Great Ambition - Oiinaru Yabou

...Hughes became a completely different person after he was seriously injured in 1946 during a test flight of an aerial photography and reconnaissance plane that he had designed himself, and began to "isolate himself" from society. He obtained a government loan of $18 million and spent five years designing and building a large wooden flying boat, which he completed in 1947, but it was unusable. His last public appearance was when he appeared as a witness before a Senate investigative committee about the matter. Since November 1966, he completely cut off ties with the world, and maintained a pathological privacy, moving between penthouses of first-class hotels in Las Vegas, London, the Bahamas (a tax haven), and Acapulco, never to be seen by actress Jean Peters, whom he married in 1956 (they divorced in 1971). His name appeared in various incidents and scandals as a "phantom businessman" and "enigmatic character." Many novels and biographies were written based on Hughes, including Harold Robbins' novel "The Great Ambition," which was made into a movie in 1964. In 1971, a fake biography of an unknown writer and his wife, who had deceived a major New York publishing company, became a hot topic. When the "enigmatic millionaire" died in April 1976 on a private jet flying from Acapulco to Houston, US Treasury Secretary Simon reportedly confirmed that he was "without a doubt" Hughes through an autopsy at the hospital and fingerprints.

*Some of the terminology explanations that refer to "Great Ambition" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…　ヒューズは，46年，自分で設計した空中撮影偵察飛行機のテスト飛行で重傷を負ってから人が変わって世間から〈自己隔離〉をはじめ，1800万ドルの政府融資を取りつけ，5年の歳月を費やして設計建造した大型木造飛行艇が47年に完成したが使いものにならず，その件で上院の調査委員会に証人として出席したのが公に姿を見せた最後であるといわれる。66年11月から世間との関係をまったく絶ち，病的なまでのプライバシーを保持しながらラスベガス，ロンドン，〈税金回避の地〉バハマ諸島，アカプルコなどの一流ホテルのペントハウスを転々とし，1956年に結婚した女優ジーン･ピータース(1971年に離婚)の前にも姿を見せず，〈幻の経営者〉〈なぞの人物〉としてさまざまな事件やスキャンダルに名まえが登場し，64年に映画化されたハロルド･ロビンズの小説《大いなる野望》をはじめヒューズをモデルにした小説や伝記が多数書かれ，とくに71年，ニューヨークの大手出版社をだました無名の作家夫妻のにせ伝記事件まで起きて話題となった。76年4月，アカプルコからヒューストンへ向かう自家用ジェット機のなかで〈なぞの富豪〉が死亡したとき，アメリカのサイモン財務長官は，病院での遺体解剖と指紋によって〈間違いなく〉ヒューズであることを確認したと伝えられる。…

※「《大いなる野望》」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報