Hugh Hefner was laid to rest next to Marilyn Monroe in a private ceremony in L.A. on Saturday, September 30.
TMZ reports that the Playboy founder, who died on Wednesday, September 27, at the age of 91, was farewelled in an intimate ceremony attended by his four children, wife Crystal Harris and some Playboy staffers at the Westwood Village Memorial Park in L.A. at noon on Saturday.
Hef was placed in a crypt to the left of Monroe’s. He bought the burial spot in the Corridor of Memories Mausoleum in 1992 for $75,000.
The movie star, who died in 1962 at the age of 36, appeared on the cover of the first issue of Playboy magazine in December 1953, and Hef said in 2012 that he felt a “double connection” to Monroe, who was born the same year as him.
The businessman told the Los Angeles Times in 2009 that he had many friends buried at Westwood and that as he lived close by, it was almost the neighborhood cemetery.
“I’m a believer in things symbolic,” he told the Times. “Spending eternity next to Marilyn is too sweet to pass up.”
Hefner’s four children — Christie, 64, David, 62, Marston, 27, and Cooper, 26 — were spotted raising a glass to their father over dinner at Katsuya in Brentwood, California, on Thursday, September 28, one day after his death.
“My father lived an exceptional and impactful life as a media and cultural pioneer and a leading voice behind some of the most significant social and cultural movements of our time in advocating free speech, civil rights and sexual freedom,” Cooper, who is the chief creative officer of Playboy Enterprises, wrote in a statement on Twitter. “He defined a lifestyle and ethos that lie at the heart of the Playboy brand, one of the most recognizable and enduring in history. He will be greatly missed by many, including his wife Crystal, my sister Christie and my brothers David and Marston, and all of us at Playboy Enterprises.”
