Once known as one of the richest and most influential men of his era, Howard Hughes's luxurious life came to a sad and tragic end.
1. He Could Do Anything
A multifaceted, outgoing, and ceaselessly creative person, Howard Hughes did it all. From becoming a pilot, to an aerospace engineer, a businessman, a filmmaker, and even a philanthropist. It seemed like there was nothing Howard Hughes couldn't do. But then something changed.
And then he slowly started to become unhinged, showing increasingly bizarre behavior. Most people put down to his extreme wealth—but evidence later came out that Hughes’ tragic and unnecessary demise wasn't quite so simple.
2. He Was Well-Connected
Hughes came from a family with deep roots in the American mythology. On Hughes’ mother’s side of the family there was the man who baptized George Washington. Hughes’ cousins were the "First In Flight" Wright Brothers. On top of this, Hughes’ uncle was the Oscar-nominated novelist, screenwriter and film director Rupert Hughes.
Hughes would make his own name before long—but that's not always a good thing.
SDASM Archives, Wikimedia Commons
3. His Birth Is A Mystery
Howard Hughes was born to Allene Stone Gano and Howard R. Hughes Sr. After that things get a little fuzzy. His birth certificate states that Howard Hughes was born on Christmas Eve 1905 in Harris County, Texas. But then there’s his baptism certificate that says he was born on September 24, 1905—and gives no place of birth at all.
Wherever and whenever Hughes was born, we do know that he was an exceptional young man.
4. He Had Multiple Talents
When Hughes was just 11 years old, he built Houston’s first wireless radio transmitter and became the first licensed ham-radio operator in the state. The next year Hughes appeared in the newspaper as the first boy in Houston to have a motorized bicycle, which he built himself. By the time he was 14 years old, he’d already taken his first flying lesson.
He had so much going for him, but then fate served up a horrible tragedy.
5. There Were Two Tragedies
In 1922 when Howard was only 17 years old, tragedy struck. He lost his mother due to complications from an ectopic pregnancy. But this was just the beginning. Two years later, Hughes Sr. had a heart attack and passed. Suddenly, at the age of 17, Hughes had become an orphan.
His parents had passed so closely together that dad hadn’t changed his will. This fact would change Hughes’ life forever.
University of Nevada, Wikimedia Commons
6. He Was Emancipated
Likely dad wouldn’t have wanted to leave his entire, unfettered estate to his young son, but that’s exactly what happened. At 19 years of age Hughes became an emancipated minor, which granted him access to the vast sum of money he’d inherited as the sole child of rich parents. The first thing Hughes did was quit school and married his sweetheart, Ella Rice.
Hughes and his young wife went off to Los Angeles with a fortune to spend. This is going to be fun.
Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons
7. He Met An Actor
Hughes soon met actor Ralph Graves at LA's Wilshire Country Club. Graves was an actor, and he had a business opportunity for Hughes. Graves had written a film script and he knew the perfect actor to star in the picture: Himself! All he needed was the money to make the movie.
Hughes had an interest in movie making, so he handed over $40,000 to make the film. With no experience in filmmaking, Hughes was jumping into the deep end without a life jacket.
University of Washington, Wikimedia Commons
8. He Needed A Second Opinion
The movie Graves got Hughes to finance was Swell Hogan, but what actually swelled was the budget. It doubled to $80,000. Then, when young financier Hughes saw the finished product, he thought it wasn’t good at all. He took the movie to uncle Robert, who was in the industry, and asked his opinion. He didn't get the answer he was hoping for.
Universal History Archive, Getty Images
9. He Hated It
Robert Hughes thought Swell Hogan was so terrible that told his nephew to burn the only existing copy of it or else he and Graves would “be the laughing stock of Hollywood”. So, how bad was this film? We’ll never know, as Hughes took his uncle’s advice and destroyed the only copy.
Hughes’ first try at filmmaking had been a disaster, but he was not a quitter.
Harris & Ewing, Wikimedia Commons
10. He Searched The Country
Swell Hogan was a disaster, but Hughes kept at it and soon he was one of the biggest financiers in Hollywood—but he could be a little...hands on. For The Outlaw, Hughes did a huge search for just the right actor. Some claim he was just looking for a woman busty enough for his tastes. In the end, he found an unknown talent named Jane Russell, but The Outlaw seemed cursed. First the director quit, then the cinematographer.
Hughes took on the role of director, but he wasn’t making things any easier. You see, Hughes had a bad habit of focusing on the most unimportant details.
George Hurrell, Wikimedia Commons
11. He Obsessed
Yes, Hughes had hired Russell for her chest, but then he started obsessing about it. Hughes didn't think the camera was doing an adequate job of capturing Russell's assets, so he Hughes used his knowledge as an engineer to create a cantilevered bra that would fix this. Now that's obsession.
And the cherry on top? Russell hated the uncomfortable thing, told Hughes she would wear it and then threw it aside. Hughes did eventually finish the film, but his problems with it were just beginning.
Unknown Author. Wikimedia Commons
12. He Refused To Cut
The censors were not at all happy with Hughes’ libidinous film and wanted it heavily edited. Hughes was't willing to cut anything, so The Outlaw sat on the shelf for years. Hughes finally—and reluctantly—made the necessary edits and released The Outlaw in San Francisco. After the screening, the owner of the theater got in trouble with the authorities for screening a film that hadn't been approved.
The theater owner couldn’t believe he was in trouble because the whole point was that the censors had approved the film. As it turned out, Hughes had done something incredibly sneaky.
Harris & Ewing, Wikimedia Commons
13. He Switched Them
It came out later that the reels Hughes handed over to the theater owner were from his original cut, so he was showing a film deemed “offensive to decency”. Hughes sued the MPAA over the rating and appealed and lost every time.
The Outlaw, however, which critics called “second rate,” benefited from all the bad publicity and made a small fortune for Hughes. More successful films followed, but that wasn't the only thing going well: There was also Hughes’s love life.
14. He Dated Beauties
Hughe’s wife had divorced him and returned to Houston, so he decided it was a good time to date famous beauties. He had romantic connections to Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Ginger Rogers and Katherine Hepburn. And, if you believe the rumors, a few male beauties like Cary Grant and Tyrone Power as well.
Hughes was so happy with his life in the movies, that he decided it was time to make a huge purchase.
Warner Bros., Wikimedia Commons
15. He Sent Them Home
Hughes saw that RKO Pictures was struggling and decided to buy them out. When Hughes got to be the boss, he quickly fired 700 workers and seemed happy to reduce the output from 30 films a year to just 12.
Hughes had just gotten rid of the bulk of his workforce—and the ones that remained were in for the surprise of their lives.
16. He Did A Thorough Check
If the employees remaining at RKO thought they were lucky, they should think again. Hughes' next act was to completely shut down RKO for a shocking reason. He had suspicions that some of the employees may be communists. For six months, he investigated the background of every employee and made sure they were anti-communist.
Then he went a ridiculous step further.
Ernest Hamlin Baker, Wikimedia Commons
17. He Shut Them Down
Hughes had to be sure that all his employees had anti-communist political ideologies like his own. But that was not enough. He then went through all the films that were already in production and made sure the ideas behind these films were 100% anti-communist. If they weren’t, he shut the film down.
In some people’s opinions, Hughes was acting like a madman. Now he was going to have to explain himself.
UNC Greensboro Special, Flickr
18. He Bought It All
The shareholders of RKO were not at all impressed with Hughes behavior, so they started suing Hughes left, right, and center. These lawsuits were like buzzing insects around Hughes, and he wanted them stopped. Hughes had an easy solution. He just bought the entire company and became the sole owner of RKO.
This cost him $24 million. Surely this was a huge financial mistake.
19. He Went On A Buying Spree
Hughes eventually sold RKO to the General Tire and Rubber Company and laughed all the way to the bank. He made so much money from the sale that he could now get on with his next venture. This was in real estate. He purchased 1,200 acres of land in Culver City and over 4,000 acres in Tucson, Arizona.
Next Hughes hit Nevada and bought 25,000 acres near Las Vegas. Clearly, the man had a plan, but one careless mistake had the potential to derail it.
20. He Crashed
In 1936, Hughes got in his car and drove through the streets of Los Angeles. At a corner Hughes hit a pedestrian named Gabriel W Meyer. Meyer did not survive the crash, and Hughes himself had to go to the hospital with minor injuries. When the doctor examined Hughes, he noted that the millionaire had been drinking.
