Text: Night Owl
I believe that the majority of movie fans will not be unfamiliar with the role of Iron Man. Captain America once asked Iron Man something like, "If you take this armor off, what are you?" Iron Man replied, "Genius, philanthropist, billionaire, playboy...". And this is the truest portrayal of the legendary American billionaire Howard Hughes.
Howard Hughes was born in the United States in 1905, the father howard Hughes Sr. was a famous oil tycoon, and his mother was a British nobleman, and the family conditions were quite favorable. Like many rich second-generation people, Howard Hughes is playful, does not love to learn, and has terrible grades. Despite his poor grades, Howard Hughes was very smart, making his own radio station at the age of 11, inventing a moped bicycle at the age of 12, assembling a motorcycle independently at the age of 13, learning to fly an airplane at the age of 14... In 1923, a sudden change occurred, and Howard Hughes's parents died one after another. According to the change of owners at the time, Howard Hughes needed to be 21 years old to inherit his father's inheritance. However, at the age of 19, Howard Hughes successfully persuaded the court to inherit his father's huge inheritance in advance and officially unveiled his legendary life.
Howard Hughes was not at all interested in his father's oil business, and he had something he wanted to do—make movies. At the age of 21, Howard Hughes invested $80,000 (about $24 million now) to make his first film, Playboy Horgen. After the shooting was completed, Howard Hughes took his debut work to his uncle who was an editor and wanted his advice. Unexpectedly, after watching it, my uncle said that this is completely a bad movie, and it will even attract ridicule from others. So Howard Hughes burned all the film in front of his uncle.
In this way, Howard Hughes's efforts and $80,000 investment disappeared overnight. But Howard Hughes didn't give up, but continued to explore his film career. Accumulating lessons from failure, Howard Hughes made three films in the next two years to rave reviews, including "Two Arabian Knights" and won the first Academy Award for Best Director.
The accomplished Howard Hughes, with a growing appetite, decided to make a real masterpiece, Hell's Angels. With a total investment of $4 million, Hell's Angel was the most expensive film in history at the time, and Howard Hughes himself directed and wrote the screenplay.
In order to get the most realistic results, Howard Hughes bought 87 planes in one go, organized a group of World War I pilots to be actors for $500,000, and spent $400,000 to build an airport. In Hell's Angels, no special effects are used, and all the planes that are blown up and crashed are real scenes. Howard Hughes himself went into battle to perform aerobatic flights, and the aircraft malfunctioned during the flight, and Howard Hughes was seriously injured.
"Hell's Angels" can be described as a backwater battle, and after filming this movie, Howard Hughes was on the verge of bankruptcy. Simply, Hell's Angel didn't disappoint Howard Hughes. After the film's release, "Hell's Angel" became the highest-grossing film of the time, with a total box office of more than $8 million, bringing Howard Hughes a multiplier return. This year, Howard Hughes was only 25 years old, and he had already surpassed his father's achievements with his own efforts.
After a fruitful career in film, Howard Hughes began to work on his dream of flying. Howard Hughes hired the best engineers in the world and founded the Hughes Aircraft Company. Soon, Hughes Aircraft produced the world's first seamless streamlined "Hughes 1" racing aircraft and personally piloted the flight record at the time. In addition, Howard Hughes made important contributions to the development of the space industry. In 1965, the first geostationary satellite, Morning Bird, was developed and launched, enabling transoceanic television communications. In 1966, the first unmanned lunar probe built for the United States and successfully landed on the moon. At the age of 41, Howard Hughes became the world's richest man for $1 billion.
In addition to his successful career, Howard Hughes's emotional experience is also very rich. Howard Hughes had 164 girlfriends in his lifetime, and almost all female stars in the United States at that time had stories with Howard Hughes. Like "First Lady of the American Film Industry" Catherine Hepburn, Hollywood legend Jane Russell, and two-time Oscar queen Harveyland, they were all guests of The Howard Hughes.
In 1976, Howard Hughes died on a flight back to his hometown of Houston, and quietly stopped breathing on the plane, weighing only 83 pounds at the time, ending his wonderful and legendary life.
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