Larry Flynt
Portrayed by Woody Harrelson in a 1996 Milos Forman film, he famously beat televangelist Jerry Falwell in a case that went to the Supreme Court.
Larry Flynt, the tenacious, controversial and free-thinking entrepreneur who took a string of strip clubs and built them into Hustler, one of the world s most successful sex-based brands, has died. He was 78.
Flynt died Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles from a sudden illness, according to his manager Minda Gowen.
Flynt changed the face of publishing with
Hustler magazine, an explicitly lewd monthly featuring nude photos and crude, below-the-belt humor. Launched in 1974, it focused on a part of the female anatomy that Flynt felt
Larry Flynt, who built a porn empire before becoming a First Amendment champion, dies at 78 Author: Miles Corwin, Los Angeles Times Updated: February 10 Published February 10
Larry Flynt Publications Inc. (LFP) Publisher Larry Flynt comments on the resignation of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, during an interview with The Associated Press in his office in Beverly Hills, Calif. on March 14, 2008. Flynt, who turned Hustler magazine into an adult entertainment empire while championing First Amendment rights, has died at age 78. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
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Print article LOS ANGELES Larry Flynt, the son of a dirt-poor Kentucky sharecropper who amassed a pornographic publishing empire and later became an unlikely First Amendment champion and self-appointed arbitrator of political hypocrisy, has died at his home in Los Angeles.
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Larry Flynt ran his pornographic empire from the 10th floor of a Beverly Hills office tower, moving about the Roman columns and nude sculptures in an $85,000 gold-plated wheelchair high above the city.
A would-be assassin’s bullet had left him paralyzed, and assistants had to lift him to his feet on a regular basis to keep the blood flowing through his body. But none of it seemed to slow him down.
Though he made his reputation and his wealth in porn as founder of Hustler magazine, Flynt repackaged himself again and again an unlikely 1st Amendment champion, a self-appointed arbitrator of political hypocrisy and a born-again Christian who said he “hustled” for the Lord.
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Larry Flynt ran his pornographic empire from the 10th floor of a Beverly Hills office tower, moving about the Roman columns and nude sculptures in an $85,000 gold-plated wheelchair high above the city.
A would-be assassin’s bullet had left him paralyzed, and assistants had to lift him to his feet on a regular basis to keep the blood flowing through his body. But none of it seemed to slow him down.
Though he made his reputation and his wealth in porn as founder of Hustler magazine, Flynt repackaged himself again and again an unlikely 1st Amendment champion, a self-appointed arbitrator of political hypocrisy and a born-again Christian who said he “hustled” for the Lord.
Cincinnati Enquirer
Larry Flynt, the poor Kentucky boy who got rich and famous selling pornography, died Wednesday of heart failure at his home in Los Angeles. He was 78.
Flynt s brother Jimmy Flynt confirmed the death to The Cincinnati Enquirer, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Crude, rude and outspoken, Flynt made his fortune in the early 1970s after he turned a racy newsletter for his Ohio strip clubs into Hustler magazine.
His sexually explicit magazine trampled over boundaries set by competitors, such as Playboy, and set the stage for court battles over obscenity that redefined the meaning of community standards and made Flynt an unlikely champion of free speech.