The land around the Hollywood sign was going to be turned into luxury estates if someone didn't buy the 138-acre parcel first. A conservation group has now raised the cash. Who was the last-minute donor? The founder of Playboy, naturally.

The Hef donated the final $900,000 to the Trust for Public Land, which purchased the 138-acre plot around the sign from a development company for $12.5 million. (Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and Getty heir Aileen Getty also gave sizable donations to save Cahuenga Peak.) Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said the final donation was the "Hollywood ending we hoped for." (Because so many movies end with the underdogs getting nearly a million bucks from a philandering philanthropist who made his dough selling beat-off rags.)

"My childhood dreams and fantasies came from the movies, and the images created in Hollywood had a major influence on my life and Playboy," the Hef explained to reporters today, Well, he always did know a thing or two about peaks, so it should be no surprise he wants to save a set of mountains.

[Photo via AP]