Hugh Hefner several passports at US auction
Hugh Hefner several passports at US auction
Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher and life-stylist. He was founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine, a revolutionary publication, aimed at a sophisticated young readership, with revealing glamour photographs and interesting articles provoking charges of obscenity. The first issue, in 1953, featuring Marilyn Monroe in her nude calendar shoot, sold over 50,000 copies.
Hefner extended the brand into a world network of Playboy Clubs, as well as his luxury mansions where the Playboy ‘playmates’ shared his wild partying life, keenly reported in the media. An advocate of sexual liberation and freedom of expression, Hefner was a political activist in other causes too, including the Democratic party, First Amendment rights, animal rescue, and the restoration of the Hollywood Sign.
An auction house has now offered and sold the estate of Hefner, which included several of his passports. The highest price fetched his latest US passport – $16.000
Hefner died at his home in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California, on September 27, 2017, at the age of 91. The cause was sepsis brought on by an E. coli infection.
He is interred at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles, in the $75,000 crypt beside Marilyn Monroe. “Spending eternity next to Marilyn is an opportunity too sweet to pass up,” Hefner had told the Los Angeles Times in 2009.
Circulation reached 200,000 within its first year and more than 7m by the 1970s. In 1960 Hefner opened a string of clubs around the world where waitresses wore revealing costumes with bunny ears and fluffy white bunny tails.
The magazine and Hefner’s lifestyle often provoked criticism, from feminists and conservatives alike. Also in 1963, Hefner was arrested on obscenity charges after publishing nude photos of Jayne Mansfield, but the charges were dropped after the jury failed to reach a verdict.
Tom Topol | Passport History Expert & Author.
Featured in media incl. CNN, BBC, Newsweek. Awarded by the U.S. Department of State.
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