers as Ray Bradbury, Charles Beaumont, John Updike, Ian Fleming, Joseph Heller, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Margaret Atwood, Jack Kerouac and Kurt Vonnegut.
The now standard-setting “Playboy Interview” debuted in 1962 when frequent contributor Alex Haley interviewed jazz legend Miles Davis. Mr. Haley’s Playboy interviews, which are still important reads for cultural historians, also included Malcolm X (1963), Martin Luther King (1965), and perhaps most famously, George Lincoln Rockwell (1966), the founder of the American Nazi Party.
As the host of a television series, “Playboy’s Penthouse,” Mr. Hefner paved the way as the first televised program to feature mixed groups of African American and white performers and audience members together. He also fought against the racist Jim Crow laws in the South by integrating Playboy Clubs in Miami and New Orleans.
When the U.S. Post Office refused to deliver Playboy to subscribers through the mail, he fought all the way to the Supreme Court, winning a landmark decision which was widely considered a victory for free speech. He fought the country’s archaic “sodomy laws,” firmly believing that the government had no place in American bedrooms. His work in this area has been recognized as influential by historians of the gay rights movement.
In 1980, Mr. Hefner championed the reconstruction of the Hollywood sign and was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his efforts. In the shadow of the sign that he helped to preserve, Mr. Hefner stages the annual Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl, an event which is in its 39th year.
I’ll spare you the rest of it, but he was an iconic figure in our time who introduced us to porn. And who does’t like porn?
I also adored his reality show with Holly Madison, Kendra Wilkinson and Bridget Marquardt. He will always be an American icon.
He was an extremely intelligent man. Hef did a lot for Civil Rights that people were not even aware of. Love him or hate him, it’s the end of an era.
An American icon for sure. It will be interesting to read/watch the interviews in the next few days.
And now let the fiscal battles begin over his Deceased Estate…Hugh had many defacto partners and perhaps 1 or 2 unknown offspring who are likely to come forward
I can’t wait for Holly and Kendra’s reactions. I loved their show! It was so cute how he ate boiled eggs and KFC when they visited Kendra’s mom’s.
Oh, you’ve gotta google Pam Anderson’s video then. She’s in lingerie, crying, back of her hand over her eyes -deliberately smearing her mascara. Very dramatic. “Good-Bye Hef”. Oy.
Hef did so much that so many are unaware of because they are against porn. He fought tirelessly against racism and government interference in our bedrooms. He will be missed. Till the end Playboy was still put together by him and he still had final say on what went into the magazine. He will be missed. RIP Hef!
I don’t consider his stuff “porn” and neither did he. Maybe it was considered that back in the 60’s and 70’s but it was tame after Hustler and Maxim came along. I worked a lawsuit in 2001, between Playboy Industries and Netscape. While working on that I got to know the inter workings of Playboy industries business quite well through research for the case and discovery (documents received from Playboy.) They fought fiercely to protect their brand and in the process have done a lot to protect all of our rights and the freedom of the press we still enjoy today. His foundation supported First Amendment issues and gave out an award every year. From the foundations web site:
“The Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards were established in 1979 to honor individuals who have made significant contributions in the vital effort to protect and enhance First Amendment rights for all Americans. The first award winners were named in 1980. Nominees traditionally have come from the areas of journalism, education, publishing, law, government, and arts and entertainment.”
One of my exes friends was a Playmate. She used to go to all of the parties and events at the mansion. Many of those parties were to benefit various charities. Hef was a good citizen of our city. He saved the Hollywood sign when it was in significant disrepair and the trust was bankrupt. He gave a lot of money to various causes over the years.
He was loyal to the girls that were in his magazine and were among the first to help promote or invest in many of their various endeavors. He did not tolerate drug abuse, any girl that knowingly used hard drugs on the premises were banned from the mansion. This is what happened to my exes friend. She was warned twice (rehab was offered and rejected) then banned for life.
He was a complicated guy, but I believe the good outweighed the bad. I think he learned over the years. While there were certain people he did not like he was rarely unkind or uncouth in public. He owned who he was and did not lie or trick anyone into doing anything. The girls he dated always knew where they stood.
His assistant/secretary has been with him for over 25 years. He has to be doing something right.
Do you mean Hef’s long time secretary Mary? She passed in 2013.
Awwww…yes she was with him forever. I had not heard she passed. (obviously)
I was SO sad to read this. I’m sorry for his family’s loss. The Girls Next Door was one of my favorite shows. I always thought it was sweet that when he liked an employee he would just retain them forever – remember the secretary had for decades and decades? I think her name was Mary. She was a hoot!
