Big breasts, brunette, high drama, she wrote, describing the women that Hughes tended to pursue. #116, John Hancock, $19.3 billion. By 1970, Hughes was a prisoner of his own design. Sources: Time, WREG, Washington Post, New York Times. It was well received by the critics and won two Best Picture awards, a Golden Globe and Bafta, respectively. Yet, Dietrich wrote, Hughes "simply could not bring himself to let anyone share in his ownership. He famously grew out his hair and fingernails. He was just thirteen days short of his ninety-third birthday. An old wife of Hughes even came forward. After parting ways with Hughes, Dietrich, as a well-respected financial and executive advisor, served on several corporate and financial boards as well as traveled to many speaking engagements. Howard Hughes speaks into microphones as he testifies that he did not offer to pay $100,000 if he could persuade New York officials to relax their ban against the motion picture The Outlaw. It's been 45 years since eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes died and people are still looking for his will. In his life, Howard Hughes broke aviation records, produced several iconic films, and dated Hollywood stars. On February 15, 1982, Dietrich died of heart failure in a hospital in Palm Springs, California. Off to court they went. Yes.. a dingy.. When he had come to Hollywood in 1925, he had a wife and an enormous sexual appetite. Hughes did the same things that other men did he just did them more crudely. It was around this time that Hughes began to exhibit patterns of behavior that seemed odd to onlookers. Chris Roberts had never met Howard Hughes, but she joked that she was going to use the money she inherited from him to purchase the ice skating rink she worked at and burn it to the ground. The Wall Street Journal reports that Hughes wasn't married when he died, and he isn't known to have fathered any children, which complicated the matter further. By 1938, Hughes was intent on achieving another world first the fastest flight around the world. After passing away in January 2021, he was buried on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. They then moved to Los Angeles, where he became an auditor for the Los Angeles Suburban Land Co., and then the Janass Investment Co. Some reports said he let his toenails grow so long he was unable to walk. Howard Robard Hughes, one of the richest men to emerge from the American West during the 20th century, dies while flying from Acapulco to Houston. Kate Beckinsale has established herself as an action figure rather than a romantic girl next door. Like the others before her, the judge threw wacky claim after wacky claim out of court. Mr. Hughess money was divided among descendants on both his mothers and his fathers side. Mr. Magnesen said he believed that the will was legitimate but that Mr. Dummar had been steamrollered during the legal proceedings, which, he said, had been replete with acts of obstruction of justice, witness intimidation and possible jury tampering. WebRichest People in the World; Ron Howard is an American actor, director, and producer who has a net worth of $200 million. "[3]:11. As he aged, Hughes' behavior became increasingly eccentric. He then turned the project over to another journalist, Bob Thomas, who finished the Dietrich memoir within six weeks. But other claims held more weight, according to The Washington Post. During his hospital stay, he got fed up with the bed and designed a bed with a motor this would be what future hospital beds were based on. The symptoms of his undiagnosed obsessive compulsive disorder were by now all too apparent. He was a Roman general and politician and the man who suppressed Spartacus' slave uprising. At the time of the falling-out, Hughes was trying to finance jets for TWA and decided the key was to inflate Hughes Tool profits in order to sell the company to pay for the jets, since Hughes had rejected all other financing solutions, because they threatened to dilute his TWA ownership. News on all your favorite celebs, reality TV, and movies. The 1901 discovery of oil at Spindletop, near Dietrich wrote, however, that the real purpose of the probe may have been neutralizing Hughes, owner of TWA, while rival Pan Am whose president, Juan Trippe, had implored Maine Senator Owen Brewster to carry it pushed for a federal law establishing only one official American carrier of international air traffic, and Pan Am becoming that carrier. The film grossed an estimated $96.3 million at the global box office. All he ever really wanted in life was more. Still, he said, Mr. Dummar was a likable and sympathetic figure, a guy just trying to get along in the world, and that in telling his story he had always been consistent. Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images. Hughes used his money to woo women. He said that he had sought to have the case reopened, but that his motion was denied. This was going to be his magnus opus and he was prepared to pour in as much money, time and effort as was needed to create a masterpiece. This success fuelled his ambitions, inspiring him to set up the Hughes Aircraft Company. At the same time, he was building a huge aerospace company to develop spy technology for the military. He now set out to design and build the worlds fastest racing plane. Sources: Far Out, New York Times, New Republic. "His head was badly banged around in all of these, and I think his mental condition can be directly attributed to those crashes. This is a video compiled of photos of Hughes before that - from the 1920's through the 1940's. #39, Warren Buffett " $62 billion. (Dietrich quoted Hughes as saying, "Noah, I can't exist without you! Hepburn thought it was a cheap move and got angry with Cary Grant, her co-star, for inviting Hughes onto the set. Hughes was obsessed with the female form, and it was this infatuation that inspired his most controversial film, The Outlaw. The hearings, and Hughes' legendary triumph over them, helped end both the legislation and Brewster's political career; On Hughes' orders, Dietrich poured money into a challenger's campaign a few years later. Bo died less than two years later of a heart attack, leaving Hughes jr the heir to the Hughes Tool Company. Karina Longworth wrote about Hughes in her book, Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes's Hollywood. Always one to push the bounds, Hughes filled the film with violence and obscenities. Not surprisingly, he soon gained a reputation as a sissy. In 1934 he easily won a flying race in Miami. In 1936, then-President Theodore Roosevelt invited him to the White House to receive a special award for his flying. He used a familiar formula for success for his movies sex. They ranked these bazillionaires (my term, not theirs) according to the total GDP of the nation they lived in and adjusted their net worths to account for inflation as of 2007. Directed by Baltasar Kormakur, the action flick starred Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, and Giovanni Ribsi. Unfortunately for Hughes, three flops followed, Hughes cashed in on the publics fascination with gangsters by producing Scarface, based on the life of Al Capone (weve actually got a video on him, you can find a link in the description below). The plot revolves around a fate-related love story between a British woman and a man residing in the States. In her memoir, Ava: My Story, Gardner wrote that Hughes was enthusiastic about only four things: money, movies, aircraft, and beautiful young women with beautiful breasts. Kate Beckinsales The Underworld film franchise grossed $533 million worldwide with a $12 million pooled budget for all five films. So many people thought I was a con artist or a scammer. In the meantime, the public had become infatuated with the latest Hollywood innovation talkies. Inside the life of eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, a playboy aviator who died a germaphobic recluse, https://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/inside-the-life-of-eccentric-billionaire-howard-hughes-a-playboy-aviator-who-died-a-germaphobic-recluse/slidelist/98416898.cms, Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images. 6. He acquired his wealth through inheritance, slave ownership, land ownership and various mining prospects. Though he was remembered for his record-breaking flights, it was not exclusively his legacy. According to. Both of Hughes' parents died within two years of each other, and at 19, he inherited his father's company and 75% of his fortune. Given all those other claims and all those other wills, Mr. Dummar might have barely registered as a footnote in the biography of the eccentric Mr. Hughes, an aviation pioneer, movie producer, romancer of leading ladies and reclusive germophobe. Then, I want you to make me the richest man in the world. 2. Mr. Dummar A year later his picture appeared in the local newspaper, proudly standing next to the first motorized bicycle in Houston, which he had put together from steam engine parts. Marcus Licinius Crassus, $169.8 billion. By Steve T on October 10, 2017 Business, Celebrity. That man claimed to be Howard Hughes, one of the richest men in the world. In 1948, Hughes bought the movie studio RKO Pictures for $24 million. It made the father sick, but the son had just discovered the one true love of his life. President Roosevelt holds the hand of Howard Hughes, motion picture producer and famous flyer, as the president hands him the Harmon International Trophy, in Washington, D.C., on March 2, 1937. And folks, thanks to fellow Woody Boater Bob Killeen who found this rare Hughes Sportster on Craigslist. During aerial filming sequences Howards obsessive compulsions led him to fixate on such things as cloud formations. He would end up spending about $300 million buying six casinos, alongside other assets like a television station, in just two years. The Wall Street Journal reports that in 1996, a firm called Rouse Co. offered to buy the Hughes property called