Howard Hughes was more than just a billionaire aviator and film producer.
He was also a notorious womanizer!
Howard hooked up with a staggering number of women over the course of his lifetime,
and in varying capacities.
He also may have been bisexual.
Join Facts Verse as we go over all of the women that Howard Hughes dated or hooked up
with!
Ella Rice Howard Hughes’ dating life is not all that
notable before his first marriage, so we’ll start there!
Howard Hughes’ first wife was a woman by the name of Ella Rice.
They were only married for four years, with Howard soon setting his sights on bigger and
better things... both in his career and in bed!
Evelyn Brent During Howard Hughes’ first marriage, his
penchant for extramarital affairs was already showing.
In 1928, he hooked up with an actress by the name of Evelyn Brent.
This was before the billionaire aviator’s official entrance into Hollywood in the role
of a film producer.
Billie Dove After shaking Ella Rice, Howard Hughes was
engaged to an actress by the name of Billie Dove.
They became an item in 1929.
Jean Harlow In 1930, Howard Hughes made his debut as a
Hollywood producer with the film Hell’s Angels.
In true producer fashion, Howard hooked up with the film’s female lead.
this was none other than Jean Harlow.
Loretta Young Howard was rumored to have had an affair with
Loretta Young, of The Loretta Young Show, in 1931.
Dorothy Jordan Before breaking things off with Dorothy Jordan
in 1932, Howard Hughes was engaged to the Love in the Rough actress for a year.
Marian Marsh Howard dated Marian Marsh around the same
time that he was engaged to Dorothy Jordan.
Throughout the 1930s, Marian appeared in films alongside John Barrymore, Boris Karloff, and
Peter Lorre.
Timmie Lansing Timmie Lansing is one of the lesser known
of Howard Hughes’ early Hollywood loves.
However, the fact that she wasn’t famous means that she got the chance to see the billionaire’s
dark side.
Howard liked to exert control over the women that he became involved with, and this was
much easier when those women weren’t powerful public figures.
Timmie was one of many women that claimed Howard essentially held her prisoner during
their relationship, which occurred over some period in 1932.
Ginger Rogers Howard Hughes liked to lure in up-and-coming
debutantes with the promise of celebrity, but he also oftentimes became romantically
fixated on women that were already big deals.
One such woman was actress Ginger Rogers, who captivated much of Howard’s attention
for the duration of the 1930s.
Howard and Ginger’s relationship lasted from 1932 to 1940, during which period the
two were engaged.
Nancy Carroll Nancy Carroll was an actress that achieved
quite a bit of fame in the 1930s.
She and Howard Hughes were together for a brief period of time during the decade.
In 1937, Nancy took a now-iconic photograph with Howard in the cockpit of one of his planes.
A year later, the actress retired from the entertainment industry altogether.
Ida Lupino From 1934 to 1936, Howard Hughes dated a woman
by the name of Ida Lupino.
Ida was notable in the entertainment industry for not only being an actress of some repute
but for also being a writer and director.
Women behind the scenes is still a rare thing today, but it was much rarer back then.
One can imagine that Howard had quite a hard time pushing around this history-making female
figure!
Katherine Hepburn The vast majority of women that Howard Hughes
had interactions with in the entertainment went on to disparage the man and the way he
treated them.
However, this wasn’t the case for Katherine Hepburn.
Howard and Katherine dated from 1935 until 1938.
Katherine claimed to have shared the most intense love affair of her life with the man,
claiming that he was easily the best lover that she had ever had.
Late-1930s and Early-1940s Romantic Encounters Howard Hughes had nondescript romantic encounters
with many women during the late 1930s besides the ones we’ve already discussed.
Let’s take a look at them briefly before moving on to the 1940s.
The most notable of these women was easily Bette Davis, whom Howard hooked up with in
1938.
Other figures he hooked up with around the time include Philly Brooks, Barbara Hutton,
France Drake, and Joan Fontaine.
He also dated Olivia de Havilland and Helen Gilbert for short amounts of time around the
cusp of the 1940s.
In 1941, he had a romantic encounter with Brenda Frazier before setting the sights of
his obsession with Lana Turner.
Lana Turner Howard Hughes was romantically involved with
Lana Turner from 1941 to 1946, and they were engaged during this period.
