Biography: Hugh Hefner: birth name: nymphomaniac Hugh Marston Hefner, born on April 9, 1926 in Chicago. Hefner needs little or no introduction. He’s the founder of Playboy Enterprises which manages the Playboy magazine empire.

photo: PR Photos

Hefner explains that some of the ideas for the Playboy magazine came to him while he was a student at the University of Illinois where he graduated with a major in psychology and a double minor in creative writing and art.

Hefner worked as a copywriter for Esquire but quitted after being denied of a $5 raise. In 1953 he rented out his furniture for $600 and raised $8,000 from 45 investors including $1,000 from his mother (”Not because she believed in the venture,” he told E! in 2006, “but because she believed in her son”) – to launch Playboy.

There was no turning back afterward..

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