The Amazing Howard Hughes

• Director: William A. Graham
• Genre: Drama
• Movie Type: Period Film, Biopic
• Themes: Tortured Genius, Rise and Fall Stories, Mental Illness
• Main Cast: Tovah Feldshuh, Ed Flanders, Tommy Lee Jones, Lee Purcell
• Release Year: 1977
• Country: US
• Run Time: 119 minutes

Plot

Taking over the already profitable Hughes tool company from his deceased father, the teenaged Howard Hughes (Tommy Lee Jones) turns the operation into a billion-dollar business. Along the way, he dabbles in film production, romancing such Hollywood lovelies as Katharine Hepburn (Tovah Feldshuh) and Billie Dove (Lee Purcell). Fame becomes notoreity as Hughes embarks on such projects as the "bosom western" The Outlaw and the "Spruce Goose." He also defiantly stands up to the HUAC-only to become one of America's most virulent anti-Communists. In his twilight years, the fabulously wealthy but increasingly paranoid Hughes lives like a down-and-out hermit in his high-rise Las Vegas suite, communicating only with his trusted associate Noah Dietrich (Ed Flanders), and then not even with him. Adapted from the memoirs of Noah Dietrich, The Amazing Howard Hughes originally aired April 13 and 14, 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast

Jim Antonio - George; Carol Bagdasarian - Jean Peters; Sorrell Booke - Fiorello LaGuardia; Morgan Brittany - Ella Hughes; Ray Buktenica - Public Relations Man; Thayer David - Floyd Odlum; Tovah Feldshuh - Katharine Hepburn; Ed Flanders - Noah Dietrich; Arthur Franz - Barnes; Denise Galik - Shirley Whitehead; James Hampton - Wilbur Peterson; Ed Harris - Russ; Wayne Heffley - Dr. Bergman; Howard Hesseman - Jenks; Tommy Lee Jones - Howard Hughes; Barney Phillips - Saunders; Lee Purcell - Billie Dove; Andy Romano; Jerome Thor - Council; Russ McGinn - Patrolman

Credit

William A. Graham - Director, Aaron Stell - Editor, Michael S. McLean - Editor, Roger Gimbel - Executive Producer, Laurence Rosenthal - Composer (Music Score), Stan Jolley - Production Designer, Jules Brenner - Cinematographer, Michael D. Margulies - Cinematographer, Herbert Hirschman - Producer, Paul Cameron - Producer, John Gay - Screenwriter, Noah Dietrich - Book Author, Bob Thomas - Book Author

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