Howard was obsessed with the actress, but that didn’t stop him from cheating!
Faith Domergue Over the course of the 1940s, Howard could
often be found hooking up with a lady by the name of Faith Domergue.
Faith was an actress that was signed to Howard’s film studio, and she appeared in lots of films.
Gloria Vanderbilt Howard hooked up with this notable socialite
and heiress in 1941.
Yvonne De Carlo Howard Hughes dated actress Yvonne De Carlo
from 1943 to 1946.
Yvonne would later become known for her role as the matriarch of the titular family on
the television series The Munsters.
Ava Gardner The same year Howard began dating Yvonne De
Carlo, he also became romantically obsessed with Ava Gardner.
This romantic obsession would last for a decade, with Ava finding the billionaire hard to shake!
Despite his desperate attempts, Howard never truly had Ava in his grasp.
Mid-1940s Romantic Encounters Starting in the middle of the 1940s, Howard
Hughes started having a lot of random romantic encounters again.
The most notable of the women in this batch of hookups would have to be Marilyn Monroe,
whom he hooked up with in 1946.
Other women that Howard had encounters with around the same time period include Jane Greer,
Linda Darnell, Virginia Mayo, and Gene Tierney.
Howard and Linda Darnell were actually engaged for a period of four months in 1945.
She was best known for appearing in 1940’s The Mask of Zorro, though she continued appearing
in notable films throughout the rest of the decade.
Jean Peters After decades of moving from woman to woman
in the entertainment industry, Howard Hughes finally decided to really settle down again
in the late 1950s.
The woman that Howard settled on was named Jean Peters.
Jean was an actress whom Howard helped set up with a career in 1947.
A decade later, Howard and Jean married.
The marriage lasted until 1971.
Terry Moore After meeting Jean Peters but before marrying
her, Howard Hughes may or may not have had another wife in the form of Terry Moore.
Terry was another young actress that Howard got his hooks in during the late 1940s.
Howard met Terry in 1948, and became infatuated with her.
As he always did, he ended up wooing her into a whirlwind romance.
However, there’s more to the story!
As the legend goes, Howard wed Terry on a ship in 1949.
However, he went on to destroy any evidence of the wedding having ever occurred.
Because of this, the fact of it is often disputed.
If Howard Hughes truly did marry Terry Moore in 1949, as many people believe, then she
was still his wife when he died!
This also calls in question the billionaire’s subsequent marriage to Jean Peters.
Despite the fact that Howard denied their supposed marriage, he continued seeing Terry
romantically until 1956.
Of course, for those following the timeline closely, this means that Howard move right
on to marrying Jean Peters.
Whether the two were ever really married or not, Terry Moore certainly felt upset when
Howard moved on and married Jean.
However, she feels that she got the last laugh!
Terry is still alive at the age of 94, while Howard passed away in 1976, at the age of
70.
Not only is Howard gone, but he ended up living the last years of his life in miserable abandon.
Years after his death, Terry was awarded a settlement via the billionaire’s estate
that she claimed was in the realm of eight figures.
Last laugh, indeed!
The Rest of Howard’s Many Hookups As we can see, Howard spent the last few decades
of his life trying and failing to settle down.
By the end of the 1950s, the former womanizer’s virility had all but dried up, and he was
no longer able to hook up with the same staggering number of women.
However, before the 1950s came to an end, the aviator-turned-producer bedded some more
notable women.
Given that Howard was on his way out, however, these women weren’t quite as notable as
the majority of ones from years prior.
The figures that Howard hooked up with towards the end of his playboy years include Carla
Balenda, Kathryn Grayson, Susan Hayward, Phyllis Applegate, Sallilee Conlan, Zizi Jeanmaire,
and Yvonne Schubert.
Kathryn Grayson, Susan Hayward, and Phyllis Applegate were all figures that Howard dated
for a year or more, while the rest were just casual hookups.
Was Howard Hughes Bisexual?
In addition to all of the above women, there were also some notable men that Howard Hughes
was rumored to have had possible romantic dalliances with.
These include Cary Grant and Errol Flynn.
Howard Hughes hooked up with an insane amount of women over the course of his lifetime!
Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that Howard Hughes hooked up with well
over 30 famous women during his lifetime and that he may have been bisexual?
Comment down below!