Howard Hughes, Extraordinary Hollywood

Howard Hughes, one of the world's richest men, died from dehydration, malnutrition and neglect. Even now, a generation after his death, he remains one of Hollywood's most intriguing and perplexing figures.

Hughes lived a quite extraordinary life and died an extraordinary death. X-rays taken at autopsy revealed broken hypodermic needles lodged in his arms, and his six-foot-four frame weighed less than 90lb (41kg). He had been seen by so few people for so long that the Treasury Department had to use fingerprints to identify his body.

Hughes had been a womaniser, a record-breaking aviator, a Hollywood film director, and he was one of the richest men in the world yet he lived the last years of his life in squalor, terrified of germs and of physical contact with other people.

The Life of Howard Hughes