It looked like Hughes was in a heap of trouble.
21. He Went To Prison
A witness to Hughes’ accident said that Hughes' driving was erratic and Meyer had been safely within a streetcar stop when Hughes hit him. They threw Hughes into overnight prison, and it seemed like the end, as they wanted to charge him with homicidal negligence. Miraculously, the witness suddenly changed his story, and Hughes walked away from it all an innocent man.
This whole event seemed really suspicious, but Hughes shook it off and started on his new obsession. Breaking a world record.
22. He Broke A Record
In 1933, Wiley Post flew around the world in 186 hours and Hughes set his sights on beating that record—but he had an ulterior motive. He wanted the world to know that long distance air travel was safe. On July 14, 1938, Hughes and his crew landed in the Big Apple, beating Post’s record by an astonishing 95 hours. Waiting for him was a ticker tape parade.
The eccentric Howard Hughes was getting more and more famous by the day, but he had dark secrets lurking behind the scenes. Things that his adoring public would find offensive.
Bundesarchiv, CC-BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
23. He Had Her Followed
Back in the 1940s, Hughes dated Hollywood actor Jean Peters. Hughes eventually proposed marriage, but Peters said no because she was focusing on her career But there may have been another reason why Peters declined the millionaire. Maybe she noticed that Hughes was having his security men following her every step.
Well, years later they met again, and Peters forgot about his eccentricities and was ready to be his wife. Poor girl.
Studio Publicity, Wikimedia Commons
24. She Had A Friend
In 1957, Hughes and Peters tied the knot in a hotel in Nevada, but trouble was close at hand. While making Niagara with Marliyn Monroe, Peters had made a friend named Max Showalter. When Peters wanted to maintain her friendship with Showalter, he received a chilling threat. Through his security team, Hughes told Showalter that he would ruin his career if he didn’t stay away from Peters.
There were other bizarre behaviors. Ones that would do harm to Hughes himself.
Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons
25. He Liked To Binge
In 1958, Hughes decided he wanted to binge some movies. That might not sound too unusual—except Hughes’ idea of binge watching meant watching in a private studio for four full months. Hughes never left the studio, and he only ate chicken and chocolate and drank milk.
When he came out of the studio and into the harsh light of day, his loved ones were in for a disturbing surprise.
26. He Looked Horrible
Hughes had spent four months watching movies in the dark. When he came out of the studio he hadn’t taken a bath, cut his hair, or even clipped his finger and toenails. I can only imagine that he looked like a monster.
But if you think it's time for an intervention, it wasn't coming. Hughes learned no lesson from this extreme binge watching session. In fact, he was about to do it all over again.
27. He Only Wore A Napkin
This time, when Hughes wanted to binge watch movies he chose a more comfortable place: a bungalow at the rather-expensive Beverly Hills Hotel. Hughes sat around his bungalow watching movies and only wearing a pink hotel napkin to cover his private parts. In that single year, Hughes spent something close to $11 million at the hotel.
Of course, the million dollar question was: What the heck was he watching all this time?
28. He Put It On Repeat
One film Hughes liked to watch was Ice Station Zebra, a spy thriller starring Rock Hudson. Luckily, Hughes owned a TV station and he just demanded that they play it over and over again. They ran it over 100 times. If Hughes fell asleep and missed a part, he’d just call them up and have them replay it.
Movie binge watching was mostly just harmless fun. Soon, Hughes would be in the center of a huge presidential scandal.
29. There Were Shady Dealings
Most people know about the Watergate scandal involving then president Richard Nixon, but not everyone knows about Hughes’ involvement. Nixon, a Republican, had heard that the Democrats had information about some shady dealings Nixon had had with Hughes. This belief led Nixon into some very unpresidential behavior.
JOKA Press Photo Archive, CC-BY-SA-4.0, Wikimedia Commons
30. He Broke In
The idea that the Democrats had info about Nixon and Hughes’ illicit dealings infuriated Nixon and he made the mistake of his political career. He sent his men into the Watergate Hotel to steal info that, among other things, incriminated him regarding Hughes. As it turned out, there was no info at all, and Nixon lost his presidency. Oops.
Hughes was getting into dangerous situations and he needed an entourage to keep him safe. Of course, Hughes’ hiring criteria was just bizarre.
