Howard Hughes

The following fictional characters appear to have been, at least in part, patterned after Hughes:. Numerous discrepencies have emerged over the years, though the Lutz's continued claims that the book was essentially true help keep the legend alive in the public eye. Although Moore never produced proof of a marriage (and married five more times, while Hughes married Jean Peters), her book, The Beauty and the Billionaire, became a best-seller. Weber had admitted that much of the story was created over "many bottles of wine" with the Lutz's [5]. In 1984, Hughes' estate paid an undisclosed amount to Terry Moore, who claimed to have been secretly married to Hughes on a yacht in international waters off Mexico in 1949 and never divorced. Weber" [4]. Suits brought by the states of California and Texas claiming they were owed inheritance tax were both rejected by the court. Weinstein dismissed the Lutz's claims, saying "it appears to me that to a large extent the book is a work of fiction, relying in a large part upon the suggestions of Mr.

Supreme Court ruled that Hughes Aircraft was owned by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, who sold it to General Motors in 1985 for $5 billion. Weinstein. The U.S. District Court judge Jack B. Although it now appears that the "Mormon Will" may very well have been authentic, it is too late to change the verdict in the original trial since the statute of limitations has long since expired. Eventually, the claims against the news corporations were dropped for lack of evidence, and the remainder of the case was tried by Brooklyn U.S. The location where Dummar claimed to have picked up Hughes is 6 miles south of the Cottontail Ranch. Hoffman, Weber, and Burton immediately filed a countersuit alleging fraud and breach of contract.

Howard Harrell stated that he convinced his wife not to come forward during the trial since it might bring unwanted publicity. The story started to fall apart when the Lutz's filed suit against Paul Hoffman (a writer working on an account of the hauntings), William Weber (DeFeo's Lawyer), Bernard Burton, Frederick Mars (both clairvoyants who had examined the house), Good Housekeeping, New York Sunday News and the Hearst Corporation (who had published articles related to the hauntings), alleging invasion of privacy, misappropration of names for trade purposes, and mental distress. Beverly Harrell had wanted to come forward during the "Mormon Will" trial, and testify that Howard Hughes had been in the same general area and same time that Dummar claimed to have picked him up in the desert. The popular consensus today, however, among researchers of the incident is that "the facts depicted in the books (and the movies to follow) were written entirely as a profit making scheme" [3]. Howard Harrell stated that his wife had told him of Hughes' visits to the Cottontail Ranch. The book and the subsequent movies were promoted as being based on a true story, and for a time Anson's word that "There is simply too much independent corroboration of their narrative to support the speculation that [the Lutzes] either imagined or fabricated these events" held. The third witness is Howard Harrell, the widower of Madam Beverly Harrell, who ran the Cottontail Ranch in 1967. On January 14, 1976, George and Kathy Lutz, with their three children and their dog, Harry, fled the house on 112 Ocean Avenue, leaving most of their possessions behind.

Unable to locate Hughes, Deiro eventually flew back to Las Vegas alone, and learned later that Hughes somehow had made it back to the Desert Inn. After getting in touch with Father Ray, he managed to convince George and Kathy to take some belongings and stay at Kathy’s mother’s house in Deer Park, for the time being until they sorted out what problems were in the house. While waiting for Hughes, Deiro fell asleep and later awoke only to learn that Hughes had left the Cottontail Ranch a few hours earlier. To this day, events of this night have not been disclosed fully by any of the Lutz family, as they have described it as too frightening. Guido Roberto Deiro, a former pilot for Hughes Tool Company, stated that between Christmas and New Years during 1967 he flew Hughes in a Cessna 206 to a brothel called the Cottontail Ranch located in the same general area where Dummar claims to have picked up Hughes. By mid-January of 1976, and after another attempt at a house blessing by George and Kathy, they experienced what would be their final night in the house. John Meier, a former Hughes employee entrusted with the purchase of various mining properties, stated that Hughes left the Desert Inn Hotel on different occasions to visit mine sites in the same general area where Dummar claims to have picked up Hughes. When taking his advice and walking around the house doing the Lord’s prayer each of the rooms, George and Kathy would hear a chorus of voices telling them “Will you please stop!”.

