American businessman, filmmaker and aviator Howard Hughes was BOTD in 1905. Born in Houston, Texas to a wealthy oil drilling family, he showed an early talent for engineering, studying at the California Institute of Technology and the Rice Institute. Following his father’s death in 1924, he assumed control of the family tool-making business, growing it into a multi-billion dollar company. He moved to Hollywood in 1926, working for RKO Pictures, where he produced Two Arabian Knights and Scarface, before producing and directing Hell’s Angels with Jean Harlow. Known for his no-expenses-spared budgets and frequent battles with film censors, many of his most successful films failed to recover their production costs. While at RKO, he promoted the careers of filmmakers including Nicholas Ray and James Whale, luring both to Hollywood and financing their early successes. In 1943, he produced and directed The Outlaw, outfitting his young star Jane Russell in revealing clothing and a custom-made brassiere, again enraging censors but generating a huge box-office success. He retired from directing, but remained a producer, buying a controlling interest in RKO. A noted Hollywood playboy, he had affairs with socialite Edith Bouvier Beale, actresses Veronica Lake and (probably) Katharine Hepburn, and a number of discreet relationships with men, notably the actor Guy Madison. An early and enthusiastic aviator, he designed his own airplanes, establishing a world record for landplane speed, and undertook a number of highly-publicised around-the-world flights. During World War Two, he began manufacturing military aircraft, but failed to deliver them until the end of the war, and was later investigated by the Senate for war profiteering. By the 1950s, he became increasingly reclusive, though continued to invest in medical institutes, and bought a string of casinos in Las Vegas, helping popularise the city as a gambling hub. He married actress Jean Peters in 1957, remaining together until 1971. His final years were nomadic, as he moved between luxury hotels in Las Vegas, England, Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas and Nicaragua, going for days without sleep and becoming emaciated from a poor diet and amphetamines. He died in 1976, while aboard a flight from Acapulco to Houston to seek medical treatment. He was 70. He was portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese’s 2004 biopic The Aviator, focusing on his relationship with Hepburn and removing all references to Hughes’ bisexuality.