Hefner learned about love from movies

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy magazine, says he first learned about love by watching scores of Hollywood movies as a child.

The 82-year-old magazine icon said movies were his first true love in life and they were the first to offer insights into the world of romance and love, the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site Saturday.

"Everything I learned about love, I learned from the movies," Hefner said. "The reality is because I was not shown affection, I escaped into an alternate universe, and it came right out of the movies. Love for me is defined almost exclusively in terms of romantic love as defined by the films of my childhood."

Hefner's discussion of the influence of film comes as his life is about to become the focus of a Hollywood work of its own.

The Playboy founder told the Times his hope for the upcoming Hollywood production of his life is that it actually touches on something significant.

"The one thing I would want the film to be is something other than a light comedy, to have something to say and express something about the change in social sexual values," Hefner said.