Hugh Hefner

Hugh Hefner’s first marriage was to Mildred Williams in 1949 which produced two children, a daughter, Christie, and a son, David. The couple divorced in 1959.

He tied the knot for the second time in 1989 with Playmate of the Year Kimberley Conrad. He has two sons from this marriage. The couple separated in 1998 and finally divorced in 2010.

He married model Crystal Harris on December 31, 2012; Hefner was 86 and Harris 26 at the time of their much publicized wedding.

Hugh Hefner was born on April 9, 1926, in Chicago, Illinois, to Grace and Glenn Hefner as the elder of their two sons. His parents, both teachers, were strict Methodists with deep Midwestern roots.

He went to Sayre Elementary School and then to Steinmetz High School in Chicago. He developed an early interest in journalism and founded a school newspaper while in high school and also served as president of the student council where he championed student causes.

He served in the U.S. Army for two years toward the end of World War II, and was discharged in 1946. He used to write for a military newspaper.

After the war he studied at the Chicago Art Institute before enrolling at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign from where he graduated in 1949 with a B.A. in psychology with a double minor in creative writing and art.

Bright and ambitious, he worked as an assistant personnel manager for the Chicago Carton Company 1949, and as an advertising copywriter for the Carson Pirie Scott department store before landing a job as a promotion copywriter with the magazine ‘Esquire’ which was a publication for men that featured articles on topics such as men’s fashion and also illustrations from pinup artists such as George Petty and Alberto Vargas.

He worked there till 1952 and left after being denied a $5 raise. Determined to start his own publication, he mortgaged his furniture and generated funds from investors, and finally launched the magazine ‘Playboy’.

The first issue of the magazine was published in December 1953. It featured a nude image of the famous sex symbol Marilyn Monroe from a 1949 calendar shoot. The magazine was an instant success and sold over 50,000 copies.

Delighted at this success, he began hiring other people to assist him in making the magazine more interesting to the audience and for promoting the publication. ‘Playboy’ saw unprecedented success; by the end of the decade, the magazine was selling more than a million copies a month.

Inspired by the phenomenal growth of his enterprise, Hefner held the first Playboy Jazz Festival at the Chicago Stadium which became known as the greatest single weekend in the history of jazz.

Hugh Hefner is best known as the founder of the Playboy Enterprises, Inc. which manages the ‘Playboy’ magazine empire along with other business ventures. The company also owns and operates the iconic Playboy Mansion property in Los Angeles, California. The ‘Playboy’ played an important role in the sexual revolution in America and remains one of the best known brands in the world.