Summerlin, a sprawling 22,500-acre property, to be paid off over 14 years. Hughes even said of Dietrich, "He knows more about my business than I do," referring to Noah as a "genius". He picked him up and drove him to Las Vegas. There were two versions to his dating life. Later, Hughes left Las Vegas, but he was never seen in public again. Actress Gail Ganley sued Howard Hughes for failing to make her a star like he had promised. After leaving Hughes in 1957, Dietrich married for a third time. ", and to "Explain the principles of the internal combustion engine," both of which Dietrich was able to answer satisfactorily. The world was shocked when the autopsy revealed the terrible condition of his body the result of undiagnosed OCD, multiple severe head injuries, and 30 years of largely self imposed neglect. "He is the fan who walked in off the street, who made movies and bossed a studio, and who was crazy and hopeful enough to think of having Jean Harlow, Jane Russell, Katharine Hepburn, Ida Lupino and so on, into the night," Thomson wrote in "The New Biographical Dictionary of Film. According to writer Gore Vidal, "the inarticulate Hughes suddenly found his voice. Hughes was a millionaire at 18. Set during the old west, the movie was a showcase for the voluptuous Jane Russell, with Hughes personally ensuring that here dresses were cut low enough to accentuate her size 38D bust. Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII was worth $210.8 billion. 10. Despite being heavily criticized in the film circles, the war theme clicked with the audience, and the movie grossed $449 million at the global box office. Per ABC 13, immediately after Hughes' death was announced in 1976, the press flocked to Houston, Texas. In 1935, he broke the record for cross-country flying. From 1966 on, less than half a dozen people other than his staff ever saw him. If a politico or a starlet had to be paid off, 'Noah can do it.' Finally, out of exasperation, he set his sights on designing a better drill bit. The New York Times put the figure at $1.5 billion at the time of Hughes's death. The public spotlight on Hughes began to fade as time went on. Biography reports that Howard Hughes was born in 1905, and just four years later, his father invented an oil drilling tool that made the family incredibly wealthy. It is now counted among the top-three highest-grossing live-action features by the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. On April 5, 1976, he died of renal failure on a chartered flight to Houston from his Mexico penthouse. 4 this year with $124 billion$26 billion more than he was worth last year. As a youngster, it caused him to become isolated and introspective. agent, Gary N. Magnesen, investigated Mr. Dummars claims and wrote two books The Investigation (2005) and Stolen Justice (2015) in his defense. On July 7th 1946, Hughes took the XF-11 for its first test flight over the Los Angeles basin. Hughes survived three major airplane crashes and an automobile crash that put him out for two days, Dietrich told Forbes in 1972. Howard Hughes at the controls of an airplane in 1940. In the Fall of 1920, a fourteen-year-old Sonny went with his father to the Harvard-Yale rowing crew races in Connecticut. The judge dismissed her, as well as numerous other women who insisted they had married Hughes at one point, even though none had identification to back up such a claim. He merged the rest of what he owned into a company called the Summa Corporation. ", Thomson added: "Hughes did what every shy, lonely moviegoer dreams of doing. Paul Le Mat, right, played Mr. Dummar and Jason Robards Jr. was Howard Hughes in Jonathan Demmes Oscar-winning film Melvin and Howard, released in 1980. (The movie won two Oscars: one for Mary Steenburgen, who played Mr. Dummars first wife, for best supporting actress, and one for Bo Goldman, for best screenplay.). The exterior of the Desert Inn in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1967. It would then be five more years until the questions around his final will were finalized, reports The Washington Post. The movie would be released just as he intended. When he was courting Katharine Hepburn, he landed on her movie set in his plane. After Rice divorced him in 1929, he dated a number of movie stars, including Rita Hayworth and Ava Gardner. This made him then the only solo Hollywood studio owner. That's because he lived more than 2000 years ago. In 1982, the two states brought a case again, which was rejected by the Supreme Court and sent to federal district court instead. But once the will naming him a beneficiary was ruled a fraud in 1978, Mr. Dummars life took a dark turn. And then there was the woman who claimed to be Hughes' biological mother, even though his mom had actually died long ago. Hughes was hailed as a conquering hero. [1] (Even though these dates have been recorded as the official period of employment, Noah Dietrich continued to oversee and make executive decisions for the Hughes industries as late as 