Howard Hughes was one of the most successful men in history. Born on December 24, 1905, in Humble, TX, Hughes was an American businessman, film producer and director, investor, and pilot. Born in to wealth, the family business was Hughes Tool Company founded by his father in 1909. Interested in science and technology from a young age, Howard Hughes was always building things. At the age of 11, he build a wireless radio transmitter and became one of the first HAM radio operators in Houston. At 12, he built a “motorized” bicycle from parts of an old steam engine. He started flying lessons at 14.
After his parents passed away, Hughes moved to California to make movies. Starting out as a film producer and moving into directing, Howard Hughes had several critically acclaimed movies. His movies, The Racket (1928), Hell’s Angels (1930), and The Front Page (1931) were each nominated for an Academy Award. His 1928 film, Two Arabian Knights, won an Academy Award for Best Director.
In addition to being a successful film maker and owner of RKO studios, Howard Hughes successful invested in real estate in and around Las Vegas, Nevada. Opening Hughes Aircraft Company in 1932, Hughes also had a controlling stake in TWA (Trans World Airlines.) A passionate pilot, he completed an air flight around the world in 91 hours on July 14, 1938. Eventually, Howard Hughes would found the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The institute was a tribute to his parents in response to their early deaths; his father dying when Hughes was only 19 years old. To fund the Institute, Hughes gifted it Hughes Aircraft Company. The Institute sold the company to General Motors in 1985 for $5.2 Billion.
Remembered more for eccentric behaviors in his later years, than for dating beautiful women, flying aircraft, and the truly remarkable things he accomplished, Howard Hughes suffered from an obsessive-compulsion disorder. He was extremely afraid of germs, became more and more reclusive, and would fixate on tiny details. It was so severe, it contributed to his second divorce, from actress Jean Peters, who had not seen her husband for several years.
Hughes passed away on one of his airplanes transporting him to a Houston hospital on April 5, 1976. At the time of his death, his estate was estimated at $2.5 Billion. Several wills surfaced shortly after his death and all were deemed forgeries by the court system. His estate was not settled until 1983, when it was divided equally between 22 cousins.
