Howard Hughes: The Mysterious Billionaire (Unabridged‪)‬

Howard Hughes was a mysterious billionaire, heroic, tragic, brilliant, mad, pathological, and extraordinarily wealthy. He was a great businessman or a terrible one; the jury is still out. But his life was fascinating and disturbing. Orphaned at 18 and inheriting millions from his father's estate, Hughes headed to Hollywood where he dallied with Hollywood's most beautiful women including Jean Harlow, Billie Dove, Lana Turner, Jane Russell, Ida Lupino, Rita Hayworth, Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Gene Tierney, Ava Gardner, Gloria Vanderbilt - only 17 - and Kate Hepburn, the latter introduced to him by his friend Cary Grant. He produced and directed many movies, including Scarface, Hell's Angels, and The Outlaw, the latter a trailblazing sex-Western starring Jane Russell. He wanted a studio and purchased RKO from uber-financier Floyd Odlum. At the same time Hughes was an industrialist and aviation pioneer. While his company Hughes Tool was generating hundreds of millions of dollars in profits annually, Hughes established aircraft companies and airlines, including TWA and Northeast Airlines. He was also a speed junkie who wanted to break world speed, endurance and altitude records. He crashed several times, one crash so severe he nearly died - and opiates administered during his lengthy recovery became a lifelong addiction. When he sold TWA for $546 million, he turned his attention to Las Vegas and began acquiring hotels and casinos the way a child plays the game of Monopoly. He bought the Desert Inn, the Sands, Castaways, New Frontier, Silver Slipper, Harold's Club, North Las Vegas Airport and all the surrounding lands - and nearly a fifth of all the gambling in Nevada.