Aww, this is sad news. I had no idea about Hugh’s views and fight for civil rights until I binge watched American Playboy a few months ago. He used his money and status for a lot of good in this world. Also who doesn’t love the iconic playboy bunny? And Girls Next Door. That’s how I was introduced to the Kardashians as their show came on right after.
Girls Next Door was such campy fun. Its a shame they trashed him publically in recent years.
A friend of mine was a playmate in 2012 and lived in the “Next Door” house. She absolutely loved the experience and Hef. She said he was a really great guy, and would do it again in a heartbeat.
Probably one of the most progressive magazines in history. It transcended boundaries of what women were expected to be.
It kept them in their place as purely ornamental and for the pleasuring of men. Cosmopolitan and Helen Gurley-Brown did more for liberating women than Playboy and all the porn rags combined ever did.
Playboy imposed boundaries on women. Predominantly blonde (real or fake), buxom (real or fake), willing to take your clothes off for money, and young, with a few, very few exceptions such as Pam Anderson, and she fits 3 out of the 4 above criteria.
Equality? I think not. Not if you are not young and pretty (and buxom and usually blonde). Racial equality? Sure, will pay black and asian women opportunity to take off their clothes off as well. More grist for the porn mill. And somehow, convincing girls to appear in a porn mag was considered an honor and would make their parents and grandparents proud?
Hear hear!
I still have a gold Playboy bunny pin with a diamond for an eye that my late husband gave me half a century ago. He was a member of the Playboy Club when we married. I think everything was priced at $2–drinks, filet mignon, etc. It was all a hoot, done in good fun. The club was more glamour than anything else. The magazine was risque, yes, but intelligent, too, & I always had it read before my husband got home. The interviews were terrific. It wasn’t just all about sex. Between Hef & Masters & Johnson, America moved forward during the last half of the 2oth century–too bad we’ve lost ground lately.
Good riddance. Disgusting little man in a disgusting industry. Nothing to be lauded there. He did a lot of damage to women and the image of women as sex objects in sexual servitude to men. Playboy Bunnies serving men drinks in clubs. Men leering at photos of naked women. Nothing liberating about porn.
I find this ironic in a way. It seems to me that what he did he made no bones about it. No woman was forced or coerced to do what they did? You can walk away or you can invest in it. The choice is yours. I am not a fan of this industry so I wasn’t invested in it. I do see, however, that maybe he did a lot of good things in other ways.
The ironic part is that here we are on often discussing the different BRAVO shows. The Shahs, the Housewives etc. which, in my opinion, have done more to DAMAGE the average woman than any magazine could have done. Each week (several different shows) make women all look like screaming, greedy, petty shrews put on this earth to amuse and defer to Mr. Cohen. (remember that video he made with the real housewives of bh and lady gaga where he was a “god”). Yeah, I am not seeing a line here.
He exploited women for money. What does that make him? A pimp. A pimp in a stained bathrobe watching topless women roller-skate in a circle in front of men at the Playboy mansion. The women did this for money. He owned them and he knew it and they knew it. Still a pimp by definition, whatever the motivation.
This is awful judgemental. Wow. I think an awful lot of the women associated with the Playboy legacy feel quite the opposite, it was a win win situation for most. No one was in forced servitude. Exploitation is incredibly extreme. I believe he did a great deal for both women AND civil rights.
Many of the women he “exploited” were happy to be so. They became rich off of that. Everyone woman that enters into this kind of lifestyle IS NOT a victim. Women exploit their children for money. And they are touted by some as Momagers and cute little names that mean PIMP in my language.
We agree to disagree. May he RIP
There are women all over social media mourning Hef, today for giving them their start in Hollywood. There are black comedians reminiscencing about how he gave Dick Gregory a job as a comic in the Playboy Club in Chicago with black comics were not hired in any white clubs. There are older black politicians talking about his involvement in the civil rights movement. Media moguls are praising his publishing genius.
Then the are a handful of people who find it necessary to pee on the grave of a man they do not know rather than simply not say anything at all about the dead.
What was the ratio of ethnic women used in his magazines?
I agree with both sides, I think at some point he went to the dark side but paved his path fighting for civil rights & having Arthea Franklin on tv…Cosby was a close friend. I could see him joking about “lude’s”. MOST ppl have parts of their life they have gone dark. He was about as deep as a puddle in his later years w/ company he kept (cough twin GFs). Not grave dancing just wished he ended his story better. Netflicks did a series that goes into alot of good works civil rights and fighting corruption. My2Cents love u TT!
