THE LEGENDARY HOWARD HUGHES JR.

Who is Howard Robard Hughes Jr.?

Billionaire Howard Robard Hughes Jr.was born on 24 December, 1905 in Houston Texas to Allene Gano and Howard Hughes Sr., the inventor of the drill bit tool. He was orphaned at age 18 and went on to become one of the richest man in the world having conquered the fields of aviation (breaking and setting records as well as heralding the age of commercial flight), and film production in Hollywood under RKO productions.Before his death on 05 April ,1976, he owned 20% of Las Vegas Hotels and Casinos.His most enduring legacy is the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.He died a lonely and broken man, surrounded by hordes of Mormon aides, an addict and a shell of his former dashing and charming self.

In their book, "Howard Hughes, The Untold Story", authors Peter Harry Brown and Pat H.Broeske gave a fitting tribute to Howard when they said that.."His legacy is in the skies and in Las Vegas and on the screen. To Hughes, the skies were there to conquer; the desert was a frontier, not a wasteland; and the censorship codes were something to fight, not fear. He also left a stunning medical bequest.....the Howard Hughes Medical Institute......."

He is one of a kind and truly one of 20th century's most amazing and hauntingly memorable figures.

CHRONOLOGY-THE LIFE OF HOWARD HUGHES

rare picture of Howard shaving and talking on the phone (probably to Katharine Hepburn)!

