You’ve probably seen the movie The Aviator. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a dashing, albeit spiraling, Howard Hughes who spots a young girl across a crowded yacht and decides, right then and there, she’s going to be a star. That girl was Faith Domergue.
But the real story? It’s way weirder than Hollywood lets on.
Imagine being fifteen years old. You’re at a party on a luxury yacht called the Southern Cross. You meet a man who is thirty-six—basically the same age as your dad—and he’s one of the richest people on the planet. He tells you that you have the "face of the century." Then, he buys your contract from Warner Bros. for $50,000 like he’s picking up a new car.
That was the beginning of the Howard Hughes and Faith Domergue saga. It wasn't just a romance; it was a total takeover of a human life.
The $50,000 Teenage "Investment"
Honestly, the way Hughes "discovered" Domergue feels more like a corporate acquisition than a meet-cute. Faith was a high school student in California, already signed to Warner Bros., but she hadn't done much. Hughes saw her and didn't just want to date her—he wanted to own her career.
He didn't think she was ready for the screen yet. Not even close.
For nearly three years, Hughes kept her in a sort of gilded cage. He paid for voice lessons. He paid for diction coaches. He paid for drama teachers. Every single morning, a limousine would pull up to her house and whisk her away to 7000 Romaine Street—Hughes’s creepy, windowless headquarters in Hollywood.
She wasn't allowed to make movies. She was just... "becoming."
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"Suddenly, my professional and emotional future were completely in his hands," Domergue later wrote in her autobiography.
It’s easy to look back and call it a mentorship, but Howard was obsessed. He gave her an engagement ring in 1941 when she was still a teenager. He promised marriage while simultaneously dating every other A-lister in town, including Lana Turner and Rita Hayworth.
The Famous Farmer’s Market Car Crash
If you want to know how volatile things got between Howard Hughes and Faith Domergue, you have to look at the "Farmer’s Market Incident." This isn't some urban legend; it's a well-documented moment of pure, unadulterated chaos.
One night, Faith spotted Howard out with Ava Gardner. Now, Ava was arguably the most beautiful woman in the world at the time, and she was wearing diamond clips that Howard had bought for her.
Faith didn't just get mad. She got behind the wheel.
She chased Howard’s car through the streets of Los Angeles. When he pulled into the Farmer’s Market parking lot to try and escape, she didn't stop. She rammed her car into his—repeatedly. Ava Gardner was reportedly screaming in the passenger seat while Faith used her vehicle as a weapon.
It was a mess. But that was their relationship in a nutshell: high stakes, deep jealousy, and a lot of expensive property damage.
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Why "Vendetta" Was a Career Killer
Hughes wanted to prove he could make Faith a star. He put her in a movie called Vendetta. It was supposed to be her big debut.
It turned into a four-year nightmare.
Howard was a notorious micromanager. He fired directors like most people change socks. Max Ophüls started it. Preston Sturges took a crack at it. Stuart Heisler was brought in. Finally, Mel Ferrer finished it. By the time the movie actually hit theaters in 1950, the hype had curdled.
The budget had ballooned to $4 million—an insane amount for the late 40s.
The RKO Years and "Where Danger Lives"
While Vendetta was rotting in the editing room, Hughes bought RKO Pictures. He cast Faith in a film noir called Where Danger Lives (1950) opposite Robert Mitchum.
This is actually her best work. She plays a classic femme fatale, and she’s genuinely good in it. But the "Hughes Protégée" label was a heavy weight to carry. The public didn't see a talented actress; they saw a billionaire's girlfriend being forced down their throats.
The Breakup and the Science Fiction Pivot
By 1950, Faith was done. She was tired of the cheating, the controlling behavior, and the fact that her career was stuck in neutral. She married director Hugo Fregonese and moved to Argentina for a bit.
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When she came back, she did something unexpected. She became the "Queen of the B-Movies."
If you're a fan of classic 1950s sci-fi, you know Faith Domergue. She starred in:
- This Island Earth (1955)
- It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)
- Cult of the Cobra (1955)
These weren't the prestige Oscar-winners Hughes had envisioned, but they gave her something she never had with him: a steady job and a legacy that was actually hers. She became a cult icon in her own right, independent of the man who tried to "build" her.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Duo
A lot of folks think Faith was just another name on Howard’s long list of flings. That’s not quite right. Noah Dietrich, Howard’s right-hand man for decades, famously said that Faith was Howard’s "most enduring obsession."
He didn't just want to date her; he wanted to create a version of her that didn't exist. He treated her like a prototype for a new airplane. When she finally walked away, he basically ghosted her.
Once she was no longer under his thumb, she ceased to exist to him.
How to Explore the History of Howard Hughes and Faith Domergue
If you’re interested in the darker side of old Hollywood or the weird psyche of Howard Hughes, here are the best ways to dive deeper:
- Watch Where Danger Lives (1950): Don't start with the sci-fi stuff. Watch her noir performance. It’s the closest look you’ll get at the "star" Hughes thought he was making.
- Read "My Life with Howard Hughes": Faith wrote her own story in 1972. It’s out of print and can be pricey, but it’s the only way to hear her actual voice without the RKO PR machine filtering it.
- Check out "Seduction" by Karina Longworth: This book is a masterclass in how Hughes treated women. It places Faith’s story in the context of other "Hughes girls" like Jean Harlow and Jane Russell.
- Look for the 1950s Sci-Fi Classics: If you want to see her as a cult icon, This Island Earth is a must-watch, even if it was famously parodied by Mystery Science Theater 3000.
The relationship between Howard Hughes and Faith Domergue is a cautionary tale about what happens when a man with infinite money tries to treat a person like a project. It didn't make her the next Greta Garbo, but her survival of that era and her later success in sci-fi is probably the more impressive story anyway.