Nope. You’re grave dancing. It’s sort of the worst form of trolling. But you do you. Notice you are in the company of Legacy and Jaded. Cosby was not a close friend.
Y’all just want to make shit up in the comments of a post where the majority of the folks here are trying to acknowledge his accomplishments.
Y’all are the bitches a funerals that talk to mourners and say, ” Did you know he cheated on is wife?” or “I heard she was bankrupt.”
It’s pretty damn sad.
I said the good he did. Also said no one is perfect! He did way more good for our country than I ever will. I must be misinformed about Bill. Also, I wouldnt talk smack at a funeral. No twenty something wants to date an old man. They went along willingly but alot were / are damaged. U probably hear stories about this daily in Hollywood. He was smart enough to know better. i Wish I never read it looking back. (DTRH)
Guy was around in his various forms my entire life, and I’m 60! So I’m gonna mourn a little and let him rest in peace! ?
Wow! Narrow point of view. I would bathe in clothes if it didn’t defeat the purpose but your opinion has me contemplating commuting to work buck naked on a horse. Bareback of course.
I find it fantastic and a gift living into your 90’s.
I don’t see it as sad.
I have to add, I doubt Holly Madison will comment on this. She always seemed INCREDIBLY unhappy internally on Girls Next Door and I understand after she left she wrote a book (or two? I can’t remember) detailing a less than flattering portrait of her time at the Mansion. I didn’t read the book and don’t actually know anyone who did, so I don’t know what she said. I just remember hearing Hef was angry with it. I do know she’s married and a mom now, so hoping she has the life she always really wanted ?
The books were written after Holly spent YEARS trying to get Hef to marry her and get her pregnant with an heir. Hef would not. Then later he married Crystal or whatever her name is and Holly will be bitter about it her entire life.
Yes, I agree it’s hard to take anything Holly says now as gospel after how bitterly it all ended. I never read her books, and have no plans to do it. I do know I liked the show a lot and never wanted to over think anything about it – I just had fun with it
I’m so confused by the dramatics. He died from old age, not from any health problems, surrounded by those who loved him.
How much better can it truly get.
(Referring to the Pan Anderson reaction)
Oh dear, Sliceo’pie’s Pam Anderson comment. Sorry.
Porn has been documented as being one of the most destructive influences on society, relationships, marriage and sexual intimacy. Addiction to porn and its effects on the brains of boys and young men who are exposed to it from an early age show a disregard for women as individuals and undermines male respect for women. Porn has been linked to an increase of violence against women, and certain individuals sexually acting out on it. There is nothing positive about exposure to porn.
Oh whatever!
Clearly Legacy just wants to make shit up and has never even seen a playboy magazine, most of the photos in there could be on prime time TV today. All of them could be showed during an R rated movie.
Tons of famous female writers got a career boost from writing for the magazine:
Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood, Gabriel García Márquez. Gloria Steinum would not have destroyed the tradition gender roles and emasculated an entire nation of men without Hugh Hefner, so I suppose that is something you could hold against him.
There is no point in arguing with someone who simply wants attention for disrespecting the dead and has no knowledge of the deceased.
Wait, Gloria Steinem singlehandedly destroyed traditional gender roles and emasculated an entire nation of men?
Wow, that’s a huge amount of power that you’ve attributed to her. Also, a gross distortion.
As of this afternoon, traditional gender roles are still quite alive and kicking.
As for emasculation, if any man feels emasculated by radical concepts like “women shouldn’t have to put out to keep their jobs” or “sports and extracurricular programs for girls deserve to be funded TOO”, well, that man has problems far greater than his fragile masculinity.
You criticize Legacy for not having seen a Playboy magazine. Based on your statement above, I’m guessing you’ve never read any Gloria Steinem?
I’d start with “I Was a Playboy Bunny”. It’s not about Hefner; it’s an insightful and often funny account of what it was like to work at The Playboy Club. She does ask, though, why the company required her to have STD tests/a gynecological exam in order to work as a costumed cocktail waitress.
Porn has paid my bills for nearly 14 years. I’m co-owner of two gay adult sites. I would have had a completely different life if it weren’t for Hef and Larry Flynt and the issues they fought so hard for.
Despite being a pornographer, my daily life is about as exciting as watching paint dry. In my opinion, porn is harmless for the vast majority of people. Just about anything in excess can be harmful though. Too much cake will give people diabetes.
