One of the richest people on Earth during his lifetime, Howard Hughes was an industrialist, engineer, aviator, movie director and producer, and philanthropist.
One of the richest people on Earth during his lifetime, Howard Hughes was an industrialist, engineer, aviator, movie director and producer, and philanthropist. While he developed a repute for making controversial and costly movies in the late 1920s, he was more famous for being a highly influential aviator. He constructed the Hughes H-1 Racer and H4 Hercules, set numerous world air-speed records, and bought and enlarged Trans World Airlines. In his later years, eccentric behavior took over, which is in part what led him to live a withdrawn lifestyle.