Playboy Founder Hugh Hefner Dies at 91
- Publisher made a taboo subject palatable for a mass audience
- His views on sexuality drew scorn from feminists, moralists
Hugh Hefner in 2009.
Photographer: Ann Johansson/Corbis via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine who turned his swinging lifestyle into a professional calling and taught Americans to be more open about sex, has died. He was 91.
Hefner died Wednesday from natural causes surrounded by friends and family at his home, the Playboy Mansion, in Los Angeles, according to a post on Playboy’s official Twitter feed and a news release published on the PR Newswire. Hefner’s wish was to be buried in a crypt he bought next to the grave of Marilyn Monroe in Los Angeles. Pictures of a nude Monroe catapulted Playboy to success with its first edition in 1953.