Howard Hughes at the helm

He was among America's first billionaires, but the real story of Howard Hughes is not about the wealth he accumulated in his lifetime, but the enormous power he wielded in this country for half a century. Power is what he sought; wealth was the means in which he obtained it.

Hughes became an instant millionaire at age 18 when his father, Howard Hughes Sr., died in 1924, leaving him the Hughes Tool Co. in Houston. Historians, economists and journalists have gone on record as saying if Hughes had taken his father's fortune and invested in stocks and banking, he would have been far better off. It's fortunate he didn't, for five years later came the crash of 1929, which would have not only wiped out Hughes, but deprived us of a fascinating piece of Americana.

As a young man, I knew very little about Hughes and cared even less about the man and his achievements. Then one day in 1964, I walked into a movie theater and saw "The Carpetbaggers" - and became a believer.

Even though the movie is a fictitious portrayal of a Hughes-like character named Jonas Cord Jr. (played by George Peppard), it has become one of my favorite films. Tommy Lee Jones portrayed Hughes in a 1977 TV movie titled "The Amazing Howard Hughes." Jones turned in an excellent performance, capturing the eccentric billionaire as he sealed himself away in darkened rooms, driven and doomed by imaginary demons that robbed him of his brilliance.

In 1980, came "Melvin And Howard," a film that shows Gabbs resident Melvin Dummar picking up a crusty old man lying by the side of the road somewhere between Tonopah and Beatty in January 1968. When the pair reached Las Vegas and Dummar let his passenger off at the Sands Hotel, the old man reveals he is in fact Howard Hughes.

Incredibly, Hughes is flat broke and asks Dummar if he can borrow some money. Dummar, not in the best of financial shape, reaches into his pocket and pulls out some loose change and gives it to him. Supposedly, Hughes never forgot that act of kindness. When he died eight years later, Dummar's name appeared in Hughes' will, leaving him one-sixteenth of the billionaire's estate - $156 million. The so-called Mormon will was later proven to be a forgery, and Dummar had to go back to his 9-to-5 job.

The next quarter century saw little coming out of Hollywood regarding Hughes until December 2004 when "The Aviator" premiered nationwide. Directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a young Howard Hughes, this biopic is an absolute must-see for anyone even remotely interested in the early career of Hughes.

This film, unlike the others, deals with Hughes' obsessive compulsive disorder, a condition that was little understood when Hughes was alive. DiCaprio resurrects Hughes and rivets him to the screen for two hours and 11 minutes in one of the finest performances to come out of Hollywood in a long, long time. The sets, wardrobe and big-band music of the 1930s and '40s are all part of a grand conspiracy to transport you back in time to see Hughes at his best, before the demons took him down the road to self-destruction.

For me, the film's only flaw is that it ends in 1947, when Hughes was only 42, He lived for another 29 years, dying in April 1976, and it's the last three decades of his life that sealed the legend of Howard Hughes.

In 1966, Hughes received a check for $546.5 million for his sale of TWA stock. The check was the largest ever written to an individual in the history of this country.

That same year, Hughes moved to Las Vegas. With that half billion dollars in his pocket, he went on a casino-buying spree that shook Nevada's political structure to its foundation. He eventually became Nevada's largest gaming magnate, and his Las Vegas casinos would account for more than 25 percent of all gaming revenues in Clark County. Harold's Club in Reno was absorbed into the Hughes' empire in 1970.

Phony mining claims were also part of the Hughes' years in Nevada. The scam was nothing more than trusted Hughes employees cleaning out his till to the tune of $20 million. While the Hughes' PR machine was in high gear proclaiming that the great mind of Howard Hughes had discovered a new technique to extract valuable minerals from old mining claims, quite the opposite was true.

Lying naked in a darken room in a drug-induced state, the brilliant mind of Howard Hughes had ceased to function years earlier. These and other tantalizing tales of America's most intriguing billionaire need to be told. Hopefully "The Aviator" will be a box office bonanza and a sequel will follow. Count me in for a ticket- I'll be the guy standing in the front of the line.