OMG!
You must be filthy rich. LOL.
I can’t believe in 2017 women are so upset by PLAYBOY. It’s the reason half of us got laid at all.
xo ~tt
I wish I was rich! And the first 9 or 10 years were quite lucrative. But free porn is slowly killing adult subscription sites. There are a few major companies that are still very successful. Smaller sites like mine are struggling to compete with the big companies and free porn. I have another year or two before I’ll be looking for a real job. 🙁
NUDITY IS NOT PORN.
You still have a bare butt spanking on the front porch in front of the whole neighborhood coming your way because of the hurricane incident. You will semi hemmed and very afraid. I really want to give you a hug. Please don’t let it happen again.
??
We all are naked in the eyes of God. Hef figured there must might be an interest in naked in the eyes of men. Heaven met earth and Angel is a centerfold.
LOL Angel in the centerfold! Nice reference!
Whenn I studied Art History in college.. porn has been around since the beginning of time. Greeks, romans etc. He refined it…He never showed anything other than the beautiful form of a woman’s body. No big deal. Hustler and penthouse were the worst, IMHO
A lot of things have been around for a long time. Time doesn’t make them good, acceptable or benign.
Someone should tell ‘legacy’ that as she seems to be having a connipition fit in the comments section ^^
Oh, whatever!
I kind of am not understanding why there are commenters calling the women who worked for Playboy or posed for them “exploited.” I’m not trying to be argumentative here, but all of these women were over 18 and PAID for everything they did, whether it was waitress in the clubs or be photographed nude. He didn’t trick them into seeking out work or posing, they agreed willingly. They did not HAVE to pursue those jobs, did they? Did Hef have them grabbed off the street? In fact, I remember in the show women lining up by the hundreds for Bunny Club server interviews. All the women who stayed at The Mansion or the Bunny House across the street also did so willingly by choice (and for free I might add), he wasn’t holding them hostage. I also remember he used to give each of the girls staying there some sort of stipend every week for their expenses (I think it was a thousand dollars or more) and there was some salon/spa they could all go to anytime on his dime (I think it was a “celebrity” place, can’t recall which, but I remember it being a big name…does anyone?) Its not a lifestyle I could be copasetic with, but each of these women knew exactly what they were going after. And there’s nothing wrong with that, either.
Does anyone know when he stopped using quaaludes (his words were leg openers) on women?
Yes, I know. Also read it was where Bill Cosby learned about the fine use of quaaludes.
You do know quaaludes were outlawed by the DEA in the U.S. in the 80’s right? He was very much opposed to drug abuse. He did not need to drug anyone to have sex with him.
It’s been noted by quite a few of the girls that he offered them and called them thigh openers. Prior to their being outlawed? IDK. But there is no evidence he forced them. He hated hard and chronic drug use. But these served a purpose. Free will. If they took them meh. It’s a choice. As we’re the restrictions he offered in exchange for a life they wanted. No judgement. I say do you. If that’s what they wanted, that’s their choice.
There is no evidence that happened at all. Holly Madison was a very bitter ex girlfriend who wrote a book full of unsubstantiated claims against him after her refused to marry her and give her a baby after several years of begging him both on and off camera.
Take a Betty. Page from history provocative images pic one’s curiosity and women’s furiousity.
Heff was a friend to the civil rights movement, for which he doesn’t get a lot of recognition. He was a giant in this world of small thinkers, and used his power to advance the world.
And we’ve all had a creatin or two in our homes at some point in our lives, it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re shitty people who deserve to have our good works shat upon.
Hugh Hefner was no angel, but neither was he the devil – he created mainstream art through the Playboy centerfolds, promoted an open attitude to human sexuality all while giving a start to many fine writers. He was an influential voice in promoting the civil rights movement, pro choice for women and free speech. I’m not so sure he did much for the feminist movement and clearly had problematic relationships with women but none of this should detract from his legacy as a libertarian.
RIP Hef, be with your much loved brother Keith & dear friend Mary.
That’s sort of my point. He was neither Angel not devil. I just didn’t know that if I didn’t repeat the same opinion that has been stated over and over it would label me a grave dancer. So be it. We can’t all think the same way.