Agent Gary Magnesen, supports Dummar's claims and brings to light three new witnesses. When it was apparent to the Lutz’s that something was wrong with their house that they could not explain rationally, it was suggested by a friend of George’s, who had had similar experiences in his house, that he and Kathy do a blessing of their own and open all the windows in the rooms and tell whatever was there to leave in the name of Jesus Christ. A 2005 book titled "The Investigation", written by retired F.B.I. Some of the experiences in the house for the Lutz family are as follows:. Melvin and Howard starring Jason Robards and Paul Le Mat is based on Dummar's tale. Each family member would experience different things as individuals which made such a profound psychological effect that it was difficult to explain them to even other family members that lived in the house, and it was like they “were each living in a different house”. The estate was eventually split between 22 cousins in 1983. The instances of paranormal activity were later described as being “in a three-ringed circus”.

The Mormon Will was one of 40 "wills" filed by 400 people claiming to be Hughes's heirs. Occurrences were subtle and escalated as time went by. He claimed a "mysterious man" gave him a document with instructions to deposit it at the LDS office. The sensations in the house experienced by the Lutz family did not happen at an accelerated pace instantly. After saying he knew nothing about the Mormon Will, mounting evidence forced Dummar to admit that he lied. Because they planned to use the room as a “sewing room” nothing else was mentioned of it, until much later after George and Kathy had fled the house. The court also declared Hughes died intestate. Instead he told them he felt uncomfortable in that room and would prefer it if nobody spent too much time in that room.

The Mormon Will was rejected by a Nevada court in June 1978 as a forgery. When leaving the house, Father Ray did not mention this incident to either George or Kathy, more than likely because he did not wish to cause them unnecessary concern. Dropping him off at the Sands Hotel, Dummar said the man told him he was Hughes. Much later, after fleeing, George and Kathy learned from Father Ray that when blessing a particular room on the second-storey, which would be referred to as the “sewing room” (formerly Marc and John Matthew DeFeo’s bedroom), he discovered an unnatural coldness in this room, and heard an unearthly voice telling him to “Get Out!” Startled by this, Father Ray was subsequently slapped by an unseen force. The man asked for a ride to Las Vegas. Father Ray arrived to do the house blessing on the day the Lutz’s were moving in and as they busily unpacked outside he went in and performed the house blessing. Highway 95, 150 miles (250 kilometers) north of Las Vegas. Being an ecclesiastical judge at the local Catholic establishment, Father Ray was not in the habit of doing house-blessings but since he and George were friends, he was doing it as a favour.

Dummar, who had appeared on Let's Make a Deal, among other game shows, claimed to reporters that late one evening in December 1967, he found a disheveled and dirty man lying along U.S. George only knew of one Catholic priest, named Father Ray, who was also a close friend, who agreed to do the house blessing. The "Mormon Will" gave a gas-station owner named Melvin Dummar a 1/16th share of Hughes's $2 billion estate. Kathy was a non-practising Catholic at the time and explained the process. A holographic will was soon found on the desk of an official of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. At the time George was a non-Catholic (at the time he was a non-practising Methodist) and had no experience with what a house blessing entailed. Speculation became rampant that he may have written a holographic will. When a friend of George’s learned of the house he insisted George have the house blessed.

After Hughes' death, an intensive search began for his will, but one could not be found. They moved in on December 18, 1975. The last car Howard Huges ever owned, a 1953 Buick Roadmaster Sedan, customized with a dust and air filter in the trunk, sold on Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction for $1,500,000. After family discussions, it was agreed that it was not an issue. Howard Hughes is interred in the Glenwood Cemetery in Houston. During their first inspection of the house the realtor told them about the DeFeo murders the previous November and asked if this changed their opinion on wanting to purchase the house. Hughes was in extremely poor physical condition at the time of his death; X-rays revealed broken-off hypodermic needles still embedded in his arms. Kathy had three children from a previous marriage and a black Labrador named Harry.

A subsequent autopsy determined kidney failure as the cause of death. George and Kathy were married in July and had their own houses, however they wanted to start a new life with a new home, for a new marriage. Years of severe self-neglect had made him practically unrecognizable, and the FBI had to resort to fingerprint identification to identify the body. The house on 112 Ocean Avenue remained empty for 13 months until late 1975, when George and Kathleen Lutz purchased the 2 ½ floor house. Hughes died on April 5, 1976, at the age of 70 while en route on an airplane from his penthouse in Mexico to Methodist Hospital in Houston. He was convicted of second degree murder and is currently serving a life sentence. Irving later spent fourteen months in jail. DeFeo's attorney pursued that line of questioning during the trial, only to have it backfire on him when DeFeo testified that he had not heard any voices the night of the murders [2].

