The Madness of Howard Hughes - Biography

My favorite Hughes story is that a flashing hotel sign across the street was bothering him, so he called them up and demanded they turn it off. They refused. He had his staff buy the hotel and then called them back to tell them that he was the owner now, and they had better turn it off.

I had a college professor who lived in Vegas in the 60s.  He said that he would be getting into an episode of Star Trek (on Hughes's station) when all of the sudden it would cut out and an old movie would start playing. Apparently Hughes could just call the station and tell them what he wanted to watch.  That story always cracked me up and its cool to see it mentioned here.

I wonder if Howard was driven crazy by piano music playing over his biography?

My brother was obsessed with flying from a really young age. At age 6 he would turn cardboard boxes into pretend airline cockpits, drawing all the controls and windshield with markers. He could name what make of airplane he saw flying and knew what airlines used what planes. As he got older his interest always remained but he grew out of the single minded obsessive nature of his interest, branching out into normal kid stuff like sports and music. He wasnt a great student and he would struggle in college, eventually failing out. He then decided to pursue his earliest passion and is now a commercial airline pilot.

Hughes had his own netflix like 50 years before everybody else.

"I'm not a paranoid deranged millionaire. Goddammit, I'm a billionaire" --Howard Hughes.

Howard Hughes lived at the Westin Bayshore Hotel in Vancouver, Canada for six months in 1972. "There were photographers camped on the roof across the street for months," says Yip. "One photographer even tried to sail past his window with a hang-glider."

I've always held the belief Mr Hughes was the only person to leave this world a winner, unaffected by anyone else but himself.

Leonardo de Caprio's performance as Hughes was a work of genius :D

Genius and madness are close bedfellows.

Hughes is one of my all time favorite human beings

He's always been one of my favorite historical figures. I got to stick my head in his 1953 Buick Roadmaster when it was a part of the Ron Pratte collection. It was MIND blowing...because the entire car was sealed (only the driver's window went down, all vents were sealed, etc), the car smelled...like...the 50s...or something. I swear, it was like a time capsule. Absolutely amazing. That car went on to sell for a record-setting 1.6+ million dollars at Barrett Jackson shortly thereafter. Seriously incredible piece of history.

The House always wins.

He sued the censors, that is something else.

Correction: Humble IS in Texas and it's 20 miles north of Houston.

When you're so filthy rich, you can essentially have your own Netflix decades before anyone else even thought of the idea.

+Biographics, great video, instant sub!, but you didn't mention my favorite Hughes contribution. He spent so much time in hospital beds that he designed a new one, the forerunner of modern hospital beds. It's my favorite because I've been spending time in them lately and truly wish that I could thank him. Off to binge some more of these, kudos to the team!

Fun fact: The Spruce Goose is currently on display in the aviation museum in Evergreen, Oregon.

So sad that he couldn’t get the help he needed. OCD is a real killer. It’s like living in a mental torture prison only the one who’s doing the torturing is yourself. 😢

One of the most influential people of the 20th century. There’s a reason most people hadn’t heard of Juan Trippe before the film The Aviator.