American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story | |
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Genre | Political drama |
Directed by | Richard Lopez |
Starring | |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 10 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Production locations | Auckland, New Zealand |
Cinematography | Milton Kam |
Running time | 38–46 minutes |
Production companies | Alta Loma Entertainment Stephen David Entertainment |
Original release | |
Network | Amazon Prime Video |
Release | April 6, 2017 |
American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story is a 2017 television series by Amazon Prime Video. It stars Matt Whelan in the title role, along with Emmett Skilton and Chelsie Preston Crayford. Several African American and African British actors were linked to the program including Kelvin Taylor. The first season was released on 7 April 2017 and comprised ten episodes.
The series is a combination of interviews, archival footage (including moments found in Hefner's vast personal collection) and cinematic re-enactments that cover the launch of the magazine as well as the next six decades of Hefner's personal life and career. While building his empire, Hefner also devoted time to defending civil rights, freedom of speech and sexual freedom.
The series was filmed in Auckland, New Zealand. [1]
Episode No | Name Of Episode | Description |
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1 | Before the Bunny: Marilyn Monroe | |
2 | Birth of the Centerfold: The Girl Next Door | |
3 | Becoming Mr. Playboy | |
4 | Members Only: The Playboy Club | |
5 | The Playboy Interview | |
6 | Rebel with a Cause: Civil Liberties and Government Crackdowns | |
7 | Below the Belt: Playboy and the Pubic Wars | |
8 | Sex, Drugs and DEA Investigations | |
9 | Down the Rabbit Hole: The Dorothy Stratten Murder | |
10 | My Way |
Hugh Marston Hefner was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles.
Playboy is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.
The Playboy Mansion, also known as the Playboy Mansion West, is the former home of Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner who lived there from 1974 until his death in 2017. Barbi Benton convinced Hefner to buy the home located in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California, near Beverly Hills. From the 1970s onward, the mansion became the location of lavish parties held by Hefner which were often attended by celebrities and socialites. It is currently owned by Daren Metropoulos, the son of billionaire investor Dean Metropoulos, and is used for corporate activities. It also serves as a location for television production, magazine photography, charitable events, and civic functions.
A&E is an American basic cable network and the flagship television property of A&E Networks. The network was originally founded in 1984 as the Arts & Entertainment Network, initially focusing on fine arts, documentaries, dramas, and educational entertainment. Today, the network deals primarily in non-fiction programming, including reality docusoaps, true crime, documentaries, and miniseries.
A Playmate is a female model featured in the centerfold/gatefold of Playboy magazine as Playmate of the Month (PMOTM). The PMOTM's pictorial includes nude photographs and a centerfold poster, along with a pictorial biography and the "Playmate Data Sheet", which lists her birthdate, measurements, turn-ons, and turn-offs. At the end of the year, one of the 12 Playmates of the Month is named Playmate of the Year (PMOTY). Every Playmate of the Month is awarded a prize of US$25,000 and each Playmate of the Year receives an additional prize of US$100,000 plus a car and other discretionary gifts. In addition, Anniversary Playmates are usually chosen to celebrate a milestone year of the magazine. The use of the word "Playmate" in a sexual sense did not originate with Playboy, and was seen at least as early as 1950 in Vue magazine.
PLBY Group, Inc. is an American global media and lifestyle company founded by Hugh Hefner as Playboy Enterprises, Inc. to oversee the Playboy magazine and related assets. Its headquarters are in Los Angeles, California.
The centerfold or centrefold of a magazine is the inner pages of the middle sheet, usually containing a portrait, such as a pin-up or a nude. The term can also refer to the model featured in the portrait. In saddle-stitched magazines, the centerfold does not have any blank space cutting through the image.
Little Annie Fanny is a comics series by Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder. It appeared in 107 two- to seven-page episodes in Playboy magazine from October 1962 to September 1988. Little Annie Fanny is a humorous satire of contemporary American society and its sexual mores. Annie Fanny, the title character, is a statuesque, buxom young blonde woman who innocently finds herself nude in every episode. The series is notable for its painted, luminous color artwork and for being the first full-scale, multi-page comics feature in a major American publication.
Kimberley Conrad is an American model. She was chosen as Playboy's Playmate of the Month in January 1988 and became Playmate of the Year 1989. Conrad was Hugh Hefner's second wife and is mother to two of his four children. In 2017, at the age of 55, she duplicated her Playmate of the Year cover along with Renee Tenison, Candace Collins, Lisa Matthews, Cathy St. George, Charlotte Kemp, and Monique St. Pierre nearly three decades on.
Barbi Benton is an American retired model, actress, television personality, and singer. She appeared in Playboy magazine, as a regular on the comedy series Hee Haw, and recorded several moderately successful albums in the 1970s. After the birth of her first child in 1986, Benton retired from show business.
Holly Madison is an American television personality, best known as a former girlfriend of Hugh Hefner and for her appearance in the reality television show The Girls Next Door. She also starred in her own reality series, Holly's World, which ran from 2009 to 2011. She has released two books, Down the Rabbit Hole in 2015, about her life in the Playboy Mansion and her relationship with Hefner, and The Vegas Diaries: Romance, Rolling the Dice, and the Road to Reinvention in 2016.
The Girls Next Door is a reality television series which focuses on the lives of Hugh Hefner's girlfriends who live with him at the Playboy Mansion. The series was created by executive producer Kevin Burns and Hefner, founder of Playboy magazine. The series premiered on the E! cable network on August 7, 2005 and ran for 6 seasons. The first five seasons centered around then-girlfriends, Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson. The sixth and final season premiered on October 11, 2009 and introduced Hefner's new girlfriends, Crystal Harris, who eventually went on to marry Hefner, and twins Kristina and Karissa Shannon.
Izabella St. James is a television personality and a former girlfriend of Hugh Hefner, editor/publisher of Playboy magazine. She is best known as the author of a memoir entitled Bunny Tales: Behind Closed Doors at the Playboy Mansion, published 2006, about activities at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles.
Eugena Washington is an American model. She was born in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. She was the last eliminated on America's Next Top Model, Cycle 7. She was named Playmate of the month for December 2015, and later Playmate of the year for 2016. She was the third black model to be given the title, the first to be named in Playboy's post-nude era, and the last Playmate of the year to be chosen by Hugh Hefner himself at the Playboy Mansion, before he stepped down from the company in late 2016 and his son, Cooper Hefner, briefly succeeded him before Hugh's death in 2017. She appeared in the music video of rapper B.o.B's single "Nothin' on You".
Crystal Hefner is an English model who was the Playboy Playmate of the Month for December 2009, and the third wife of Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner from December 2012 until his death in September 2017.
Matt Whelan is a New Zealand actor and comedian. Whelan is known for his roles as Brad Caulfield in the New Zealand television comedy-drama programme Go Girls. He has also played Playboy founder Hugh Hefner in the Amazon Original series American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story. Whelan plays DEA agent Van Ness in the Netflix original series Narcos.
Kendra is an American reality television series that debuted on the E! cable network, on June 7, 2009. The program is the first spin-off of The Girls Next Door, and documents the life of model Kendra Baskett, a former girlfriend of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, after moving out of the Playboy Mansion, including her engagement and marriage to football player Hank Baskett and her adjustment to being a first-time mother.
Emmett Skilton is a New Zealand actor and director.
Jarrett Maier is an American actor known for playing Hugh Hefner as a teenager in the Amazon Studios series American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story.
Holly Melissa Shervey, is a television and film actress and writer. She is an Australian-born New Zealander.