Prior to the book's publication, however, Hughes (in a rare telephone conference) finally denounced Irving, and the entire project was eventually exposed as a hoax. However CourtTV's account of the murder case makes no mention of these claims, implying that DeFeo in fact did not contest his confession until the trial [1]. Hughes was such a reclusive figure that he hesitated in coming out to publicly refute Irving's statement, leading many people to place faith in the truth of Irving's claim. He also claimed when killing his parents the weapon made no sound when firing it. In 1972, author Clifford Irving created a media sensation when he claimed to have co-written an authorized autobiography of Howard Hughes. DeFeo also claimed to have seen shadow figures moving about the house during the murders. was ordered by President Nixon's aides with the intention of recovering potentially damaging papers documenting payments from Hughes to Nixon and establishing an apparent connection between Hughes and the Democratic Party (Larry O'Brien, the Democratic National Committee chairman whose office was broken into, had been a paid lobbyist for Hughes since 1968). The popular story of ensuing events is that DeFeo’s original claims were that the murders were mob-connected had changed to “hearing voices,” demonic possession, and being handed the murder weapon, a .35 calibre Marlin hunting rifle, by a “pair of black hands”.

According to some Watergate historians, the infamous 1972 burglary of Democratic headquarters in Washington, D.C. Ronald DeFeo Jr., the only surviving member, claimed that they had been murdered by the mob until he confessed to the murders. She would state only that she had not seen Hughes for several years before their divorce. On November 13, 1974, police found that all but one of the members of the family residing at 112 Oceanside Ave., the DeFeo's, had been murdered in the middle of the night. Peters refused to discuss her life with Hughes, and declined several lucrative offers from big-name publishers and biographers. Main Article: Ronald DeFeo, Jr. The usually untrusting Hughes surprised his aides when he did not insist on a confidentiality agreement from Peters as a condition of the divorce; aides reported that Peters was one of the few people Hughes never spoke ill of. The Lutz family, having lived in the house for only 28 days, fled their house with very few belongings, claiming to have been terrorized by paranormal phenomenon.

She agreed to a lifetime alimony payment of $70,000 a year, adjusted for inflation, and waived all claims to Hughes' estate. Thirteen months earlier the house on 112 Ocean Avenue was the scene of a brutal mass murder. In 1971, he divorced Jean Peters; they had been living apart for several years. Both book and film revolve around the Lutz family, who move into the Dutch Colonial home in the village of Amityville, a New York City suburb on the south shore of Long Island, New York village. Many of the hotels in which he stayed were forced to undergo major renovations to repair the damage Hughes had caused to the premises. . As he deteriorated, Hughes moved around to the Bahamas, Vancouver, London, and several other locations, always taking up residence in the top floor penthouse of his hotel and insisting on having the windows blacked out. The novel is also the basis of two movies made in 1979 and 2005.

His aides never offered the bribes, reporting to Hughes that Johnson had declined the offer, and that they had been unable to contact Nixon. The Amityville Horror was a best-selling 1977 novel by Jay Anson. Johnson and Richard Nixon if they would shut down the open-air nuclear weapons testing program in Nevada (Hughes was afraid of the risk posed by the residual nuclear radiation). The Amityville Horror (2005 film). He even once ordered his aides to offer $1 million each to presidents Lyndon B. The Amityville Horror (1979 film). Having bought up many of Las Vegas's major businesses, Hughes wielded enormous political and economic power in Nevada and was often able to influence the outcome of elections and ballot votes. Later it was theorized that it could have been “Jody”.

A few days after the order arrived, Hughes announced he had grown tired of banana-nut and only wanted vanilla ice cream, with the consequence that his aides were distributing free banana-nut ice cream to their friends and family for years after the fact. When he raced upstairs and to her room there was no sign of this mysterious entity. They put in a request for 350 gallons, the smallest amount the company could provide for a special order, and had it shipped from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. While checking the boathouse one night, George saw a pair of “red eyes” looking at him from Missy’s bedroom window. Hughes once took a liking to Baskin Robbins' banana-nut ice cream, and his aides sought to secure a bulk shipment for him only to discover that Baskin-Robbins had discontinued the flavor. When he got downstairs the noise would stop. In addition to supervising day-to-day business operations, they also went to great pains to satisfy Hughes's every bizarre whim. George would hear what was described as a “German marching band tuning up” or what also sounded like a clock radio playing not quite on frequency.

