HUGHES, HOWARD

Contributed by: The James Bond Movie Encyclopedia by Steven Jay Rubin

(December 24, 1905–April 5, 1976): Billionaire business magnate and film mogul who inspired the main plot of Diamonds Are Forever. Bond producer Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli had always maintained a friendship with Hughes, his first boss in the film business, whom he referred to as Sam. While Diamonds was in development, Broccoli had a dream in which he visited the aging Hughes at his luxurious suite in Las Vegas. It was midafternoon, and Broccoli found himself peeking through a window in Hughes’s suite, where he saw a familiar figure sitting behind a huge oak desk. The man turned around, and Broccoli started. It wasn’t Hughes at all, but an imposter.

The producer described the dream and its eerie details at his next script conference with writer Richard Maibaum. Said Broccoli on that day, “What would happen, Dick, if someone kidnapped Howard Hughes and substituted an imposter for him? Since no one has seen the real Howard Hughes for years, no one would even know that he was gone.”[1]

Maibaum replied, “Sounds like just the right caper for Blofeld.”


[1] Albert R. Broccoli, interview by Steven Jay Rubin, Los Angeles, April 10, 1977.

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