Remembering Hugh Hefner
Hugh Hefner and Me, Post-Interview/Hope Anderson ProductionsMy first and only meeting with Hugh Hefner, who died yesterday at 91, took place in 2008, when I interviewed him for my documentary "Under the Hollywood Sign." Our meeting took place at the Playboy Mansion, in a room that was permanently lit and dressed for filming. It was an afternoon of rules and rituals: after announcing myself at the hidden intercom outside the gate ("talk to the rock," in "Entourage" parlance) I was instructed to stand with my crew in the courtyard until the PR rep admitted us. Peacocks wandered by as we waited, and noises from unseen animals eminated from the zoo. Once we were inside and set up, Hugh Hefner appeared in his trademark silk smoking jacket. He sat down in a throne-like chair and the interview began.
It was a strange, yet not entirely unfamiliar, experience. At fifteen, I toured Buckingham Palace with my family, a visit made possible by a former employee of my father's company who was then Keeper of the Privy Purse. After watching the Changing of the Guard from inside the gates, we trooped through the Palace's public rooms, all of them vast and a hundred years behind the times in their decor. The Playboy Mansion, with its protocol and fusty oak paneled rooms, was the closest I've come to revisiting Buckingham Palace, though unlike the Queen, Hugh Hefner was present. He was also gracious. After the interview, I told him that reading my father's Playboy magazines as a child had given me an excellent sex education, which didn't surprise him in the least. We posed for a picture, he exited and I was soon outside the gates again, in the real world.
"Under the Hollywood Sign" is available on DVD and streaming at www.hopeandersonproductions.com
Related article:
https://underthehollywoodsign.wordpress.com/2010/04/28/hef-saves-the-hollywood-sign-again/