Hughes' considerable business holdings were overseen by a small panel unofficially dubbed "The Mormon Mafia" on account of the many Latter-day Saints on the committee. Nobody else heard these sounds even though it was loud enough to wake the house. A chronic insomniac, Hughes bought several local television stations (including KLAS-TV) so that there would always be something for him to watch in the early hours of the morning. He would race downstairs to see the dog sleeping soundly at the front door. He also purchased several other hotels/casinos (Castaways, New Frontier, The Landmark Hotel and Casino, Sands and Silver Slipper) from the Mafia, transactions which ultimately ended mob control of the city 's hotels and casinos. George would be awoken by the sound of the front door slamming when there was no door slamming. The elderly Howard Hughes moved with his entourage from hotel to hotel and from Beverly Hills to Boston to Las Vegas, where he eventually bought the Desert Inn after the proprietors threatened to evict him. The Lutz’s youngest daughter, Missy, developed an imaginary friend named “Jody” who it was later discovered was not so imaginary and who it would be discovered could change form from a little boy to a demonic pig-like creature.

In reality, it was an overreaction by Hughes to the syphilis diagnosis; fearful of the germs which might be lingering on his clothing, he torched his entire wardrobe as well as every piece of linen in his house.). There were cold spots and strange odours of scented perfume and excrement in certain areas of the house where there were no wind drafts or any piping whatsoever to explain a source. (In the film The Aviator (2004), this incident is depicted as his response to his breakup with Katharine Hepburn. This room had a profound effect on their dog, Harry, who refused to go near it and cowered away as if sensing something negative there. His syphilis was also indirectly responsible for a bizarre episode in which Hughes burned all his clothes. The room was referred to as “the red room”. After receiving medical treatment for his symptoms, Hughes was warned by his doctor not to shake hands for some time, and he avoided doing so for the rest of his life. This did not show up on the blue prints of the house.

The condition first manifested itself in the form of tiny blisters that erupted on his hands. Kathy discovered a small hidden crawl space behind shelving in the basement, the walls painted red. Hughes had contracted syphilis as a young man, and much of the strange behavior at the end of his life — his well-documented aversion to handshaking, for example — has been attributed by modern biographers to the tertiary stage of that disease. Kathy would feel a sensation as if “being embraced” in a loving manner, by an unseen force. He insisted on using paper towels to pick up objects, that he could insulate himself from germs. These details were later confirmed when they met with Ronald DeFeo’s defence attorney. Many biographies and fictionalized works have reported that he stored his urine in jars and wore Kleenex boxes as shoes, although it has been reported that he only did the latter once, as "protection" when a toilet flooded. Kathy would have vivid nightmares about the murders, and discovered which order the murders occurred and who was shot where.

Hughes by this time had become severely addicted to codeine, valium, and a number of other painkillers and was becoming increasingly frail. Later it would be learned that it was the estimated time of death with the DeFeo murders. Toward the end of his life, his inner circle was largely composed of Mormons because he considered them trustworthy — even though he was not a member of the Latter Day Saint movement.[2]. George would wake up around 3.15am every morning and then would go out to check the boathouse. Several doctors were kept in the house on a substantial salary, though Hughes rarely saw them and usually refused to follow their advice. They are part of a work of literature alleging supernatural events and have not been independently verified by impartial research. Though he always kept a barber on call, Hughes only had his hair cut and nails trimmed about once a year. This section contains allegations of events that support the contention that the house was actually haunted.

Hughes eventually became a complete recluse, locking himself away in darkened rooms in a drug-induced daze. This section contains information that is a part of the public record separate from specific allegations of supernatural events which form the heart of the book and movies. He was reportedly so concerned by the matter as to write a detailed memorandum to the film crew on how to fix the problem. While producing The Outlaw, Hughes became absorbed by a minor flaw in one of Jane Russell's blouses, claiming that the fabric bunched up along a seam and gave the appearance of two nipples on each of Russell's breasts. Hughes had displayed symptoms consistent with OCD his entire life: In the 1930s, close friends reported he was obsessed with the size of peas — one of his favorite foods — and used a special fork to sort them by size before he ate.

