Hugh Hefner will be buried alongside Marilyn Monroe.

Hugh Hefner

Hugh Hefner

The Playboy founder - who sadly passed away at the age of 91 of natural causes on Wednesday (27.09.17) - owns the crypt next to the Hollywood icon's at the Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles, which he is reported to have purchased for $75,000 in 1992.

The Hollywood icon - who died in 1962 at the age of 36 - was the first-ever cover star in Playboy magazine, which was first published in 1953 and the issue sold over 50,000 copies.

Hugh, who set up the brand up in his kitchen with just $8,000 to get it off the ground, revealed in an interview in the publication in 2000 that it was his comedian friend Jay Leno, 67, that suggested he should buy the plot.

Not only did the showbiz legend want to be near to the 'Some Like It Hot' actress, but he also has several friends buried there, including jazz musician Buddy Rich and Canadian Playboy Playmate, Dorothy Stratten, who was murdered in 1989.

He said at the time: "Jay Leno suggested that if I was going to spend that kind of money, I should actually be on top of her.

"But to me there's something rather poetic in the fact that we'll be buried in the same place. And that cemetery also has other meanings and connections for me. Friends like Buddy Rich and Mel Torme are buried there. So is Dorothy Stratten."

Hugh "peacefully passed away" surrounded by his family at the famous Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles.

A rep for the Playboy Enterprises businessman said in a statement: "Hugh M. Hefner, the American icon who in 1953 introduced the world to Playboy magazine and built the company into one of the most recognizable American global brands in history, peacefully passed away today from natural causes at his home, The Playboy Mansion, surrounded by loved ones."

He leaves behind his third wife, Crystal Harris, a former Playboy Playmate who he married in 2012, and four children.

Hugh was previously married to Kimberley Conrad from 1989 to 2010 and Millie Williams from 1949 to 1959.