Indutiomarus, Wikimedia Commons
31. He Wanted Them Sober
One thing Hughes couldn’t abide was having members of the entourage drink on the job. To make sure this didn’t happen, Hughes wanted to hire people who didn’t drink at all. So, he went to the Mormon Church and hired his aides there. You see, the church forbids drinking of any kind.
Hughes’ entourage was getting big, and he had to find a place where he could house them all.
32. He Stayed A Long Time
By the late 1960s Hughes was moving from one hotel to another with his collection of aides and girlfriends. In November of 1966, Hughes and his entourage took a train to Las Vegas and went directly to the Desert Inn. Hughes wanted to stay for a long time, and he anticipated some problems from the staff and owners.
To avoid these problems Hughes did the simplest thing, He bought the place. But there was still one problem he had not anticipated.
Las Vegas News Agency, Wikimedia Commons
33. He Couldn’t Sleep
There was a major annoyance in the bedroom Hughes had chosen in the Desert Inn: The bright lights on the sign at the Silver Slipper casino kept him awake. Being the owner of the Desert Inn, Hughes could have changed rooms, but he came up with a better option: He simply bought the Silver Slipper and had the sign moved.
Hughes had taken care of his problems at bed time. Now, he had to tackle his bizarre dietary needs.
34. He Repeated
As Hughes got older, his behavior got more and more eccentric. For example, he always had the same thing for dinner: a medium rare steak, salad and peas—but only small peas. Breakfast had to be eggs made the way the family cook had made them when he was a child.
It seemed that Hughes wanted everything to be the same and then one day, he found a brand new favorite.
35. He Had A Favorite Flavor
While living at the Desert Inn, Hughes decided that he was in love with banana nut ice cream from Baskin Robbins. Hughes’ minions quickly went out to buy as much as they could to keep their boss happy. When they got to Baskin Robbins, they made a chilling discovery. The company had canceled the flavor.
Their boss was not going to be happy.
Twentieth Century, Rules Don't Apply (2016)
36. They Made A Big Order
Hughes’ aides knew that if their boss wanted banana nut ice cream, they had better find some. They contacted Baskin Robbins and asked what the smallest order they could make from the factory was. It was 1,300 L (350 gallons). They proudly brought the huge order back to Hughes...only to discover that he’d changed his favorite to French Vanilla.
Hughes’ money could make Baskin Robbins recreate a flavor, but he was about to come head to head with an organization not so easily paid off.
37. He Tried To Stop Them
When the government wanted to test nuclear devices underground in the Nevada desert, Hughes had a problem with it. This time his enormous influence in Nevada couldn’t stop them, so he went straight to the actual President to stop the tests. This failed and the tests went ahead anyway.
Some were so bad that Hughes felt an eerie rumble right through his hotel. Luckily, Hughes had his entourage there to make him feel better. Then he noticed that a certain member was AWOL.
38. They’d Lost Touch
In 1970, Hughes realized he’d lost touch with his wife. They didn’t live together and only communicated by telephone. Well, Jean Peters didn’t think this was much of a marriage, so she asked for a divorce. This looked like it would be the courtroom drama of the century, filled with exposed secrets and bitter fighting over money.
The media was ready to publish every scandalous detail.
John Springer Collection, Getty Images
39. She Said No
Well, this didn’t happen. As it turned out, all Peters wanted from Hughes was $70,000 a year. When he offered her a cool million, she said no, thank you. Also, Peters never talked about Hughes after their divorce, even though there was no confidentiality agreement. Hughes also never said an unkind word about Peters. The lack of drama around his divorce was a disappointment to gossip lovers.
Don’t worry, all his secrets were about to come out.
40. There Was A Book
In 1972, author Clifford Irving told the world that he and Hughes had written a book together, which he claimed was an authorized autobiography. The strange thing was that Hughes had never met Irving. If Hughes wanted to expose Irving as a huge phony, he’d have to come out and tell the world. The problem was that by this time, Hughes was living a completely reclusive life.
Hughes had a choice. Come out or let the book of lies see the light of day.
41. He Had To Come Out
Hughes realized that if he didn’t step forward, the unauthorized story of his life would soon be on bookshelves. No one had seen Hughes publicly for years, and Hughes liked it that way. So, he set up a teleconference and announced that Irving was lying. The truth was out there and Irving soon found himself in prison.