He was reported at different times to be terminally ill, mentally unstable, or possibly dead. Once one of the most visible men in America, he ultimately vanished from public view altogether, although the tabloids continued to follow rumors regarding his behavior and whereabouts. By the late 1950s, if not earlier, Hughes developed debilitating symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The operation, known as Project Jennifer, became public in February 1975 because burglars had obtained secret documents from Hughes' headquarters in June 1974.

Two nuclear-tipped torpedoes and some cryptographic machines were recovered, along with the bodies of six Soviet submariners who were subsequently given formal burial at sea in a filmed ceremony. This section is believed to have held many of the most sought after items, including its code book and nuclear missiles. But during the recovery a mechanical failure in the ship's grapple caused half of the submarine to break off and fall to the ocean floor. In the summer of 1974 Glomar Explorer attempted to raise the Soviet vessel.

Hughes' involvement provided the CIA with a plausible cover story, having to do with civilian marine research at extreme depths, and the mining of undersea manganese nodules. Thus the Glomar Explorer, a special-purpose salvage vessel, was born. He agreed. In 1972, Hughes was approached by the CIA to help secretly recover a Soviet submarine which had sunk near Hawaii four years before.

During the 1970s, Hughes went back into the airline business, buying airline Air West and renaming it Hughes Airwest. In the same year, TWA's management sued its chairman Hughes because of differences in running the company; he was forced to sell his stock in TWA in 1966 for more than $500 million. Hughes Space and Communications was founded in 1961. Shortly before the 1960 Presidential election, Richard Nixon was harmed by revelations of a $205,000 loan from Hughes to Nixon's brother that was never repaid.

On January 12, 1957, Hughes married actress Jean Peters; they divorced in 1971. It is America's second largest private foundation and the largest devoted to biological and medical research with a 2004 endowment of $12.4 billion. After his death in 1976, many thought that the balance of Hughes' estate would go to the institute, although it ultimately was divided among his cousins and other heirs, given the lack of a will to the contrary. The deal was the topic of a protracted legal battle between Hughes and the Internal Revenue Service which Hughes ultimately won.

In 1953, Hughes launched the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Delaware, formed with the express goal of basic biomedical research including trying to understand, in Hughes' words, the "genesis of life itself." It was viewed by many as a tax haven for his wealth: Hughes gave all his stock of the Hughes Aircraft Company to the institute, thereby turning the defense contractor into a tax-exempt charity. The remainder of Hughes Aircraft was sold to Raytheon in 1998. Portions of the company wound up with McDonnell Douglas, and eventually Boeing when those two companies merged. After the war, Hughes fashioned his company Hughes Aircraft into a major defense contractor.

RKO was sold in 1955. He interfered with production and even shut down shooting for weeks or months. Hughes acquired RKO in 1948, a struggling major Hollywood studio. The plane was on display alongside RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California for many years before being moved to McMinnville, Oregon, where it is now part of the Evergreen Aviation Museum.

government denied him the use of aircraft aluminum, which had been rationed, Hughes built the plane largely from birch in his Westchester, California facility to fulfill his contract. Because the U.S. Hughes was called to testify before the Senate War Investigating Committee to explain why the plane had not been delivered to the United States Army Air Forces during the war, but the committee disbanded without releasing a final report. government for use in World War II, but was not completed until after the war.

The plane was originally commissioned by the U.S. The Hercules flew only once (with Hughes at the controls) on November 2, 1947. One of his greatest endeavors was the H-4 Hercules, nicknamed the "Spruce Goose" (although its frame was built predominantly of birch), a massive flying boat completed just after the end of World War II. The trademark mustache he wore after the accident was meant to cover a scar on his upper lip resulting from the accident.

Many attribute his long-term addiction to opiates to his use of morphine as a painkiller during his convalescence. The injuries he sustained in the crash — including a crushed collar bone, six broken ribs and numerous third-degree burns — affected him for the rest of his life. Durkin who happened to be in the area. Hughes lay wounded beside the burning airplane until he was rescued by Marine master sergeant William L.

