Hefner at 84: Still a Playboy, Activist, Rebel

(CBS)  Back in the 1960s, Hugh Hefner's TV show, "Playboy After Dark," took the form of fun-filled party . . . a party that apparently has NEVER stopped. Bill Whitaker now with a Sunday Profile:


We all know Hugh Hefner: Playboy ... Hedonist ... Bon Vivant ... a party animal still running wild at age 84, living large at his storied L.A. playground, the famous (or, depending on your point of view, infamous) Playboy Mansion.

"It's my home, yes. Wouldn't want to live anywhere else," he said. "It's Shangri-La. And like the original Shangri-La, the rumor is you don't get old here."

There could be something to that, because Hugh Hefner is hot!

A whole new generation thinks he's cool, tuning into his bevy of beauty-based reality TV shows multiplying like rabbits on cable TV.

His trademark Playboy Clubs, whose cotton-tailed bunnies first hopped into pop culture 50 years ago and once served the hippest crowd in town, are bouncing back after decades of decline, with a new club in Vegas, and others planned for Miami, London, Mexico and Macau.

"Yes, the bunny is back, and you know how bunnies are: They do proliferate," Hefner said.

"You are, like, hip and happening again," said Whitaker.

"Hot again! Pretty good at 84!" Hefner laughed. "I'm glad I hung around to see it!"

And what a sight: A worldwide empire that exploded from Hefner's fertile imagination, deepest desires and $1,000 from his mother.

Playboy Magazine hit the stands in 1953 with a voluptuous Marilyn Monroe wearing nothing but a come-hither look. Eisenhower's America was shocked, and titillated, and changed forever.

"We were there to ignite the flame that became the sexual revolution," Hefner told Whitaker. "I take some pride in that."

"People must have thought you were lewd and lascivious and a corrupter of young morals," Whitaker said.

"Some did, and some seem to still think so today," Hefner said.

(Playboy)

The magazine and that oh-so-well-cultivated lifestyle made him the envy of many a man ...

(Left: Hefner with the Playboy jet, and an iconic Playboy Bunny.)

Now, is it hard to keep that image going?

"Actually, it's very easy," Hefner said. "I don't have to put on a tie. My getting dressed is putting on my pajamas."

But it's also made him the enemy of many men, and more women. The criticisms? He's heard them all: You're not celebrating women, you're degrading women . . . It's not for joy of sex, it's sexist.

"The very nature of Playboy and my life, I think I touched very close to the heart of things that are controversial in America - you know, sex and wealth and success," said Hefner. "And throwing a good party."

"Here's a man who has outraged feminists, has outraged the Christian right, outraged conservatives, and doesn't care! That's his job!," said filmmaker Brigitte Berman, who spent three years making her new documentary, "Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist, Rebel."

She says the playboy still loves to shock with the pajamas and the parties ...

"And the women! An amazing number of women," said Berman. "And women love him and he loves women."

"He has had a constant, running battle with feminists. Don't they have a point?" asked Whitaker.

"Absolutely, they have a point. Absolutely!" said Berman.

But, she says, there is so much more to Hugh Hefner, so much more about him.

Beneath those pajamas beats the heart of a rebel, an iconoclast who's been tearing down barriers for decades.

At a time when America was black and white, Hefner's earliest TV shows (such as "Playboy's Penthouse") brought the races together, casually and comfortably, as if to say, Doesn't everyone live like this?

In the '60s when Playboy franchises in Miami and New Orleans refused to admit black patrons, Hefner bought back the licenses to those clubs at a loss, said Berman, "and then had whoever - black, white, doesn't matter - everyone was welcome."

Around the centerfold, the magazine published controversial authors, discussed controversial topics.

"We know about the sexual revolution," Hefner said. "People are less aware of the part I played related to racial equality, gay rights, the changing of drug laws. We were the amicus curiae, friend of the court in Roe v Wade. It gave women the right to choose.

"All these big issues, he was there, and I believe in those many rivulets, is how he made a difference," said Berman. "All these little things make up the total of who this man is."

All these little things that Hefner has been keeping all his life. Artifacts and mementoes from his earliest years to the present, meticulously filed away in 2,323 leather-bound scrapbooks: Pictures of his first plane . . . his first Valentine to his mother.