1970.) Sources: Texas Monthly, Las Vegas Review-Journal, BBC. He was shunned and had a hard time finding work. How British high schoolers made the most of their A woman threw a house party with 65 men she matched with on Tinder and Hinge and connected with the man she's now been dating for a year, Vivo V27 Pro Review: Capable camera performance in a sleek form factor, Replika users say they fell in love with their AI chatbots, until a software update made them seem less human, From Zoya Akhtar to Gauri Shinde, Indian female directors who have made a mark, Apple gives nod to ChatGPT-driven app amid concerns, NASA spacecraft captures unusual circles of sand dunes on Mars. Desperately wrestling with the controls, Hughes hoped to land on a fairway at the Los Angeles country club. Howard Hughes was a millionaire by the age of 18 after inheriting a fortune from his father, who had developed a drill bit that revolutionized the oil industry. The wife, Ella, soon tired of his infidelities, filing for divorce in 1929. Though Hughes had told his friend he only wanted to be remembered for his contribution to aviation, it was not to be. Sources: New York Review of Books, New York Times. In addition to his ownership of TWA and Hughes Tool Company, he now also owned the RKO movie studio. He took a fall in his London hotel room, increasing his reliance on pain killers and taking away his ability to walk. We have included this quote because it shows a typical side of Howard Hughes. He was controversial and over the top, and that's what made him so attractive and magnetic too so many people in Los Angeles and the world. Every man has his price, or a guy like me couldn't exist. Melvin Dummar, a gas station owner in Willard, Utah, in 1976 after he contended that he had received a copy of Howard Hughess will granting him one-sixteenth of the Hughes fortune. When he died in 1976, he threw the United States court systems into a tizzy, because he died Kate replaced Gwyneth The company's earnings, however, allowed Hughes to pursue his interest in Hollywood movies. Howard managed to walk away uninjured, the first of a number of miraculous plane crash escapes. Kate Beckinsale has been a part of several Hollywood blockbusters in her career. Hughes later sold the movie studio in 1957. One curiosity: the writing in the Irving manuscript is much better than that in the hastily drafted Phelan version. Times Syndication Service. #181, Ben Franklin, $10.3 billion. So, during the 1916 summer recess, Sonny found himself in the middle of the Pohokop Mountains in Pike County, Pennsylvania under the tutelage of a grizzled old timer by the name of General Dan Beard. An exterior view of a West End cinema and its neon sign showing the Howard Hughes production "Hell's Angels.". By the age of four, it was obvious that Sonny Hughes had inherited the partial deafness that ran in the family. Sources: The Rake, Los Angeles Times, Sunday Post, Irish Times. Before he When he finally emerged from the screening room in the spring of 1958, Hughes was an unkempt, ragged and pathetic mess. Sources: ABC13, Los Angeles Times, New Republic. News reports said that Mr. Dummar had earlier been twice married to and divorced from the same woman, and that he is survived by his wife, Bonnie (Bonneau) Dummar; two children; two stepsons; and a number of siblings, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The heart of his empire was the Summa Corporation, a personal holding company created when Hughes liquidated his shares in the Hughes Tool Company in 1972. I recently visited his grave in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., and was surprised at how modest it was for a billionaire. Howards obsession with perfection meant that the shooting schedule for Hells Angels got totally out of control. The will was ruled inauthentic, and Mr. Dummar never received a penny from the Hughes estate. A publicist named Mike Watson offered a $5,000 reward for any photos of Hughes taken after 1968. The FBI, who were keeping tabs on him, noted in 1957 that he was acting like a screwball paranoiac adding that he could even be capable of murder. Based on Howard Huges: The Secret Life, the film was directed by legendary Martin Scorsese and starred Academy Award winners Leonardo DiCaprio and Dude was destined to accumulate wealth: by 17, he had already started his own lumber company. He was the last ruler of Hyderabad, which was invaded and annexed by India in 1948. The planned sequel never happened despite collecting a massive $300 million at the global box office and $120 million at the domestic box office. Howard Hughes was not the only mogul in Hollywood who profited off treating actresses as sex goddess flavors of the month, Longworth wrote. He was the only child of Allene and Howard Hughes Sr. " Hughes did the same things that other men did he just did them more crudely. The Hughes Tool Company has grown from this 1909 building to a billion dollar business with factory facilities spread over a 90-acre area, all owned by