History Creator / HowardHughes

* CaptainErsatz: Quite a few:

Hughes had two major careers, one in aviation and one in film-making. They overlapped briefly when he directed ''Film/HellsAngels'', a UsefulNotes/WorldWarI combat film with impressive footage of aerial combat. As as an aviation pioneer in the 1930s he set many records for flight times. But in the 1940s he became notorious for his rather impractical plane designs on government contracts, many of them proving to be AwesomeButImpractical in terms of being unsafe and expensive to enter mass production. The famous Spruce Goose (a name which Hughes hated, preferring its official designation "H-4 Hercules")[[note]]He had a point in that the plane was made of birch[[/note]] was the definitive example. The Spruce Goose was commissioned to be made of non-strategic materials, intended to transport a mammoth number of troops and materiel across the Atlantic, safe from German submarines. It is the largest flying boat ever built and still boasts the longest wingspan of any plane. It also took so long to build that the war ended by the time it was complete, rendering its purpose meaningless. In the same period, Hughes also took a test-flight of another design, the XF-11 which crashed in Beverly Hills. Hughes barely survived the incident, and it is believed that the cocktail of drugs that he took in this time accelerated his mental breakdown.

This was also a period where Hughes started withdrawing from public life, returning briefly in the 70s, when a biography by Clifford Irving was denounced by Hughes as a hoax at a teleconference. Since his death, Hughes became a HistoricalDomainCharacter, the subject of many films and books. Likewise most eccentric tycoons in comics and fiction are usually heavily based on Hughes.

** Andrew Ryan from the first VideoGame/BioShock is partially based on Hughes, specifically his background as an industrialist, and his eventual descent into paranoia and madness.

As a film-maker, Hughes' most important film was Creator/HowardHawks' ''Film/{{Scarface 1932}}'' which he produced. His reputation after that is significantly more ambiguous. His 1943 Western ''The Outlaw'' caused a scandal for its [[MsFanservice lewd sexualization]] of actress Jane Russell, earning the disapproval of UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode. Hughes was insistent that the [[MaleGaze camera focus on Russell's large chest]] and went the extra step to design a bra, using aviation design principles, to [[BuxomIsBetter better accentuate her bust]]. (Russell later said that the bra was so uncomfortable that she couldn't wear it, so she just padded her own). He also took over Creator/RKOPictures in the 40s and during his time, he came into conflict with several film-makers, Creator/PrestonSturges (who was briefly Hughes' friend), Max Ophuls, Creator/JosefVonSternberg among others. He also became a rabid anti-communist, producing the notorious ''The Woman on Pier 13'', better known as ''I Married a Communist''. His eccentric business practises became the stuff of Hollywood legend, including: meetings at 3:00 in the morning at a gas station several miles outside of Los Angeles, a cult of secrecy; whimsical changes ordered to the editing of a film; hiring, firing and rehiring of directors (the 1950 film ''Vendetta'' which had four directors and later Hughes contributed some pick-ups, because why not). This later culminated in a bunch of tacky 50s spectacles that led to RKO, one of the most creative and enterprising of the Big 7 studios, to be reduced to a shell of its former self, described by one historian as a "systematic seven-year rape". The most notorious is ''Film/TheConqueror'' starring Creator/JohnWayne as UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan, in which Hughes' irresponsible production led to the film being made near a nuclear testing site in Nevada. Exposure on the set is believed to have caused the cancer-related deaths of many of the cast members.

*** Howard Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a combination of Hughes' engineering genius and the showmanship of UsefulNotes/WaltDisney.

Hughes had two major careers, one in aviation and one in film-making. They overlapped briefly when he directed ''Film/HellsAngels'', a UsefulNotes/WorldWarI combat film with impressive footage of aerial combat. As as an aviation pioneer in the 1930s he set many records for flight times. But in the 1940s he became notorious for his rather impractical plane designs on government contracts, many of them proving to be AwesomeButImpractical in terms of being unsafe and expensive to enter mass production. The famous Spruce Goose (a name which Hughes hated, preferring its official designation "H-4 Hercules")[[note]]He had a point in that the plane was made of birch[[/note]] was the definitive example. The Spruce Goose was commissioned to be made of non-strategic materials, intended to transport a mammoth number of troops and materiel. It is the largest flying boat ever built and still boasts the longest wingspan of any plane. It also took so long to build that the war ended by the time it was complete, rendering its purpose meaningless. In the same period, Hughes also took a test-flight of another design, the XF-11 which crashed in Beverly Hills. Hughes barely survived the incident, and it is believed that the cocktail of drugs that he took in this time accelerated his mental breakdown.

