Playboy founder Hugh Hefner dies at age 91

Hugh Hefner, the American founder of Playboy magazine has died from natural causes at his LA mansion, at age 91, announced Playboy Enterprises.

Hefner was well known for teaching Americans to be more open about sex even at a time when the US had legally banned contraceptives, but most importantly for publishing Playboy, which became the largest selling men's magazine in the world, with seven million copies sold each month at its peak.

The magazine's prominent interviewees included civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, Beatle John Lennon, and Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro, and the first edition featured a centerfold of Marilyn Monroe posing nude.

Glossy colour pictures of nude "playmates" undoubtedly spearheaded sales, but the magazine also developed a reputation for fine writing with Norman Mailer, Kingsley Amis, Kurt Vonnegut, James Baldwin, Vladimir Nabokov, Margaret Atwood and Ray Bradbury among its contributors.

Financial Outline of the company

However, despite its novel approach, fierce competition meant the magazine's financial health had a chequered history.

In the 1980's, competition from publications which carried more explicit photos saw Playboy's popularity decline, with Hefner suffering a stroke in 1985.

Four years later, his daughter Christie took over Playboy Enterprises.

In 1999, Hefner's 70% stake in Playboy was valued at $399m with Playboy Enterprises Inc.’s focus turning to licensing and entertainment to offset declining magazine sales.

The enterprise's US magazine circulation shrank to less than quarter, forcing him to increasingly turn to celebrities to pose for the publication, including Madonna, Daryl Hannah, Drew Barrymore and Charlize Theron.

Christie stepped down from the company in 2009 and, in 2010, Hefner proposed to take the company private by buying outstanding shares that he didn't already own in effort to protect the brand.

A year later, an investor group led by Hefner completed the buyout, and his son, Cooper Hefner took on a major role at the company in 2014.

In 2016, the magazine attempted to scrap nudity but later reversed this decision earlier this year.

To date, Hefner is survived by his third wife, Crystal Harris. Tributes poured in from well known names.

Pamela Anderson, who appeared on the cover of Playboy 15 times, said on Instagram: "You gave me my life... I'm in such deep shock."

Civil rights figure Rev Jesse Jackson tweeted: "Hugh Hefner was a strong supporter of the civil rights movement. We shall never forget him."

The direct descendant of a Puritan, Hefner was born in 1926 in Chicago and served in the US Army in the mid-1940s and held a graduate degree in psychology.

He worked as a copywriter for men's magazine Esquire before borrowing $8,000 to start Playboy in 1953.