Howard Hughes Jr. Howard Hughes used to be one of the richest men in the world. Sources: Texas Monthly, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal. [1] He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in Glendale, California. But none of them even make the top 10 richest people of all time. During World War II, Hughes' focus turned to military planes and government contracts. The planned sequel never happened despite collecting a massive $300 million at the global box office and $120 million at the domestic box office. But that same year, Hughes was booked for negligent homicide after he hit and killed a 59-year-old pedestrian named Gabe S. Meyer in his car after a night drinking with a 21-year-old woman named Nancy Bayly. She taught him that germs were dangerous and had to be fought. In 1940, Hughes moved into commercial aviation by grabbing a controlling share of Trans World Airlines (TWA). Hughes later moved into Hollywood. He then pointed to a sign further up the river advertising rides on a Curtis Flying Boat for $5. But this time he took it further. The cast, directed by Stephen Sommers, included the original. Started by his father, Howard R. Hughes, Sr., Hughes Tool Company or Toolco manufactured oil drilling equipment, especially the multiple-edge, revolving-teeth roller cutter drill bits the elder Hughes invented. Even the details of his birth were falsified. A jury decided that the will was forged, and while no one was ever officially charged, Mr. Dummar was found guilty in the court of public opinion. Hughes senior, known as Bo a shortened form of his middle name Robards had been a penniless scoundrel, bumming his way round Joplin, Missouri at the turn of the 19th Century. Hughes also sought Dietrich's interest in their oil partnerships. He refused to shake hands or touch door handles, instructions to his aids were repeated in meticulous detail and he flew into violent rages when things were not exactly as he had commanded. The Washington Post reports that the Harris County Probate Court in Texas took seven weeks to hear testimony before dividing up Hughes' massive fortune. He seemed to excel under the military discipline of the camp, too. Howard Robard Hughes Jr. was born in Houston, Texas, on December 24, 1905. Surprisingly the cost of filming the entire franchise is estimated at $200 million, which is a lot less budget than the smashing returns it recorded at the ticket counters. Other notables to make the list include: (Mr. Carson remarked that people all over the country would probably start picking up hitchhikers.). St He dropped out of college to take control of the company, quickly discovering that he knew nothing about the oil business. The result of his efforts was the H1, which Hughes flew to a new world speed record of 352 miles per hour on August 18th, 1935. Over the years, a retired F.B.I. Mr. Magnesen, a retired F.B.I. The Madness & Brilliance of Howard Hughes, The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run Clevelands Torso Murderer, Gavrilo Princip: the Teenager who Started WWI, Oda Nobunaga The Great Unifier of Japan, Genghis Kahn Biography: His Life, Legacy and Legend, Mr. Fred Rogers Biography: Welcome to His Neighborhood, Nikola Tesla Biography: Inventor Ahead of His Time, The Worlds Longest Reigning Monarch Queen Elizabeth II Biography, George S Patton Americas Blitzkrieg General. But it took decades before it was all wrapped up. An attorney holds a copy of one of the wills purportedly made by Howard Hughes. [3]:198199, Dietrich discussed the famous Hughes counterattack before the Senate committee investigating him and revealed that both his own and Hughes' hotel suites had been bugged during the hearings, allegedly at the behest of Brewster and Trippe. film franchise grossed $533 million worldwide with a $12 million pooled budget for all five films. During the ride, he said, the man told him he was Howard Hughes. , the war epic based on actual events from World War II debuted in the top 2 on the 2001 Memorial day weekend, racking in $75.1 million. His purchases were often referred to as the reason the mob's hold on the city ended. Universal Pictures had even paid for the sequels original Transylvania sets in the hopes of returning to film, but the project was scrapped at the last moment. Other researchers have reached the opposite conclusion. I certainly would not ask somebody else to fly a plane if I were afraid to do it In her memoir, "Ava: My Story," Gardner wrote that Hughes "was enthusiastic about only four things: money, movies, aircraft, and beautiful young women with beautiful breasts. The fifty-year old Hughes was now intent on completely retreating from society. And they treated me like a criminal.. In 1943, he made a critically panned film called "The Outlaw," featuring Jane Russell. In 1966, conducting negotiations completely by telephone, Hughes sold his controlling share in TWA. Three views of American industrialist, aviator, and film producer Howard Hughes as he speaks with