Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business tycoon,
entrepreneur, investor,
aviator,
aerospace engineer, inventor, filmmaker and philanthropist. During his lifetime, he was known as the wealthiest self-made man in the world, despite the fact that he had inherited 75% of the family business upon the death of his father. As a maverick film tycoon, Hughes gained prominence in
Hollywood from the late 1920s, making big-budget and often controversial films like
The Racket (1928),
Hell's Angels (1930),
Scarface (1932), and
The Outlaw (1943).