To his supporters, he was champion of free speech and expression. To his critics he was a chauvinist who preyed upon young women.
Hugh Hefner - who founded Playboy Magazine - died at the age of 91 at his home in Los Angeles. In a 2000 interview with ABC News Radio, Hefner talked about what he wanted the magazine to be when he created it:
"The magazine from the beginning was intended to be a lifestyle magazine for the single guy; and obviously if you're going to do that you better have some pretty ladies in the magazine."
The first issue made a splash in 1953, featuring a nude picture of Marilyn Monroe. That issue also included an editorial by Hefner that he called 'the Playboy Philosophy'...
"What I tried to do in the Playboy Philosophy is spell out my own particular views and values, and try to make a case in the early 1960's for what came to become the Sexual Revolution."
A number of women launched successful careers after appearing in the magazine, including Texas' own Anna Nicole Smith... and cultural icons like Jayne Mansfield, Pamela Anderson, and Jenny McCarthy.
Established stars also chose to appear in the magazine to boost their popularity. Fellow Texan Farrah Fawcett was among them, along with Raquel Welch, Suzanne Somers, Sharon Stone, and Madonna.