(CBS)

If it's not in his scrapbooks, it's on his walls: Pictures of everyone who's partied at the Mansion. "Everybody, everybody comes to the Playboy Mansion," he said. Clooney. Nicholson. Beatty.

There's a whiff of nostalgia about the old mansion.

Any regrets? "Oh, a few, sure," Hefner said. "I wouldn't have taken the company public. It served no purpose."

The Playboy brand might be hot again, but the flagship magazine is flagging - monthly circulation down from the giddy heights of more than 7 million 40 years ago to about a million & a half now.

He's fighting to regain full financial control. He never gave up creative control.

"I do oversee what goes into the magazine: Pick the covers, pick the playmates, cartoons, jokes, letters. Still actively involved."

And still "active."

The twice-married, twice-divorced octogenarian is an unabashed proponent of Viagra.

"Couldn't have had seven girlfriends without Viagra," he said. "I don't want to create the false impression that I am partying on the same level that I did back in the 1970s - had multiple girlfriends for a period of time, but I met a very good one-on-one relationship right now with Crystal Harris. I'm very happy."

Crystal Harris, Playmate of the Month in December, lives with Hef at the mansion with his menagerie and his memories.

She's 24. "Yep, and Hef's 84, so that's 60 years," Harris said. "And I don't know, I don't notice his age at all. If anything, he's like a big kid."

Which is the Hefner he likes you to see.

But the Hefner he'd like you to remember?

"I'd like to be remembered as someone who played an important part in changing the social-sexual values of my time," he said.

Love him or hate him ... filmmaker Brigitte Berman says he cannot be ignored.

"You can never say he has not made a difference and he is not an amazing icon," she said.

America is different because of Hugh Hefner. To which he'd say, viva la difference.

"The whole concept that somehow Playboy turned women into sex objects - that's part of who they are! Thank goodness! It is the attraction between the two sexes that gives us civilization."

For that, he has no regrets ... and no plans to stop.

So the future is more bunnies, more clubs, more TV. "That's the Playboy life, huh?" Whitaker asked.

"Hm-hmm. Dancing as fast as I can," Hefner replied.


For more info:
"Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel" (Official Website)

[NinthSt78]

What a job! Dino had a good one, too. I could sing along with Dino. Most of the other ones go too high and low. I do better on the low side. At least Mitch helped us with the words-- I usually forget half of them.

[AnnieDanny]

I look at the women who gather around him, even in his inner circle of three, and to me they all seem to be second rate. It seems that all of them have fake blonde hair that's stiff from too many bleachings, and all of them have fake boobs. If they don't fit his mold of blonde and boobs, then he buys it for them so they do. And it seems like none of them are quite good enough to make the big time in the real world?

I really don't understand what contribution he's made, to be proud of. This article is really reaching, in my opinion.

Yes, there's been a big sexual revolution since the 60's but I'd attribute that more to the hippies and Elvis, than Hugh Hefner. And I don't think the revolution-evolution of society has been for the better. In my lifetime it seems that we have become more selfish and barbaric rather than improving ourselves. There's more violence than ever, things we never heard of or thought of back in the 60's.

The traditional family unit is gradually being eroded and even annihilated. I wonder if there will be a family unit in another 100 years, people just won't bother. Kinda like Hugh Hefner, the ultimate playboy who selects three women a year but is loyal to none of them. Just what every woman wants. NOT.

[tmittelstaed]

How many posting here have actually READ Playboy? If Playboy was only about nekkid women and sex it would have disappeared ages ago. But Playboy is the only prono mag out there that runs around 80 pages but only has about 8 pages in each issue that have actual pictures of nekkid women. And, it's also the only prono mag out there that if you don't know what a woman's ****** looks like, you can pick up an issue and look at every page in it, and at the end of it still not know what a woman's ****** looks like.

I remember the very first Playboy I ever laid hands on. March '79 issue, I think I got ahold of it when I was 14. The pictures were pretty lame compared to the Oui that I had got at the same time so I decided to read the magazine. I have to say that even today I think that the interview that Playboy published in that issue with Ted Patrick should be required reading in middle school. I definitely credit that Playboy with providing me incredibly valuable information regarding cults and being able to recognize people involved with them (as I was to run into a few years later, people don't realize that cults recruit in high schools, but they do)

If you want to criticize, criticize the US public school system which to this day still will not deal with topics that Playboy was dealing with 30 years ago, topics that should be dealt with in middle school.