When the plane finally skidded to a halt after mowing down three houses, the fuel tanks exploded, setting fire to the plane and a nearby home. Hughes tried to save the craft by landing it on the Los Angeles Country Club golf course, but seconds before he reached his attempted destination the plane started dropping dramatically and crashed in the Beverly Hills neighborhood surrounding the country club. An oil leak caused one of the counter-rotating propellers to reverse its thrust, making the plane yaw sharply. Army spy plane XF-11 over Los Angeles.

Hughes was involved in a near-fatal aircraft accident on July 7, 1946, while piloting the experimental U.S. The airline would grow significantly under his leadership. In particular, Hughes helped specify the design of the Lockheed Constellation, with its pressurized cabin and distinctive tail, buying several planes for TWA in order to be able to fly high altitude (20,000 ft/6600 m) long distance routes above the turbulence of low altitude weather. Throughout the 1940s and into the 1950s, T&WA (which became Trans World Airlines) continued to bet on the most advanced planes available, largely due to Hughes' own interest in aircraft development.

By doing so, Hughes became the principal stockholder of T&WA in April 1939. He convinced Hughes, also enamored of avant-garde aircraft technology, to finance this purchase. In 1938, William John Frye, a former Hollywood stunt flier and the first director of operations of Transcontinental and Western Air (T&WA), put in an order for the new 33-passenger Boeing 307 Stratoliner, the first commercial plane with a pressurized passenger cabin. Truman.

According to his obituary in the New York Times, he never bothered to come to Washington to pick up the medal, and it was eventually mailed to him by President Harry S. Hughes received many awards as an aviator, including the Harmon Trophy in 1936 and 1938, the Collier Trophy in 1939, the Octave Chanute Award in 1940, and a special Congressional medal for his round-the-world flight. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas, known at the time as Houston Municipal Airport, was re-named "Howard Hughes Airport," but the name was changed back after people objected to naming the airport after a living person. In 1938, the William P.

For this flight he did not fly a plane of his own design but a Lockheed Super Electra (a twin engine plane with a four man crew). On July 10, 1938 Hughes set another record by completing a flight around the world in just 91 hours (3 days, 19 hours), beating the previous record by more than four days. The H-1 Racer influenced the design of a number of World War II fighter airplanes such as the Mitsubishi Zero, the Focke-Wulf FW190, and the F6F Hellcat.(see Wright Tools web site.) The H-1 Racer was donated to the Smithsonian in 1975 and is on display at the National Air and Space Museum. The H-1 Racer featured a number of design innovations: It had retractable landing gear and all rivets and joints set flush into the body of the plane, to reduce drag.

[1]. His average speed over the flight was 322 mph (515 km/h). A year and a half later (January 19, 1937), flying a somewhat re-designed H-1 Racer, Hughes set a new trans-continental speed record by flying non-stop from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds (beating his own previous record of 9 hours, 27 minutes). (The previous record was 314 mph (502 km/h).

On September 13, 1935, Hughes, flying the H-1, set the world speed record of 352 mph (588 km/h) over his test course near Santa Ana, California. The most important aircraft he designed was the Hughes H-1 Racer. He set many world records, and designed and built several aircraft himself while heading Hughes Aircraft. Hughes was a lifelong aircraft enthusiast, pilot, and self-taught aircraft engineer.

Less-significant affairs are rumored to have occurred between Hughes and a long list of celebrities. Jean Harlow accompanied him to the premiere of Hell's Angels, although it's uncertain if they were an item. Bessie Love was a mistress during his first marriage. Hughes was a notorious ladies' man, and allegedly had affairs with many famous women including Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Gene Tierney, and Ava Gardner.

Greta Keller, Vienna-born cabaret singer and actress and Bacon's widow, claimed later that Bacon wanted to get out of his contract with Hughes and had been prepared to reveal intimate details about their relationship in order to secure a release from the studio. Bacon's murder the following year sparked an investigation which brought to light allegations of a supposed sexual affair between Bacon and Hughes which may have indirectly led to Bacon's death. He signed an unknown actor David Bacon in 1932 to play Billy The Kid. Scarface and The Outlaw received attention from industry censors; Scarface for its violence, The Outlaw for Russell's physical charms.

Hughes's best-known film may be The Outlaw starring Jane Russell, for whom Hughes designed a special brassière. He spent a then-unheard-of $4 million of his own money to make Hell's Angels, which he wrote and directed and which became a smash hit, along with his 1932 film Scarface (which he produced). The Racket in 1928 and The Front Page in 1931 were nominated for Academy Awards. However, his first two films released in 1927, Everybody's Acting and Two Arabian Knights were financial successes, the latter winning an Academy Award for Best Director of a Comedy Picture.

