Bob Guccione

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Guccione was born in Brooklyn, New York, of Italian (Sicilian) descent and raised Catholic in Bergenfield, New Jersey, the eldest child of Anthony, an accountant, and Nina, a housewife. An altar boy, he considered but rejected entering the priesthood. He attended high school at Blair Academy, a prep school in Blairstown, New Jersey. In his teens, Guccione married his first wife, Lilyann Becker, and they had a daughter, Tonina (1949–2020). The marriage failed, and he left his wife and child to go to Europe to be a painter. He eventually met an English woman, Muriel Hudson, moved to London with her, and married her; they had four children. To support his family, Guccione managed a chain of laundromats until he got work as a cartoonist on an American weekly newspaper, The London American, while Muriel started a business selling pinup posters. He occasionally created cartoons for Bill Box's humorous greeting card company Box Cards. Penthouse began publication in 1965 in the United Kingdom and in North America in 1969. Owing to his lack of resources, Guccione personally photographed most of the models for the magazine's early issues.

Reader's Guide

Bob Guccione's significance lies in his transformation of the adult magazine industry. Penthouse offered editorial content that was more sensational and far more investigative than other men's magazines, with stories about government cover-ups and scandals. Writers such as Craig S. Karpel, James Dale Davidson, Ernest Volkman, and the critically acclaimed Seymour Hersh exposed numerous scandals and corruption at the highest levels of the United States government. The magazine's pictorials were the first to show female pubic hair, followed by full-frontal nudity and then the exposed vulva and anus. In the early 1970s, Guccione invested around US$45 million in construction of Haludovo Palace Hotel, a luxury hotel resort in Malinska on Krk Island near Rijeka on the northern Adriatic coast of Yugoslavia; the hotel went bankrupt the next year. In 1976, Guccione used about US $17.5 million of his personal fortune to finance the controversial historical epic erotic film Caligula, with Malcolm McDowell in the title role and a supporting cast including Helen Mirren, John Gielgud and Peter O'Toole. Guccione also created the magazines Omni, Viva, and Longevity. In 1982, Guccione was listed in the Forbes 400 ranking of wealthiest people, with a reported $400 million net worth. An April 2002 New York Times article quoted Guccione as saying that Penthouse grossed $3.5 billion to $4 billion over the 30-year life of the company, with a net income of almost $500 million. In 2003, General Media, Penthouse's publisher, filed for bankruptcy protection. Guccione resigned as chairman of the board and CEO of Penthouse International, Inc.

Did You Know?

• Guccione was an altar boy and considered but rejected entering the priesthood.
• He personally photographed most of the models for Penthouse's early issues due to lack of resources.
• Penthouse was the first mainstream men's magazine to show female pubic hair, followed by full-frontal nudity and exposed vulva and anus.
• Guccione invested around US$45 million in the Haludovo Palace Hotel in Yugoslavia, which went bankrupt the next year.
• In 1975, Guccione was honored by Brandeis University for focusing his editorial attention on issues like the welfare of Vietnam veterans and problems of criminality.