journalists during a Senate hearing to determine whether Hughes misused funds from a government defense contract in August 1947.Hulton Archive/Getty Images. WebHoward Hughes was a famous American business magnate who became the richest man in the world. Time[4] revealed in 1972 that a copy of an early draft of the manuscript for Dietrich's memoir, ghost-written by journalist James Phelan, may have fallen into Clifford Irving's hands, and identified the draft as a key element in Irving's being able to convince publishers and others that his hoax Hughes autobiography was genuine. Over those four months at the studio his personal hygiene rapidly deteriorated, even as his germ obsession intensified. In the meantime, Hughes genius for business and technology had made him the richest man in America, and his land grab in Las Vegas rivalled anything in The reality is that hed been born two months earlier in the oil town of Humble, a hundred miles from Texas. He soon hired a self taught accountant by the name of Noah Dietrich to take the controls. The World's Most Entertaining Car Website. "I didn't want her to continue believing that I was running the Hughes empire while I kept her nephew in the Deep-freeze." Hughes made other films, most notably "Scarface," based on gangster Al Capone's life, but in 1932, his focus was still on flying. By 2010, more than 30 years after he died, over 1,000 people, including 200 of Hughes' relatives, had received a After the success of the Underworld franchise, Kate can be seen reprising her role as a vampire/demon slayer in the horror/action flick. Oprah is only worth about $2.7 billion. He was the richest casino owner in the United State and, indeed, the world in addition to being the 28 th richest man in the world at the time of his death. Which, obviously, is where I came in.". If I have made a mistake in the design, then I'm the one who should pay for it. From there, the lies built upon each other. He died of cancer on Sunday at 74 in Pahrump, Nev. By the time the Hughes inheritance was settled by a probate court jury in Texas in 1981, more than 600 people had made claims to the fortune, and 40 wills, all supposedly written by Mr. Hughes, had been produced and rejected. According to Mental Floss, the films biopic plot revolves around the remarkable tycoon Howard Hughes and is set in the 1920s. According to Longworth, after spending the 1930s dating famous actresses, from the 1940s on, his taste in women had cemented. His head was badly banged around in all of these, and I think his mental condition can be directly attributed to those crashes. , the basic plot of the vampire vs. werewolf universe is inspired by another classic. He had his first plane crash in 1928 and his second in 1943 when he crashed into Lake Mead. In 1930, his two passions came together when he directed and produced "Hell's Angels," a film about fighter pilots during World War I. Hughes took over directing after firing the first two directors. Geoff Schumacher, the author of Howard Hughes: Power, Paranoia & Palace Intrigue (2008), said in a phone interview that there had been no logical reason for Mr. Hughes to be in the desert without his usual coterie of aides, and that the handwriting on the will was not even close to Mr. Hughess. Dietrich returned from Africa, he wrote, and finally agreed to go to Texas to implement the plan on condition that Hughes finally implement the capital gains agreement. This obsession would take over his life in the later years. A fresh take on sports: the biggest news and most entertaining lists. Hughes was meant to be held accountable, but he fought back. It was found in Salt Lake City at the headquarters of the Mormon Church the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which was also a beneficiary. The encounter might have been forgotten except for what happened nine years later, when Mr. Hughes, one of the richest men in the world, died. The romantic film directed by Peter Chelsom was released in 2001. When he died in 1976, he threw the United States court systems into a tizzy, because he died without leaving any kind of will and testament. When Hughes refused, Dietrich immediately quit stunning Hughes. But the young Hughes also gained a reputation as a technical whizz-kid. A few years later, while Hughes was recovering from injuries he sustained in the crash of his experimental XF-11 aircraft, Hughes refused a visit from his favorite aunt Annette Lummis, and her husband Dr. Fred Lummis. Sources: Far Out, Irish Times, Sydney Morning Herald. . A small group of reporters was able to view Hughes's body, but he was almost unrecognizable to them, since he had been out of the public eye for so long. Genghis Khan - a name that is synonymous with barbaric cruelty and conquest. Mr. Dummar, who was Mormon, insisted that he had no idea how it got there. The movie portrayed Mr. Dummar as a struggling Everyman, well intentioned, drowning in debt and dogged by bad choices, to whom something truly extraordinary might have happened.