In its first issue, in 1953, she was named “Sweetheart of the Month,” a title that would later evolve into “Playboy Playmate.”Īlso Read: Hugh Hefner Sex Diaries: Who Gets Mythical Videotapes, Logs of Mansion Romps? Hefner, who died at age 91 on Wednesday, will be buried in Los Angeles’ Westwood Village Memorial Park in a plot right next to Monroe’s, People reports.Īs Hefner said in an interview with “Fresh Air” in 1999, he was trying to draw attention to his publication when he paid $500 to buy a nude photo of Monroe. Hefner never paid Monroe for the use of her photo, shot by photographer Tom Kelley in 1949, when she was desperately short of cash. She has been quoted saying she had “a real washboard stomach” in the photo because she hadn’t eaten much in several days. The shoot might have ruined Monroe’s career, if she hadn’t handled it so masterfully.
When the photo surfaced in 1952, according to Time Magazine, studio bosses begged Monroe, then a rising star, to deny they were of her.