He was at first dismissed by Hollywood insiders as a rich man's son. Hughes used his fortune to become a movie producer. He then enrolled at the Rice Institute (later known as Rice University). His father subsequently arranged for him to audit math and engineering classes at the California Institute of Technology.

He attended the Fessenden School in West Newton, Massachusetts (near Boston), and the Thacher School in Ojai, California. Despite attending many good schools, he never earned a diploma. As a teenager, Hughes declared that his goals in life were to become the world's best golfer, the world's best pilot, and the world's best movie producer. He founded Hughes Tool Company to commercialize this invention.

Hughes Sr., who invented the dual cone roller bit, which allowed rotary drilling for oil in previously inaccessible places. His parents were Allene Gano Hughes and Howard R. Hughes was born in Houston, Texas, USA, on December 24, 1905. .

. He is famous for building the Hercules airplane, commonly known as the Spruce Goose, and for his debilitating eccentric behavior later in life. Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was at times an aviator, an engineer, an industrialist, a movie producer, a playboy, an eccentric and one of the wealthiest people in the world. The cello trio Rasputina wrote a song "Howard Hughes" which was included in their CD Thanks For The Ether; lead singer Melora Creager has an ongoing preoccupation with Hughes (see [4]).

The British punk rock band The Tights wrote a song "Howard Hughes" which was the title track of their "Howard Hughes" single. "Aint No Fun (Waiting Round To Be A Millionare)" by AC/DC contains lyrics at the end "Hey Howard, get your fuckin' jumbo jet off my airport!". "My shoes, they once were worn by Howard Hughes" from My Place a song by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics on his album Sly-Fi. Gary Numan said the suited visage he used for the "Dance" and "I,Assassin" albums were patterned in part after Howard Hughes, whom he identified as one of his heroes.

An alternative recording was made for the John Peel show and released in 1995 on their "John Peel Sessions" album. Industrial outfit 70 Gwen Party released a 1994 single called "Howard Hughes" on Snape records (cat no SR011). Stan Ridgway's 1991 song "I Wanna Be a Boss" contains a reference to Howard Hughes as a role model for those who aspire to be eccentric, reclusive billionaires. Jim claims he is an undiscovered Howard Hughes.

Jim Croce's song "Workin' at the Carwash Blues" contains a Howard Hughes reference. 1970s Christian rocker Larry Norman's song "Without Love" contains a reference to Howard Hughes. Sole, a notoriously anti-capitalist rapper, had a song titled "MC Howard Hughes" on his album Bottle of Humans. 10cc namecheck Hughes in the hit song "Wall Street Shuffle", with the line "Oh, Howard Hughes, did your money make you better?".

John Hartford's 1972 album Morning Bugle includes the song "Howard Hughes Blues" which describes his solitary life of "poor old Howard Hughes and all of his blues". The final verse mentioned, "Often heard, seldom seen, Bargain Basement Howard Hughes, Hermit phase, a woodshed rage, these days headlines are few." Cantrell also made another Hughes/Staley reference on the Degradation Trip song "Pig Charmer" particuarly with the line: "Come on in, get high / Don't mind piss-filled bottles.". However, the song is actually about his former Alice in Chains bandmate Layne Staley. Jerry Cantrell, on the album Degradation Trip, wrote a song titled "Bargain Basement Howard Hughes".

The song "Reward" by British band The Teardrop Explodes includes the line "Live in solitude like Howard Hughes". The British shoegazer band Ride mentioned Howard Hughes in their song "Castle on the Hill"[3] In addition, they have a song titled "Howard Hughes" on their 1992 CD single Twisterella. The British progressive rock band Genesis mentioned "Howard Hughes in blue suede shoes" in their song "Broadway Melody of 1974", part of the album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. It was originally on their album Point of Know Return.

The band Kansas did a song about Howard Hughes, which they named "Closet Chronicles". The Boomtown Rats released the song "Me And Howard Hughes" on their record Tonic For The Troops in 1978. Leadbelly composed a folksong, "Howard Hughes", which accompanies the final credits of the film The Aviator. Portrayed by Terry O'Quinn in Disney's "The Rocketeer" (1991).

