After two scandalous years of dealing with an extramarital affair, an illegitimate son, and a high-profile separation, Arnold Schwarzenegger was all set to wipe the slate clean with a wholesome Hollywood comeback story.

Before he rose to notoriety as the founder of Penthouse magazine, Bob Guccione allegedly wrote letters soliciting customers to buy his dirty photos at the bargain rate of 10 photos for $2 under the pseudonym of "Robert Gucci."

Penthouse Founder Bob Guccione has died of cancer. He was 79. Guccione was once one of America's richest men because he published a softcore porno mag where women actually showed their vaginas. Then the Internet happened. [Image via AP]

Hedge funder Phil Falcone and his wife Lisa Maria have a grand vision for the $49 million townhouse they bought from Bob Guccione. A peek at their plans show the redesigned home will be as eccentrically awesome as the original.

Model/actress/designer Milla Jovovich turns 34 today. Hardball host Chris Matthews is turning 64. Penthouse founder Bob Guccione is 79. Director Peter Farrelly (There's Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber) turns 53. Pete Briger, the president of Fortress Investment Group, is 46. Actor Giovanni Ribisi is turning 35. R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills is turning 51. Actor Bill Pullman is 56. Ultimate fighting champion Chuck Liddell is 40. And actor Eugene Levy turns 63 today.

Bob Guccione's former mansion on the Upper East Side is about to get a lot less porntastic. The 27-room townhouse that the Penthouse founder once decorated with neo-Classical female busts, Byzantine style fountains, and a Roman-inspired indoor pool (left!) was seized by creditors after his business empire went bust a few years back, and was purchased by hedge funder Phil Falcone and his wife Lisa Maria for $49 million in 2008. Now some big changes are on the way. Falcone's petition to dramatically renovate the home, demolish much of the interior, and scrap Guccione's treasured pool was approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday, which means another vestige of NYC's filthy past will soon be history. A moment of silence, please! [Curbed, previously]

The Brooks Brothers-clad financistas are going to ruin everything that is awesome in Manhattan, including Penthouse founder Bob Guccione's Upper East Side den of sin. New owner Philip Falcone is going to renovate and remove all the awesomest details.

Bob Guccione once lived like a king. The founder of Penthouse magazine, Guccione was once enormously wealthy (he made the Forbes 400 list in the early '80s), and he resided in a massively ornate townhouse off Fifth Avenue decorated with neo-Classical female busts, Byzantine style fountains, and carved marble commodes (above). Then he got a little too ambitious and tried to expand his empire by building a nuclear power plant (no joke) and a casino (slightly more plausible, but no more successful), and by the early '00s—just as the Internet was making his flagship magazine increasingly irrelevant—Guccione's business went bust.

Last night we mentioned a creepy auction of the Plato's Retreat-era marble fixtures that adorned Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione's notorious apartment. Here, from the auction house's web site, is a visual taste of how the Gooch lived in his heyday.

Yesterday in Norwalk, Connecticut the contents of former Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione's massive former townhouse were auctioned off for charity. Not surprisingly, some of the items in the auction were, uh, different, which somehow caught some potential buyers by surprise.

• Giuseppe Cipriani hasn't been seen in New York for months, but he says that has nothing to do with the handful of investigations now underway, or because he's banned from the US. He's just "busy" and says he'll return to New York "soon." His son Ignazio has been busy, too. The 20-year-old has been charged with third-degree assault for beating up a limo driver outside 1OAK back in December. [NYP, R&M]
• The latest man to fall into Paris Hilton's clutches: She was was spotted at Sundance making out with MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe. [P6, NYDN]
• Prince William's girlfriend, Kate Middleton, may be planning to move to New York to take a job in fashion, thanks to advice she received from Tom Ford and Anna Wintour. [Daily Express]
• Maureen Dowd threw a big party on Sunday eve to honor of David Geffen. In attendance: Tom Hanks, Jeff Zucker, David Katzenberg, Ron Howard, and George Stephanopoulos, who knocked over a tray of martinis and left the party red-faced. [P6]

Hardball host (and potential political candidate) Chris Matthews is turning 63 today. Model/designer Milla Jovovich is turning 33. Peter Briger, the beleaguered president of Fortress Investment Group, is 45. Actor Eugene Levy turns 62. Giovanni Ribisi is 34. R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills is 50. And Penthouse founder Bob Guccione is turning 78.