Real person. American businessman, pilot, entrepreneur, film producer and director. A few real facts that read like fiction:
- He worked with the American government on special projects — true.
- He had two doubles — true.
- He built the Hughes H-4 Hercules ("Spruce Goose") — the largest flying boat ever built by wingspan, which flew only once, in 1947 — true.
- He lived on the top floor of the Desert Inn, Las Vegas, for four years — true.
- He found and hid an island — not that anyone's aware of. That part is Lee Davies's.
The Conspiracy
The main theory around Howard Hughes is that he faked his own death in November 1976 and continued to live for a further 25 years with a partner in a trailer just outside Alabama.
A lesser-known theory holds that he was kidnapped by Aristotle Onassis and taken to a Greek island, so that Onassis could position himself as the man to broker the lucrative deals that would otherwise have fallen to Hughes.
In The Utopia Treaty
In the fiction, Hughes' villa anchors Utopia's Southside — linked by a secret tunnel network to the island's hidden bunker, and the reason the Hughes Falls carry his name.