As a film-maker, Hughes' most important film was Creator/HowardHawks' ''Film/{{Scarface 1932}}'' which he produced. His reputation after that is significantly more ambiguous. His 1943 Western ''The Outlaw'' caused a scandal for its lewd sexualization of actress Jane Russell, earning the disapproval of UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode. Hughes was insistent that the camera focus on Russell's large chest and went the extra step to design a bra, using aviation design principles, to better accentuate her bust. (Russell later said that the bra was so uncomfortable that she couldn't wear it, so she just padded her own). He also took over Creator/RKOPictures in the 40s and during his time, he came into conflict with several film-makers, Creator/PrestonSturges (who was briefly Hughes' friend), Max Ophuls, Creator/JosefVonSternberg among others. He also became a rabid anti-communist, producing the notorious ''The Woman on Pier 13'', better known as ''I Married a Communist''. His eccentric business practises became the stuff of Hollywood legend, including: meetings at 3:00 in the morning at a gas station several miles outside of Los Angeles, a cult of secrecy; whimsical changes ordered to the editing of a film; hiring, firing and rehiring of directors (the 1950 film ''Vendetta'' which had four directors and later Hughes contributed some pick-ups, because why not). This later culminated in a bunch of tacky 50s spectacles that led to RKO, one of the most creative and enterprising of the Big 7 studios, to be reduced to a shell of its former self, described by one historian as a "systematic seven-year rape". The most notorious is ''Film/TheConqueror'' starring Creator/JohnWayne as UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan, in which Hughes' irresponsible production led to the film being made on a nuclear testing site. Exposure on the set is believed to have caused the cancer-related deaths of many of the cast members.

* ''Caught'', 1949 FilmNoir by Creator/MaxOphuls with Creator/RobertRyan playing a NoCelebritiesWereHarmed version called [[PunnyName Smith Ohlrig]], intended by Ophuls as a TakeThat over his treatment by Hughes on the film ''Vendetta''.

* ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'' included an expy of Hughes in the character of Willard White who, like Hughes, was the reclusive millionaire owner of a Las Vegas casino who made his money in the oil business (Hughes' original fortune was from manufacturing oil-drilling equipment), who turned out to be a front for [[BigBad Ernst Stavro Blofeld]].

** ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'' features Creator/JimmyDean as a reclusive businessman living in the penthouse of one of his casinos.

* ''Film/TheAviator'' by Creator/MartinScorsese

He is perhaps the most legendary tycoon of the 20th Century, simply for the drastic contrast between his public profile at the height of his fame in the 30s and 40s and the absolute recluse he became at the time of his death. Once known for his good-looks and playboy reputation, along with an assortment of gorgeous movie star girlfriends, when his body was found, he was unrecognizable, his fingernails having grown enormously, his hair being uncut and his appearance haggard and shabby, His arms were filled with broken-off hypodermic needles. His body had to be identified by fingerprints. The circumstances of his death, the unusual levels of control he kept on his staff and the revelations of his eccentricities and mental illnesses made Hughes a source of enduring fascination and UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheory to this very day.

* ''Film/HellsAngels'' (producer/director, though the dialogue scenes were done by an uncredited James Whale)

As a film-maker, Hughes' most important film was Creator/HowardHawks' ''Film/{{Scarface 1932}}'' which he produced. His reputation after that is significantly more ambiguous. His 1943 Western ''The Outlaw'' caused a scandal for its lewd sexualization of actress Jane Russell, earning the disapproval of UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode. Hughes was insistent that the camera focus on Russell's large chest and went the extra step to design a bra, using aviation design principles, to better accentuate her bust. (Russell later said that the bra was so uncomfortable that she couldn't wear it, so she just padded her own). He also took over Creator/RKOPictures in the 40s and during his time, he came into conflict with several film-makers, Creator/PrestonSturges (who was briefly Hughes' friend), Max Ophuls, Creator/JosefVonSternberg among others. He also became a rabid anti-communist, producing the notorious ''The Woman on Pier 13'', better known as ''I Married a Communist''. His eccentric business practises became the stuff of Hollywood legend, including: meetings at 3:00 in the morning at a gas station several miles outside of Los Angeles, a cult of secrecy; whimsical changes ordered to the editing of a film; hiring, firing and rehiring of directors (the 1950 film ''Vendetta'' which had four directors and later Hughes contributed some pick-ups, because why not). This later culminated in a bunch of tacky 50s spectacles that led to RKO, one of the most creative and enterprising of the Big 7 studios, to be reduced to a shell of its former self, described by one historian as a "systematic seven-year rape". The most notorious is ''The Conqueror'' starring Creator/JohnWayne as UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan, in which Hughes' irresponsible production led to the film being made on a nuclear testing site. Exposure on the set is believed to have caused the cancer-related deaths of many of the cast members.

[[caption-width-right:350:Hughes in front of his Boeing 100. [[note]]That black thing behind his head was probably airbrushed in to make his head stand out better when reproduced in low-quality for newsprint wire distribution.[[/note]]]]

* ''The Hoax'', a fictional film about the Clifford Irving scandal.

