LOS ANGELES (AP) – It might have been another legendary party at the Playboy Mansion, except Hugh Hefner didn’t make an appearance.
The Playboy founder was a no-show Tuesday night at a celebration of the new Amazon series about his life, “American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story.” His youngest son, 25-year-old Cooper Hefner, who became Playboy’s chief creative officer last year, hosted the mansion party to screen an episode from the 10-part series, premiering Friday.
“He will kill me if I print or if you say anything about him retiring,” the younger Hefner said of his father. “But I think he is really enjoying his life as a 90-year-old at the mansion.”
“Hef” turns 91 on Sunday, and he’ll celebrate as he has for decades, his son said: with a screening of “Casablanca” in his home theater with his guests dressed in 1940s attire.
Cooper Hefner said his father is doing “great” (“His back is bad – that comes along with aging”) and remains editor in chief of Playboy magazine. The magazine, though, isn’t the future of Playboy. The younger Hefner is “not a part of the publishing generation.”