Hughes, Howard (Robard)

US industrialist, aviator, and film producer. Inheriting wealth from his father, the industrialist Howard Robert Hughes, who had patented a revolutionary oil-drilling bit, he took control of the family firm, the Hughes Tool Corporation, in 1923, to create a financial empire. A skilled pilot, he manufactured and designed aircraft. He also formed a Hollywood film company in 1926, and produced and directed several films including Hell's Angels (1930), Scarface (1932), and The Outlaw (1944). From his middle years he was a recluse.

In 1953 Hughes gave up control of his company to an independent executive board following senior executive departures and, in 1955, he allocated the company's profits to his newly-founded Hughes Medical Institute (also the holding company for Hughes Aircraft). On his death there was much confusion over who would inherit his wealth, though a large part of his fortune had been transferred to his institute.