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Howard Arvin Hughes, Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was, in his time,
an aviator, engineer, industrialist, film producer and director, a playboy, an
eccentric, and one of the wealthiest people in the world. He is famous for setting
multiple, world air-speed records, building the Hughes H-1 Racer and H-4 Hercules
airplanes, producing the movies Hell's Angels and The Outlaw, owning and expanding
TWA, and for his debilitating eccentric behavior in later life.
 Early
years
Hughes was born in Humble, Texas, on December 24, 1905. Hughes claimed his birthday
was Christmas Eve. Although some biographers debate his exact birth date,
(according to NNDB.com, it was most likely "the more mundane date of September 24."
His parents were Allene Stone Gano Hughes (a descendant of Catherine of Valois,
Dowager Queen of England, by second husband Owen Tudor) and Howard R. Hughes, Sr.,
who patented the tri-cone roller bit, which allowed rotary drilling for oil in
previously inaccessible places. Howard R. Hughes, Sr. founded Hughes Tool Company
in 1909 to commercialize this invention.
Hughes grew up under the strong influence of his mother, who was obsessed with
protecting her son from all germs and diseases. From his father, Hughes inherited
an interest in all things mechanical. At age 12, Hughes was supposedly photographed
in the local newspaper as being the first boy in Houston to have a 'motorized'
bicycle, which he had built himself.
Hughes' parents died within two years of each other, while he was still in his
teens. Allene Hughes died at the age of 39, in March 1922, due to complications
from an ectopic pregnancy. Less than two years later in January 1924, Howard
Hughes, Sr. died of a heart attack. Their deaths apparently inspired 19-year-old
Hughes to include the creation of a medical research laboratory in his 1925 will.
It is also believed that the research laboratory was conceived as a tax
shelter.
Because Howard Sr.'s will had not been updated since Allene's death, young Hughes
inherited 75 percent of his father's multi-million dollar fortune, which included
the increasing amounts of cash flow generated from oil drilling royalties. Hughes
dropped out of Rice University shortly after his father's death. In June 1925, at
age 19, Hughes married Ella Rice, and shortly thereafter they left Houston and
moved to Hollywood where Hughes hoped to make a name for himself making movies.
Death and
burial
Howard Hughes' gravestone
Hughes Family Gravesite at Glenwood CemeteryHughes died on April 5, 1976, while on
an airplane owned by Robert Graf, en route from his penthouse in Acapulco, Mexico
to The Methodist Hospital in Houston. It has also been argued that he died before
leaving Mexico. His reclusive activities and drug use had made him practically
unrecognizable; his hair, beard, fingernails, and toenails had grown grossly long,
his once-strapping 6'4" frame now weighed barely 90 lbs, and the FBI had to resort
to fingerprints to identify the body.
A subsequent autopsy noted kidney failure as the cause of death. 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 and severe malnutrition.
The first doctor to examine him diagnosed the cause of Hughes' death as neglect.
While his kidneys were damaged, his other internal organs were deemed perfectly
healthy.
Hughes is buried in the Glenwood Cemetery in Houston.
Source : Some of the information on this page came
from a Wikipedia article and is licensed under the GNU Documentation
License. ©2008 www.geneticmatrix.com.
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Howard
Hughes- Generator - Biography