At least Hughes was safe to go back into his hermit-like existence. Sadly, he didn’t have much time left.
42. He Raced To The Hospital
Sometime around the beginning of April 1976, Hughes boarded his Learjet in Acapulco, Mexico and headed to Houston. Then disaster struck. Somewhere between Mexico and Houston, Hughes stopped breathing. He would never stir again. But the story doesn't end there.
When the plane arrived at the hospital in Houston, the doctors couldn't their eyes.
Twentieth Century, Rules Don't Apply (2016)
43. They Couldn’t Identify Him
Doctors in Houston had to identify Hughes’ body, but they couldn’t. His reclusive lifestyle and alleged drug use had altered his appearance. He weighed less than 100 pounds and had long fingernails, toenails, beard and hair. Hughes was also using an alias: John T Cooper.
Doctors were at a standstill. They needed to know if this was Hughes or not.
Twentieth Century, Rules Don't Apply (2016)
44. They Knew The Reason
The doctors in Houston finally came up with fingerprints as a way to identify Hughes’ body. When they confirmed this, the next thing to do was figure out what had happened to him. The autopsy result was that kidney failure was the cause of his demise. But like most things with Hughes, there was more controversy and mystery.
45. He Was In Bad Shape
An investigation into Hughes’ passing revealed that he’d received a lethal injection. They also did an x-ray and found five pieces from hypodermic needles in his arms. In addition to this, Hughes had bedsores and suffered from malnutrition. Surprisingly, they ruled out foul play. Apparently, he’d done this all to himself.
With that cleared up, the next thing on everyone’s mind was who would get his money. Of course, like everything else in Hughes’ life, there was intrigue.
Acme Newspictures, Wikimedia Commons
46. The Found It On A Desk
No one could find Hughes’ will, and then suddenly one turned up. It was handwritten, and they found it in Salt Lake City, Utah. Strangely, it was sitting on a desk at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They called it the “Mormon Will” and no one knew where it came from and why it was on that desk.
And then a man stepped forward.
Garrett, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
47. He Was Lying On The Roadside
It turned out that a mysterious man had delivered the will to a gas station owned by Melvin Dummar. Dummar said that previous to this he had helped a man who was lying on the side of the highway near Las Vegas. The man later told Dummar that he was Howard Hughes. The will left money to many different organizations—and lawyers couldn’t help but notice that Dummar was also a recipient.
Someone smelled a rat and started investigating this mysterious will.
48. They Split It Up
A Nevada jury deliberated and decided that someone had forged the “Mormon Will” and it was not at all valid. Dummar didn’t get any of his inheritance, but he also didn’t land up in prison. Because there was no will, Hughes’ enormous estate got split into 22 equal parts—one for each of his cousins.
But the last mystery was still out there. People wanted to know what had made Hughes act so crazy.
Pi3.124, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
49. He Had His Reasons
Most people just assumed that Hughes was crazy because of his money, but there may have a sad—and scandalous—answer: It was his own fault. As a young man, the incorrigible Hughes contracted syphilis at the height of his womanizing era.
When the bacteria spreads to the brain, it can cause a host of symptoms called neurosyphilis. Doctors diagnosed Hughes with neurosyphilis in the early 30s—and it's even worse than it sounds.
50. The Treatment Was As Bad As The Disease
Neurosyphilis causes widespread damage to the brain, which can have a range of effects, including psychosis, dementia, depression, delirium, and more. And it gets worse: Hughes got the disease before the discovery of antibiotics, so doctors at first treated him with mercury, which has its own host of side effects.
Add that to what was likely undiagnosed OCD, and it's little wonder that Hughes's mental state deteriorated as badly as it did.
Jim Evans, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
51. He Was An Inspiration
Hughes’ personal appearances in pop culture are too numerous to mention, but his reclusive persona also inspired some iconic characters that people might not realize. Stan Lee used Hughes’ life as an inspiration for Tony Stark in Ironman. Albert R Broccoli, producer of the James Bond series, copied Hughes’ life for an eccentric character in Diamonds Are Forever. Hughes was so grateful to Broccoli that kept a copy of Diamonds Are Forever in his private collection.
Like his fortune, he wanted to keep it forever.
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