[Fuggettaboudit]

I love all of these stupid comments here hating on Hef. Seems as if 99% of you are extremely quick to judge this man, and the magazine, based on his lifestyle with girlfriends and the Mansion. I doubt any one of these poeple hef-bashing has ever picked up a Playboy magazine and read it cover to cover. If they had, they would re-adjust their view, no doubt. Just like America in general, people are every quick to judge and form opinions based on sex more quickly than any other theme, issue, or topic. Why do we portray such grotuitous violence on tv, video games, etc, and when it comes to nudity or sex, its a HUGE taboo. It goes along with America's identity as a prude, christian based society, and its sad that we let this dictate our mainstream thoughts, culture, and perception. Sex is something beautiful that should be celebrated, not damned. In Europe and elsewhere, Playboy magazine is recognized more for its award winning editorial features and writing, rather than viewed as "outdate porn". it's not porn, wake up, and know what youre talking about before you judge someone or something. hef was way ahead of his time on many issues such as racial intergration, etc, and all people do is point out the pajamas and the babes. Grow up, or keep your own prudish ideas to yourself.

[servorum]

Playboy = porn.
Hefner = purveyor of porn.
End of discussion.

[garybruce]

Yeah...he's been a wonderful role model, rebel, advocate in the US...idiot...

[ksmit2]

OK folks, how much are we willing to invest in keeping alive some adolescent fantasy carried out by an old man for the last five decades.
How mentally balanced can one be who lives in his pajamas and robe for
that long? Aids, herpes, new and "improved" strains of "vd" now so
honorably dubbed "std's". And we're cheering some geezer because he is
still "getting some", at 80 plus. Great goal for life. This says alot more about us than it does that jacka**.

[BearBarton]

Hef - you have sacked alot of pretty girls but despite all your earthly fun, the fires of hell are being heated up for your arrival. You are a disgusting man, even more so with each day as your saggy face and wrinkled skin continue to deteriorate. Hope it was worth it...

[troutfishyman]

Sad to see such superstitious nonsense in these modern times ...

[consciousnes]

KEEP ON GOING HEFF. It is people like you that tell it like it is that make this world a better place to live in.
I do believe that we need laws and we need someone to teach our children right from wrong, whether it is the church, the justice system, or our military. "MILITARY????" you say? Yep. Look back, when the United States had the draft and "ALL" the young men had to serve some time after the graduated from school, most learned the disaplin that is needed to make their way in this life. Since the draft was ablolished the crime rate has risin, the respect for "ANY" type of authority has just about disappeared, except where young people have been given the direction that they need.
All children need direction, and when you look at the families where the mother and father are too busy or just don't give a damn what happens to their kids, you see the break down of our society.
What did guys like Heff do? He told the story the way it is. I read his magazine for years, agreed with some and disagreed with other parts, but Heff made sure it was laid out there for everyone to make up their own mind. I hope Heff makes it to 120.

[novamba]

at 84, Hugh Heffner is a pathetic little old man trying to look like a pimp, dressed in pajamas, as if he was suave... I find his "mid life crisis" a bit embarrasing considering he is way past his midlife...I can see an earring in his future.

[servorum]

Right on.

[voxpopulus]

He's having more fin at 84 than you will.

[prelgovisk]

You are not a rebel if you live like everyone else, or how everyone else wish they could live.

Today you are a rebel and go against society if you live a godly life.

"2Ti 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." - The Bible

Try living like God says for a while, then you will know what being a real rebel is all about.

"

[consciousnes]

I was raised in the church and I do believe in the basics of what they teach, "Do unto others as you would have them do to you", but I have two daughters, five grand children and two great-grand-children and I think "SEX" played a roll in God's gifts of each one of them.
Even God said "Be fruitful and mulitply" and He KNEW there would be sex involved.

[voxpopulus]

It didn't say a lot about them persecuting others though. Including homosexuals and those of other faiths. There is nothing rebellious about God-bothering.