** Tony Stark, a.k.a. Comicbook/IronMan, was modeled on Hughes and later versions of Batman also take the eccentric millionaire from him. Howard Stark in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse is a direct allusion with Dominic Cooper channeling the Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio portrayal from ''The Aviator'' well. Robert House of ''Videogame/FalloutNewVegas'' was also inspired by Hughes, and even has an [[http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/fallout/images/b/bc/House.jpg in-game photo]] mirroring one of Hughes' most famous pictures.

** Tony Stark, Comicbook/IronMan was modeled on Hughes and later versions of Batman also take the eccentric millionaire from him. Howard Stark in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse is a direct allusion with Dominic Cooper channeling the Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio portrayal from ''The Aviator'' character well. Robert House of ''Videogame/FalloutNewVegas'' was also inspired by Hughes, and even has an [[http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/fallout/images/b/bc/House.jpg in-game photo]] mirroring one of Hughes' most famous pictures.

* ''Caught'', 1949 FilmNoir by Creator/MaxOphuls with Robert Ryan playing a NoCelebritiesWereHarmed version called [[PunnyName Smith Ohlrig]], intended by Ophuls as a TakeThat over his treatment by Hughes on the film ''Vendetta''.

-->-- '''Music/Leadbelly''', "Howard Hughes"

-->-- '''Leadbelly''', "Howard Hughes"

He is perhaps the most legendary tycoon of the 20th Century, simply for the drastic contrast between his public profile at the height of his fame in the 30s and 40s and the absolute recluse he became at the time of his death. Once known for his good-looks and playboy reputation, along with an assortment of gorgeous movie star girlfriends, when his body was found, he was unrecognizable, his fingernails having grown enormously, his hair being uncut and his appearance haggard and shabby, His arms were filled with broken-off hypodermic needles. His body had to be identified by fingerprints. The circumstances of his death, the unusual levels of control he kept on his staff and the revelations of his eccentricities and mental illnesses made Hughes a source of enduring fascination and ConspiracyTheory to this very day.

** Tony Stark, Iron Man was modeled on Hughes and later versions of Batman also take the eccentric millionaire from him. Howard Stark in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse is a direct allusion with Dominic Cooper channeling the Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio portrayal from ''The Aviator'' character well. Robert House of ''Videogame/FalloutNewVegas'' was also inspired by Hughes, and even has an [[http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/fallout/images/b/bc/House.jpg in-game photo]] mirroring one of Hughes' most famous pictures.

Hughes had two major careers, one in aviation and one in film-making. They overlapped briefly when he directed ''Film/HellsAngels'', a UsefulNotes/WorldWarI combat film with impressive footage of aerial combat. As as an aviation pioneer where in the 30s he set many records for flight times but in the 40s he became notorious for his rather impractical plane designs on government contracts, many of them proving to be AwesomeButImpractical in terms of being unsafe and expensive to enter mass production. The famous Spruce Goose (a name which Hughes hated, preferring its official designation "H-4 Hercules")[[note]]He had a point in that the plane was made of birch[[/note]] was the definitive example. The Spruce Goose was commissioned to be made of non-strategic materials, intended to transport a mammoth number of troops and materiel, is the largest flying boat ever built and still boasts the longest wingspan of any plane. It also took so long to build that the war ended by the time it was complete, rendering its purpose meaningless. In the same period, Hughes also took a test-flight of another design, the XF-11 which crashed in Beverly Hills. Hughes barely survived the incident, and it is believed that the cocktail of drugs that he took in this time accelerated his mental breakdown.

* AuthorAppeal: Planes, girls with large breasts, and, in the case of ''Jet Pilot'', his RedScare story with Creator/JohnWayne and Janet Leigh, ''both'' at the same time.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' occasionally referenced both his later life and the H-4 Hercules, often with Mr Burns, such as Burns opening a casino and becoming a germaphobe and paranoid recluse (visually resembling Hughes at the time of his death), creating a plane he calls the "Spruce Moose", while a much later episode reveals Burns built a massive transport dubbed the "Plywood Pelican". ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'' features Creator/JimmyDean as a reclusive businessman living in the penthouse of one of his casinos.

* ''Film/TheFrontPage'' (producer)

** ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' occasionally referenced both his later life and the H-4 Hercules, often with Mr Burns, such as Burns opening a casino and becoming a germaphobe and paranoid recluse (visually resembling Hughes at the time of his death), creating a plane he calls the "Spruce Moose", while a much later episode reveals Burns built a massive transport dubbed the "Plywood Pelican". ''Film/DIamondsAreForever'' features Creator/JimmyDean as a reclusive businessman living in the penthouse of one of his casinos.