The fictional Derwent was a millionaire aviator and producer during the 1930's and 40's, and even takes credit for the design of a strapless bra worn in one of his movies. The character of Horace Derwent in Stephen King's The Shining is partially based on Hughes. One character (Andrea) likens Hughes to 'a proto-Virek'. In William Gibson's seminal science fiction novel Count Zero the key villain, industrialist Josef Virek, is identified with Hughes with respect to his wealth and reclusive nature.

Incidentally, a 1982 production of this play in London landed actor Ian McDiarmid the role of Palpatine in the Star Wars films, as it showed that the then 37-year old actor could convincingly play much older characters. The Sam Shepard play Seduced features a character named Harry Hackamore, modeled after Hughes. Melvin and Howard was spoofed on the sketch comedy series SCTV.. The film introduces Hughes as a potential investor of Tucker's automobile line, although such claims are unsubstantiated.

Dean Stockwell plays Hughes in the Francis Ford Coppola's biopic of automaker Preston Tucker, Tucker: The Man and His Dream. Steven Carter's novel I was Howard Hughes is a "picture of a Hughes who might have been.". Hughes appears in James Ellroy's political crime novel American Tabloid, and sequel The Cold Six Thousand. Saturday Night Live presented a comedy sketch portraying Hughes and his eccentric activities.

Hughes appears in an episode of the TV Series Dark Skies. Hughes makes an appearance in The Rocketeer, substituting for the "mystery inventor" (Doc Savage) in the original comic book version. "Howard Lockwood" in the Lupin III film Mystery of Mamo. "Jonas Cord" in Harold Robbins' novel The Carpetbaggers.

Hadden" of the Carl Sagan novel Contact, and the 1997 Robert Zemeckis film of the same name. "S.R. In The Disney Afternoon's TaleSpin, the characters join a group of businessmen for a dinner on the main deck of the moosehead-shaped seaplane, the "Spruce Moose", built by a reclusive hippopotamus with Hughes's characteristic mannerisms. The Simpsons episode "$pringfield" in which Montgomery Burns exhibits Hughes's OCD, including wearing tissue boxes on his feet, moving into a hotel penthouse, allowing his hair and nails to grow untrimmed, and creating an aircraft called the "Spruce Moose.".

Tony Stark, a wealthy inventor and industrialist who becomes Marvel Comics's Iron Man. "Willard Whyte" of the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever. This character was based on a composite of Howard Hughes and William Randolph Hearst. "Charles Foster Kane" of the Orson Welles film Citizen Kane.

The film focuses primarily on Hughes's achievements in aviation and in the movies and on the increasing handicap his obsessive-compulsive behavior represented in his 30s and onwards. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, and winning five, the film takes the usual bio-pic liberties (Ella Rice is not seen or mentioned although Hughes was married to her during the making of "Hell's Angels"). The Aviator (2004), directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Hughes. Graham and starring Tommy Lee Jones as Howard Hughes.

The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977), directed by William A. Ron Kistler - "I caught flies for Howard Hughes", Playboy Press (1976), ISBN 0872234479. Jack Real - "The Asylum of Howard Hughes", Xlibris Corporation (2003), ISBN 1413408753. Random House (1976).

James Phelan - "Howard Hughes: The Hidden Years". General Publishing Group (1996). Terry Moore and Jerry Rivers - The Passions of Howard Hughes. Terry Moore - The Beauty and the Billionaire, New York (1984).

Steele - Empire: The Life, Legend and Madness of Howard Hughes (1979) ISBN 0393075133 Republished in 2003 as Howard Hughes: His life and madness. Barlett and James B. Donald L. Michael Drosnin - Citizen Hughes: In his own words, how Howard Hughes tried to buy America, Broadway Books.

Robert Maheu and Richard Hack - Next to Hughes: Behind the power and tragic downfall of Howard Hughes by his closest adviser, HarperCollins (1992). Peter Harry Brown and Pat H Broeske - Howard Hughes: The untold story, Time Warner Paperbacks. Richard Hack - Hughes: The Private Diaries, Memos and Letters : The Definitive Biography of the First American Billionaire (2002) ISBN 1893224643. Marrett - Howard Hughes: Aviator (2004) ISBN 1591145104, Naval Institute Press.

George J.