Dec.24,1905 - Born in Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
Nov.20,1908 - Hughes's father files for patent on revolutionary oil-drilling bit.
Mid 1909- Sharp-Hughes Tool Company, a partnership, oranized in Houston.
Feb.15,1915-Hughes Tool Company incorporated in Texas.
Sept.,1920-Enrolls in Fessenden School, West Newton, Mass.,and graduates the following spring.
Sept.,1921-Enrolls at Thacher Scool, Ojai, Calif.
March 29, 1922- Mother dies in Houston.
Sept.,1922- Returns to Thacher then withdraws at Christmas.
Sept.,1923-Enrolls in Rice Institution,in Houston.
Jan.14, 1924 -Father dies in Houston.
May ,1924- Acquires minority interest of his grandparents and uncles in the Hughes Tool Company,giving him 100 % control.
Dec.26,1924-Houston judge signs order removing Hughes's "disabilities as a minor" and eliminating the need for appointment of a guardian.
May 30, 1925 - Executes will at age 19, leaving bulk of his estate to medical research; believes to be the only one he signed.
June 1,1925- Marries Ella Rice in Houston.
Fall, 1925- Leaves Houston to live in Los Angeles.
Nov., 1925-Hires NOAH DIETRICH as financial adviser in Los Angeles.
Oct.,1927- Begins filming "Hell's Angels".
Jan.7,1928- Receives first pilot's license.
Jan.,1928-First plane crash at Mines Field,Los Angeles during the filming of Hell's Angels.
Oct.1,1928- Ella and Hughes separate.
May 16, 1929-Two Arabian Knights wins academy award.
Dec.2,1929-Purchases house at 211 Muirfield Road, Los Angeles.
Dec.29,1929-Ella granted divorce in Houston.
June 30,1930- Hell's Angels premiers.
June 30,1930- Acquires 7000 Romaine Street in Hollywood.
Spring,1932- Found HUGHES AIRCRAFT COMPANY in Gendale, Calif.
Jan.14,1934-Wins first air trophy,in Miami.
Sept.13,1935-Sets new speed record in Santa.Ana,Calif.
Jan.14,1936-Establishes new transcontinental speed record from Los Angeles to Newark of 9 hrs and 27 min.
Jan.19,1937-Sets new transcontinental speed record from Los Angeles to Newark in 7 hours and 28 min.
July 10-14,1938-With 4 crewmen ,establishes new record for around-the-world flight (3 days, 19 hrs.and 17 mins).
May, 1939- First acquires stock in TRANSCONTINENTAL AND WESTERN AIRLINES ,later TRANSWORLD AIRLINES (TWA).
Fall, 1939-Begins work on experimental military aircraft,the D-2.
Spring,1940-Begins filming The Outlaw.
July, 1941-Hughes Aircraft Company moves to new plant in Culver City, Calif.
Nov.7,1941-Air Force rejects D-2 as a military plane.
Nov.16,1942-Defense Plant Corporation approves $18 million contract with Kaiser-Hughes Corporation to build 3 flying boats to aid war efforts.
May 17,1943-Sikorsky S-43,with Hughes at the controls, crashed in Lake Mead,Nevada;2 die.
Oct.11,1943-Air Force issues Letter of Intent for Hughes Aircraft Company to build 101 photo-reconnoissance planes-the XF-11s.
Fall, 1943- NADINE HENLEY becomes Hughes's private secretary.
March 27,1944 -Kaiser-Hughes contract on flying boats cancelled; Defense Plant Corporation issues new agreement with Hughes to build one flying boat.
Late, 1944-SUFFERS FIRST NERVOUS BREAKDOWN.
May 29,1945-Air Force cancels contract to build 101 XF-11s;Hughes to complete 2 experimental planes under construction.
July 7, 1946-CRITICALLY INJURED IN CRASH OF XF-11 in Beverly hills.
April 5,1947-Successfully test flies second XF-11 at Culver City.
Aug.6-10, 1947- Testifies before Senate War Investigating Committee probing his work as defense contractor in Second World War.
Oct.,1947-FRANK WILLIAM GAY goes to work at Romaine Street.
Nov.2,1947-Test flies the Hercules flying boat at Long Beach.
Nov.8,10,11 and 14,1947-Testifies again before the Senate War Committee.
May 10,1948-ACQUIRES CONTROL OF RKO.
April,1951- Fires Paul Jarrico,a screenwriter,after he was subpoenaed to appear before the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
Nov.20,1952-Testifies in Los Angeles Superior Court in Jarrico case,his last courtroom appearance.
Sept.23,1952-Chicago syndicate buys control of RKO.
Feb.10,1953-Reassumes control of RKO after Chicago group forfeits $ 1.2-million downpayment.
Aug.11,1953-Dr.Simon Rimo and Dr.Dean Woolridge resign at Hughes Aircraft Company ,sparking crisis between Hughes and the Pentagon.
Dec.17,1953-HOWARD HUGHES MEDICAL INSTITUTE incorporated in Delaware.
March 31,1954-Acquires 100% control of RKO.
May 29,1954-Jean Peters marries Stuart W.Cramer III.
Feb.11,1955-Takes last pilot's test in Miami, Florida.
July 19,1955-Sells RKO to General Tire Company for an estimated $ 25 million.
Feb.,1956-Orders first jets for TWA,33 Boeing 707s.
June 7, 1956-Orders 30 Convair 880s from General Dynamics.
Dec.10,1956-HUGHES TOOL COMPANY MAKES $ 205,000 LOAN TO F.DONALD NIXON.
Jan.12,1957-Marries Jean Peters in Tonopah,Nevada.
May 12,1957-fires NOAH DIETRICH.
Mid-1958-Suffers second nervous breakdown.
Dec.15,1960-Lenders impose voting trust;HUGHES LOSES CONTROL OF TWA.
Dec.24,1960-Moves with Jean to Rancho Santa.Fe.
Spring,1961- Hires CHESTER C.DAVIS as vice president and general counsel of the Hughes Tool Company.
June 30,1961-TWA files anti-trust complaint against Hughes in New York.
Nov.3,1961-moves with Jean to 1001 Bel-Air Road, Bel-Air.
Feb.11,1963-Refuses to appear for deposition in TWA lawsuit.
May 3,1963-Federal judge in New York awards TWA default judgement over Hughes's refusal to give deposition.
June 21,1964-US Court of Appeals upholds the default judgement against Hughes.
May 26, 1965-Army awards contract to Hughes to build light observation helicopters in what would become the largest single business loss of Hughes's career.
May 3, 1966-Sells his 6.5 million shares of stock of TWA for $ 546 million.
July 17, 1966-Leaves Los Angels by train for Boston to stay at Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
Nov.27,1966-Arrives in Las Vegas by train from Boston,taking over top floor of Desert Inn.
March 31,1967-ACQUIRES CONTROL OF DESERT INN HOTEL AND CASINO, first step in building of his Nevada empire.
Dec.27,1968-Stockholders approve sale of AIR WEST to Hughes.
Jan.15,1970-Jean Peters Hughes announces she and Hughes will obtain a divorce.
April 3,1970- Acquires AIR WEST.
April 14,1970-Federal Court enters judgement of $ 145,448,141.07 against Hughes for damages to TWA in antitrust case.
July, 1970-Richard Danner receives $50,000 secret Hughes campaign contribution to "Bebe" Rebozo at San Clemente.
Aug.,1970-Danner delivers another $ 50,000 to Rebozo in Key Biskayne,Florida.
Nov.14,1970-HUGHES SIGNS PROXY GIVING CONTROL OF HIS NEVADA EMPIRE TO CHESTER DAVID,RAYMOND HOLLIDAY AND BILL GAY.
Nov.25,1970-Flies from Las Vegas to Paradise Island, the Bahamas, moving into the Britannia beach Hotel.
Dec.3,1970-Hughes Tool Company fires ROBERT MAHEU as chief of Hughes's Nevada Operations.
January, 1971-Hughes Organization employs new Washington representative, Robert F.Bennett, proprietor of a CIA front;negotiations under way to use Hughes as a front for CIA project Jennifer.
June 18,1971-Hughes-Peters divorce made final in Hawthorne ,Nevada.
Jan.7,1972-Conducts telephone interview from the Bahamas with newsmen in Los Angeles to refute Clifford Irving book.
Feb.10,1972-Robert Maheu files $17.5 million lawsuit in Los Angeles against Hughes for libel and slander.
Feb.15,1972-Flees the Bahamas,going by boat to Miami,then by air to Managua, Nicaragua,moving to the Intercontinental Managua.
March 13,1972-Meets briefly with US Ambassador Turner Sheldon and Nicaraguan president Anastasio Somoza shortly before flying to Bayshore Inn, Vancouver ,Canada.
Aug.9,1973-Falls in room at Inn on the Park.
Dec.20,1973-Flies from London to Freeport,Grand Bahamas Island,moving into the Xanadu Princess Hotel.
Dec.27,1973-Federal grand jury in Nevada indicts Hughes in the acquisition of Air West.
Jan.30,1974-Airwest indictment dismissed by federal judge.
June 5,1974-Hughes's personal papers stolen in Romaine St.burglary.
July 30,1974-Federal grand jury in Nevada reindicts Hughes in Air West takeover.
Nov.13,1974-Federal judge again dismisses Hughes indictment in Air West case; Justice Dept.appeals, and indictment is reinstated by U.S. Court of Appeals on May 7, 1976, a month after Hughes's death.
March 18, 1975-Hughes Glomar Explorer exposed.
Sept.10,1975-Hughes's aides and executives approved employment contracts for themselves.
Feb.10,1976-Hughes is flown from Freeport to Acapulco, to a penthouse of the Acapulco Princess Hotel.
April 5, 1976- Dies aboard airplane from Acapulco to Houston.

