Hugh (Marston) Hefner - Branching out, Private Life, The Political/Social Warrior, Trivia

Editor and publisher of Playboy magazine, born in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He grew up in a family of strict Methodists, studied at Illinois University, and had a variety of jobs. He worked in the subscriptions department of Esquire magazine until 1952, when he resigned to start a new magazine. Investing $10 000, he published Playboy in 1953, with Marilyn Monroe posing nude. Practical advice on sexual problems, men's talk, and other articles combined to make the magazine a notorious success, and Hefner a conspicuously wealthy man, frequently photographed at his mansion surrounded by a bevy of ‘playmates’. His Playboy empire extended into real estate, nightclubs (with the ‘bunny-girl’ hostesses), and sundry products.

Hugh Marston Hefner (born April 9, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois), also referred to colloquially as "Hef", is the founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine.

Branching out

At its peak, Playboy sold more than 1,200,000 issues each month. Hefner's concept exploded as a variety of different avenues opened up.

The first Playboy Jazz Festival took place in Rhode Island in 1959 and has become a staple for the most prominent musicians in the field.

In 1960, Hefner opened up the first Playboy Club in Chicago, which featured women in bunny costumes serving drinks to customers who listened to many of the same guests that populated Hefner's television show. Hefner suffered a stroke in 1985.

Private Life

Before their wedding, Mildred told Hefner that she had had an affair; THS profile of Hefner revealed she let him cheat on her, both in the hopes it would preserve their marriage and out of guilt for her infidelity.

After his first marriage, Hefner became the world's most famous and envied womanizer. Hefner has had sustained relationships with Donna Michelle, Marilyn Cole, Lillian Muller, Patti McGuire, Terri Welles, Shannon Tweed, and Brande Roderick, all of whom were chosen "Playmate of the Year". Benton remains a fixture in Hefner's life and a regular visitor to the Playboy Mansion, which she found for him.

On July 1, 1989, he ended his 35-year bachelor party and married Kimberley Conrad, that year's Playmate of the Year. They had two children: Marston Glenn, born on Hefner's 64th birthday, and Cooper Bradford, born on September 4, 1991. While Hefner was monogamous, the THS profile suggested that Conrad was not.

After his separation from Conrad, Hefner began living with an ever-changing number of women, ranging in age from 18 to 28. Hefner soon selected 27-year-old Tina Marie Jordan as his primary girlfriend. But Hefner quickly selected more young blondes for a posse of seven girlfriends, one of whom was Holly Madison who joined in 2001. Shortly after Playboy's 50th anniversary five of the girlfriends left, leaving Holly and Bridget Marquardt to tend to Hefner.

The Political/Social Warrior

Hefner has always espoused a shared liberal/libertarian stance in his editorials and in his life. On June 4, 1963, Hefner was arrested for selling obscene literature after an issue of Playboy featuring nude shots of actress Jayne Mansfield was released. Hefner First Amendment Awards were created by daughter Christie in 1979 "to honor individuals who have made significant contributions in the vital effort to protect and enhance First Amendment rights for Americans."

Hefner and his family have donated and raised great amounts of money for the Democratic Party.

Trivia

Every Sunday, Friday, and Monday night at the Playboy Mansion Hefner hosts a movie night. "The stuff that dreams are made of", a favorite quote Hefner often uses to refer to the success of Playboy, comes from Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon; both are misquotations from Act IV, Scene I of Shakespeare's The Tempest ("We are such stuff as dreams are made on"). In a 2005 interview with Time magazine, Hefner said he is a direct descendant of William Bradford, a Pilgrim who came over on the ship Mayflower. It has been reported that Hefner has either a room or floor to himself in the Drake Hotel. In a TV documentary, Hefner stated that he was a virgin when he went into the Army and a virgin when he got out. Hefner purchased the crypt in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California, beside Marilyn Monroe. Hefner has appeared in The Simpsons in the episode Krusty Gets Kancelled, which also included other guest stars such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Hefner is noted for smoking a tobacco pipe.