Hughes, Howard 1905-1976

TYCOON

The Eccentric Eclectic.

Over his lifetime billionaire Howard Hughes pursued a variety of interests: he was a test pilot, a manufacturer of aircraft, a longtime majority owner of Trans-World Airlines (TWA), a movie producer, a hotelier, and a real-estate developer. He is best remembered, however, for his increasingly bizarre behavior beginning in the mid 1950s, when he completely dropped out of society. His desire to avoid all publicity and his proclivity for seclusion only heightened the public's interest in Hughes, his whereabouts, and his activities.

Of Tools and Movies.

Howard Hughes was born in Houston in 1905. His father had pioneered drilling equipment for the oil industry and built up a successful firm, Hughes Tool Company. When his father died in 1924, Hughes, a freshman at California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech), dropped out of school to run the inherited tool firm. After soon...

[The entire page is 750 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass