After 34 Years. The impossible has happened. No, the federal government hasn’t done away with all death taxes. No, ice cream is not free. No, it’s more astounding than that. Howard Hughes, who died in 1976, will finally have his estate settled and closed. And it only took 34 years!
And it only took 34 years ! Howard Hughes, the eccentric aviator, engineer, and film producer, died on April 5, 1976 without even a Will, and as a consequence he died “intestate,” meaning state law determined that his estate was divided among 11 cousins.
A man who allegedly found a disheveled and dirty Hughes on a highway in Nevada in December of 1967 gave him a ride to the Sands Hotel. Days after Hughes death, a handwritten Will was supposedly delivered to the charitable driver giving him $156 million.
No, the federal government hasn’t done away with all death taxes. No, ice cream is not free. No, it’s more astounding than that. Howard Hughes, who died in 1976, will finally have his estate settled and closed. And it only took 34 years!
Hughes enjoyed a highly successful business career beyond engineering, aviation, and filmmaking; many of his career endeavors involved varying entrepreneurial roles. The Summa Corporation was the name adopted for the business interests of Howard Hughes after he sold the tool division of Hughes Tool Company in 1972. The company served as the principal holding company for Hughes' business ventures and investments. Though primarily involved in the aerospace and defense, electronics, mass-media, manufacturing, and hospitality industries, it has also maintained a strong presence in a wide variety of industries including real estate, petroleum-drilling and oilfield services, consulting, entertainment, and engineering. Much of Hughes' fortune later went to philanthropic causes, notably supporting health-care and medical research.
Hughes acquired 1200 acres in Culver City for Hughes Aircraft, bought 7 sections
Records locate the birthplace of Howard Hughes as either Humble or Houston, Texas. The date remains uncertain because of conflicting dates from various sources. He repeatedly claimed Christmas Eve as his birthday. A 1941 affidavit birth certificate of Hughes, signed by his aunt Annette Gano Lummis and by Estelle Boughton Sharp, states that he was born on December 24, 1905, in Harris County , Texas. However, his certificate of baptism, recorded on October 7, 1906, in the parish register of St. John's Episcopal Church in Keokuk, Iowa, listed his date of birth as September 24, 1905, without any reference to the place of birth.
The moving image collection of Howard Hughes is held at the Academy Film Archive. The collection consists of over 200 items including 35mm and 16mm elements of feature films, documentaries, and television programs made or accumulated by Hughes.
By Pete Brewton. More than five years after the late billionaire Howard Hughes died, the division of his vast estate was finally determined today in a small Texas courtroom. After seven weeks of testimony, some of it carried out in a circus atmosphere, the show finally closed tonight when a Harris County Probate Court jury decided ...
Estimates of the Hughes estate have run from a low of $168.8 million by Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner and Smith (hired by the executors of the estate for whom a low valuation would mean lower federal estate taxes) to $465 million by the Internal Revenue Service to $1.1 billion by the state of California.
Here's how it went these last seven weeks in Judge Gregory's courtroom. The mother of Howard Hughes was Allene Gano Hughes. The daughter of a prominent Dallas judge, she was the embodiment of charm and refinement. She died in 1922 at age 39 from complications after minor surgery.
His autopsy, which made no mention of this, was falsified, she claimed. * Hughes had 17 midgets working for him. * And finally, claiming God as her witness, Hovsepian said, Hughes was "awfully rough in bed with a woman.". (On the other hand, Terry Moore has said in interviews that Hughes was the best lover she ever had.)
Gregory dismissed his claim. Then came the stangest one of them all: Claire Benedict Hudenburg, from Las Vegas, who claimed to be Hughes' illegitimate daughter. She was not present in court, and the only testimony given was a sworn deposition read by a lawyer. Among other things, Hudenburg claimed that:
Those inheriting from Hughes' maternal side were nailed down in court without any opposition. Hughes' mother had one brother and two sisters. The brother had five children and the sisters had four each. One of the cousins is Will Lummis, 52, whom some liken to his cousin Howard.
They come mostly from the Midwest -- Iowa and Missouri, with a few from Texas and California. All of them were rounded up by the Nashville genealogist Bill Jones.