“To dream the kind of dreams I dreamed and have them come true, to make the kind of difference I’ve managed to make in terms of society, is very satisfying for me. So I think I have to look at my life and say it’s been a life well spent.” (During an at-home interview in 1992)
“The most delicious time for me, one would think it would be starting the magazine. But the most delicious time for me was when I was small and dreaming impossible dreams. And connecting back now and seeing how it all turned out is particularly delicious.” (During an at-home interview in 1996)
“I think that I have lived a rather remarkable and adventurous life and used it [well].” (During another at-home interview in 2009)
“I know how blessed I am and you know, I think that the remarkable thing is it’s been more than half a century and it just keeps getting better. Who could have believed it?” (At a Victoria’s Secret Party in 2002)
“F. Scott Fitzgerald said that there are no second acts in American life, and I think I’ve managed to get a third act. The first part of my life, I followed rather traditional values, and that didn’t work for me. I escaped into Playboy. Now I’ve come full circle. And this turned out to be the best [act] of all.” (During an interview in 1991, the year he welcomed son Cooper and a year after welcoming son Marston)
While I would prefer to ban the bitter bettys to WLS, it is probably best just to identify them and know that while we are here celebrating a man who lived to 91 working hard every day and celebrating life….
there are always others who are bitter and judgemental.
I think I might by a new captian’s hat in his honor Someone stole mine back when I let people near my belongings.
I forgot to add as your Hef quotes said he was a dreamer and example of an individual who showed us all that you can make dreams a reality.
Man of la Mancha’s to dream the impossible dream. He made many dreams come true for sixth years. Dream big.
I hope this isn’t a repeat of the comment that became lost in cyberspace.
Basically I never considered Playboy magazine pornographic. Surely, the critics have at least heard about “real” porn on the internet or the evening news. We used to joke that we only read it for the articles and the interviews. By the way, they were quite well done. The center folds were not “nasty” …unlike Hustler and some others…yuckie poo!
The women being called exploited were/are adults who freely chose to do what they did. Exploited or exploiting?
Women literally begged and DREAMED of being a playmate. It’s not lie he rounded women on the street to force them into prostitution.
He carefully chose women to pose in a beautifully sexual way.
I will say right now if I’d looked like a Playboy centerfold back in my 20s I would have happily posed in a heartbeat. I have zero issues with nudity (although NO ONE wants to see my fat ass naked now except my husband, who I love for still genuinely finding me sexy). I could never have lived or stayed for very long at the Mansion or Bunny House. Too much going on, and by that I just mean too many people and parties and such, I can’t stand that much hubbub and noise in general. I will again say I just can’t see any of these women as exploited when they were all of legal adult age and knew exactly what they were pursuing. Remember how many inquiries they got by mail, fax and email every week during the show of women sending in pics and resumes wanting to pose? And when they came in for testing I’m sure they were shown contracts of what they’d be paid if they tested and were chosen. They didn’t have to go ahead with it. Also, that was SUCH an ugly insinuation about Hef knowing Bill Cosby. LOTS of people knew Bill Cosby and had NO IDEA what depraved things he was allegedly perpetrating. There is no way on earth I would ever believe Hef would condone anyone drugging women unconscious and raping them.
Just for clarification, I was adressing other commenters suddenly talking about Bill Cosby and Hef in the same sentence, not you, TT. I forgot I was posting a comment as a reply to yours and not just a general comment. It’s early and I have a nasty cold, please forgive my confusion.
They were really interesting – and that’s what I mean when I said he was no angel.
A controversial paradoxical figure – highly intelligent but also highly manipulative. Cultivated intellectualism, demystified sex but also exploitative of women – I don’t think it matters that women lined up. The discussions about if Playboy was pornography or not comes down to connotation – pornography is defined as “by intent”. The naked pictures of women didn’t offend me, I thought many of them beautiful – the poor remuneration was more what I would question.
Anyway humanity is paradox and that is what makes Hef such a fascinating character.
Ariel Levy’s Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture looks at Playboy in an interesting and how women drink the cool aid.
Let’s be real! Not one person would think this was right if their twenty or teen daughter got involved with him. Their brains are still growing they are drawn to the spot light and dont fully know how to look around corners. Poor Marilyn will be lying next to him forever. Very classy considering he got Playboy started based on pics of her before she was famous. We all know how that story ended let’s pretend he had no part of that.
True. He bought a photo of her and published without her permission. Dress it up anyway you like, but he launched his empire by exploiting Marilyn Monroe.
And he did call Cosby “a good friend.”
You must of had an extra helping of tuna for lunch…….
Maybe try some pie next time!
Lydia posted a photo of her mom in her bunny suit from when she worked for Hef.
Rock your inner rabbit ears. Bunny hop. If you got it flaunt it before gravity takes effect.