“I can make clear at this time,” he says, “that I am not the father of the child.”

The Playboy magnate enjoys his laugh about the paternity uncertainties still swirling around Anna Nicole Smith, but his feelings about the former Playmate turned pop icon are no joke. In serious fashion, his bunny empire will offer three upcoming Smith tributes: a 10-page pictorial in the magazine’s May issue, an hourlong retrospective on Playboy TV and an online memorial on Playboy.com.

Smith, who first appeared on the magazine’s cover in March 1992 and was named Playmate of the Year in 1993, was 39 when she died of an accidental drug overdose in February.

So what was it about the buxom blonde Texan that Hefner found so alluring?

“It was her presence in front of the camera,” he told The Associated Press on Thursday, chatting in the library of his famed Playboy Mansion. “She was one of those who loved being in front of the camera and came alive in front of the camera. There was very clearly a Marilyn Monroe quality about her and that aspiration was clear from the very beginning. She talked about Marilyn Monroe all the time.”

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