AFTER HIS DEATH

1976

5 April: The 70-year-old Hughes, who has already been in a coma for three days, dies at 1.27pm, en route by private jet from Acapulco in Mexico to a hospital in Houston. The official cause of death is chronic kidney disease, but it is just as likely to have been from dehydration, malnutrition and neglect.

Because Hughes’ appearance has changed so drastically and he has been seen by so few people for so long, his fingerprints are taken and sent to the FBI to establish his identity.

Hughes leaves no will. His estate, estimated at $2 billion, is claimed by 400 prospective heirs, but it is eventually inherited by 22 cousins on both sides of his family. Texas, Nevada and California claim inheritance tax in disputes that are reviewed by the US Supreme Court three times.

1984

The Hughes estate pays Terry Moore an undisclosed settlement. She now writes a book – The Beauty and the Billionaire – detailing her secret life with Hughes from 1947 to 1956.

1985

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute sells Hughes Aircraft to General Motors for $5 billion and becomes the richest charity in the US.

1995

August 22: Rev. Van James Simmons conducts a memorial service for Howard Hughes jr.at Glenwood Cemetery.

2003

Nevada Business Hall of Fame inducts Howard Hughes jr..

2004

July: The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has become the US’s second-largest philanthropic organisation (after the Bill & Melinda Gates’ Foundation), with an endowment of $11 billion and annual spending of about $450 million. The 330 ‘Howard Hughes Investigators’ include seven Nobel Prize winners. Among much else, the institute funds stem cell research, which is no longer eligible for US federal grants.

The film The Aviator, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Martin Scorsese, depicts Hughes’ career and personal life from the late 1920s to the mid-1940s. Its tagline is: ‘Some men dream the future. He built it.’

Statistics for Howard Hughes jr.

Full Name: Howard Robard Hughes, jr.

Height: 6' 3 3/4 "

Built: slim

Eye Color : Dark Brown

Hair Color :Black

Birthday: 24 December, 1905

Birthplace : Houston, Texas

Star sign: Capricorn

Died: 05 April, 1976

Cause of Death: Chronic Renal Failure

Location of Death : In an airplane from Acapulco enroute to Houston,Texas.

Nationality: American

Ethnicity: White

Religion: Episcopalian (Christ Church Cathedral).

Elementary : Prosso Elementary School/Fessenden Academy (graduated)

Highschool: Thacher School in Ojai, California (undergraduate)

University : California Institute of Technology (Caltech)-uncredited student/ Rice University (undergraduate)

Occupation: Businessman, Movie Producer

Claim to fame: Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Aviation World Records and trophies in the 1930s, Film production in RKO, playboy, Hughes Tool Company and Hughes Aircraft, Spruce Goose, OCD and Codeine Addiction.