Porn purveyor Larry Flynt, who built Hustler magazine into an adult entertainment empire while championing First Amendment rights, died Wednesday. He was 78.
Flynt had been in frail health and died of heart failure at his Hollywood Hills home, said his nephew, Jimmy Flynt Jr.
From his beginnings as an Ohio strip club owner to his reign as founder of one of the most explicit adult-oriented magazines, Flynt constantly challenged the establishment and became a target for the religious right and feminist groups.
Flynt scored a surprising U.S. Supreme Court victory over the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who had sued him for libel after a 1983 Hustler alcohol ad suggested Falwell had lost his virginity to his mother in an outhouse.
Flynt's company produced not only Hustler but other niche publications. He owned a video production company, various websites, a Los Angeles-area casino, and 10 Hustler boutiques. He also licensed the Hustler name to independently owned strip clubs.
People are also reading…
His publishing and financial successes were offset in equal measure by controversies and tragedies.
Shot by a sniper in 1978, Flynt was paralyzed from the waist down and used a wheelchair the rest of his life. He fought battles with drug and alcohol addiction, and his fourth wife died of a heroin overdose.
His daughter, Lisa Flynt-Fugate, died in a 2014 car crash in Ohio at age 47.
With a fortune estimated at more than $100 million, Flynt spent his later years in the political arena. When Gov. Gray Davis was recalled by California voters in 2003, Flynt was among 135 candidates who ran to replace him. He called himself "a smut peddler who cares" and gathered more than 15,000 votes.
A self-described progressive, Flynt was no fan of Donald Trump. Before the 2016 election, he offered payment of up to $1 million for video or audo recordings of Trump engaging in illegal or "sexually demeaning or derogatory" activity.
In 2017, Flynt offered a $10 million reward for evidence that would lead to Trump's impeachment, and in 2019 Larry Flynt Publications sent a Christmas card to some Republican congressional members that showed Trump lying dead in a pool of blood, with the killer saying: "I just shot Donald Trump on Fifth Avenue and no one assassinated me"— a reference to Trump's boast that he could commit such a killing and wouldn't lose votes.
Flynt's life was depicted in the acclaimed 1996 film "The People vs. Larry Flynt," which brought Oscar nominations for director Milos Forman and Woody Harrelson, who played Flynt.
Photos: Hustler publisher Larry Flynt dies at 78
Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt talks with some of his supporters outside the Hamilton County Courthouse in Cincinnati, Ohio, Friday, Feb. 18, 1978, after posting bond on charges of disseminating information material harmful to a juvenile and selling obscene material. (AP Photo)
Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt and his wife Althea Leasure hold hands as they wait for the start of their obscenity trial in a Cincinnati, Ohio courtroom, Jan. 10, 1977. Flynt and some associates are charged with conspiring to produce pornography by publishing and selling Hustler. (AP Photo/Brian Horton)
Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt speaks at news conference at his Bel Air home in Los Angeles Oct. 28, 1983. (AP Photo/Wally Fong)
Larry Flynt, purveyor of pornography, collector of Tiffany lamps, is shown during an interview in his dark, opulent office in Beverly Hills, Calif., June 21, 1995. The man who founded Hustler magazine owns a publishing empire valued at $100 million. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
FILE - Hustler magazine founder Larry Flynt poses for photographers on the red carpet during the RainbowPUSH Coalition 10th annual awards dinner celebrating Jesse Jackson's 66th birthday, on Nov. 8, 2007, in Los Angeles. Flynt, who turned "Hustler" magazine into an adult entertainment empire while championing First Amendment rights, has died at age 78. His nephew, Jimmy Flynt Jr., told The Associated Press that Flynt died Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, of heart failure at his Hollywood Hills home in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok, File)
FILE - 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. His nephew, Jimmy Flynt Jr., told The Associated Press that Flynt died Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, of heart failure at his Hollywood Hills home in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
FILE - "Hustler" magazine publisher Larry Flynt arrives in a wheelchair for the 54th annual Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 19, 1997, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Flynt, who turned "Hustler" magazine into an adult entertainment empire while championing First Amendment rights, has died at age 78. His nephew, Jimmy Flynt Jr., told The Associated Press that Flynt died Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, of heart failure at his Hollywood Hills home in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
FILE - "Hustler" magazine publisher Larry Flynt is seen at his home on June 1978, in Ohio. Flynt, who turned "Hustler" magazine into an adult entertainment empire while championing First Amendment rights, has died at age 78. His nephew, Jimmy Flynt Jr., told The Associated Press that Flynt died Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, of heart failure at his Hollywood Hills home in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck, File)
FILE - "Hustler" magazine publisher Larry Flynt is surrounded by heavy security as he arrives at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta on March 19, 1979, for the start of his trial on obscenity charges. Flynt, who turned "Hustler" magazine into an adult entertainment empire while championing First Amendment rights, has died at age 78. His nephew, Jimmy Flynt Jr., told The Associated Press that Flynt died Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, of heart failure at his Hollywood Hills home in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
FILE - "Hustler" Magazine publisher Larry Flynt signs a copy of "The People Vs. Larry Flynt" in his downtown Cincinnati "Hustler" store on April 30, 1998. Flynt, who turned "Hustler" magazine into an adult entertainment empire while championing First Amendment rights, has died at age 78. His nephew, Jimmy Flynt Jr., told The Associated Press that Flynt died Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, of heart failure at his Hollywood Hills home in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Tom Uhlman, File)
FILE - Publisher of "Hustler" magazine Larry Flynt is seen with a briefcase full of cash on Oct. 27, 1983, in Los Angeles. Flynt, who turned "Hustler" magazine into an adult entertainment empire while championing First Amendment rights, has died at age 78. His nephew, Jimmy Flynt Jr., told The Associated Press that Flynt died Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, of heart failure at his Hollywood Hills home in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Wally Fong, File)
FILE - "Hustler" magazine founder and gubernatorial candidate Larry Flynt talks to reporters as he arrives to cast his vote in the recall election, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2003, in West Hollywood, Calif. Flynt, who turned "Hustler" magazine into an adult entertainment empire while championing First Amendment rights, has died at age 78. His nephew, Jimmy Flynt Jr., told The Associated Press that Flynt died Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, of heart failure at his Hollywood Hills home in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Rene Macura, File)
FILE - "Hustler" magazine publisher Larry Flynt leave the Supreme Court building in Washington on Dec. 3, 1987, after a case was heard. Flynt, who turned "Hustler" magazine into an adult entertainment empire while championing First Amendment rights, has died at age 78. His nephew, Jimmy Flynt Jr., told The Associated Press that Flynt died Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, of heart failure at his Hollywood Hills home in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi, File)
FILE - "Hustler" magazine publisher Larry Flynt reads his Christmas statement to the press on Dec. 18, 1977, in New York. Flynt, who turned "Hustler" magazine into an adult entertainment empire while championing First Amendment rights, has died at age 78. His nephew, Jimmy Flynt Jr., told The Associated Press that Flynt died Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, of heart failure at his Hollywood Hills home in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/ Suzanne Vlamis, File)
FILE - Dennis Hopper, right, gives Larry Flynt a hug as they arrive for the 69th Annual Academy Awards on March 24, 1997, in Los Angeles. Flynt, who turned "Hustler" magazine into an adult entertainment empire while championing First Amendment rights, has died at age 78. His nephew, Jimmy Flynt Jr., told The Associated Press that Flynt died Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, of heart failure at his Hollywood Hills home in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Michael Caulfield, File)
