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Hugh Hefner dead: Playboy founder dies aged 91

WATCH: Playboy founder Hugh Hefner dead at 91 – Sep 27, 2017

Hugh Hefner, the founder of men’s lifestyle magazine Playboy, has died of natural causes aged 91.

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Hefner helped usher in the 1960s sexual revolution with his groundbreaking magazine, around which he built a multi-million-dollar business empire.

He began his career working as a copywriter for Esquire, before founding Playboy in 1953 with the help of several investors including his mother, who loaned him $1,000, according to a New York Times profile.

READ MORE: Hugh Hefner mourners conflicted on legacy Playboy founder leaves behind

The first issue of the magazine featured a nude cover of Marilyn Monroe photographed four years before, and sold over 50,000 copies, according to Playboy Enterprises. Hefner would famously go on to purchase the burial crypt next to Monroe’s, located in Los Angeles, for $75,000.

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READ MORE: Bill Cosby, Hugh Hefner sued by woman who claims she was sexually assaulted at Playboy Mansion

In 1959, Hefner began exploring the burgeoning television market by hosting Playboy’s Penthouse, a variety show set in a bachelor pad.

Over the years, Hefner came to be renowned for his swinging lifestyle, and his habit of keeping a harem of young women at his legendary Playboy Mansion.

He was married three times — in 1949, 1989 and most recently in 2012.

WATCH: Playboy Mansion listed for sale but Hefner has no plans to move

Hefner said his swinging lifestyle might have been a reaction to growing up in a repressed family where affection was rarely exhibited.

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LISTEN: Hugh Hefner biographer Steven Watts on AM640

His so-called stunted childhood led to a multi-million-dollar enterprise that centered on naked women but also espoused Hefner’s “Playboy philosophy” based on romance, style and the casting off of mainstream mores.

That philosophy came to life at the legendary parties in his mansions — first in his native Chicago, then in Los Angeles’ exclusive Holmby Hills neighborhood — where legions of male celebrities swarmed to mingle with beautiful young women.

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— With files from Reuters

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