Shielding the eccentric industrialist from the public he feared and crafting the deals that made him a Las Vegas power player during a critical period in the city's development.
The cause was congestive heart failure, according to his son, Peter, who said his father died Monday at Desert Springs Hospital in Las Vegas.
Robert MaheuFormidably tall with a commanding voice and a network of contacts that ranged from presidents to underworld bosses, Maheu played an unusual role in the Hughes saga, serving as the reclusive mogul's public face from 1955 to 1970.
“Whenever I spoke, it was Howard Hughes speaking. We had an incredible relationship," Maheu, speaking to Vanity Fair magazine a few years ago, said of the man who made a fortune in oil industry tools and aerospace before deciding to seal himself off from the public. Hughes' descent into mental illness is one of the strangest true-life stories of the 20th century.
Maheu's association with Hughes began soon after he opened a private investigations firm in 1954. An intermediary brought Maheu an assignment that he later learned was contracted by the former aviator, Hollywood studio owner and founder of Hughes Aircraft. Maheu apparently performed satisfactorily because Hughes requested his services again.
He spied on Hughes' love interests, including actress Ava Gardner. He blackmailed Hughes' blackmailers into keeping their mouths shut. On one occasion, he received a 3 a.m. phone call from Hughes asking Maheu to persuade a Santa Monica doctor whom Hughes admired to move to Las Vegas and work as his personal physician. When Maheu said the doctor had nine children and could not easily uproot them, Hughes responded: “I'm not asking you why they didn't exercise birth control; I want his brilliant talent by my bedside the rest of my life." Hughes prevailed but refused to see the doctor after learning that he also practiced psychiatry.
Maheu said he caught glimpses of his enigmatic boss twice but never met face to face with him, communicating instead by phone and memo. It was an extraordinarily peculiar relationship, but Maheu was in many ways perfect for the job.
“A lot of people wished they were Howard Hughes," said Hughes biographer Pat H. Broeske, “but Howard Hughes wanted to be Bob Maheu. He was very envious of Bob in many ways. He liked manly men. In Hollywood, Hughes was a great admirer of Robert Mitchum and everything he embodied. In the world of politics and intrigue Robert Maheu was that figure that Hughes just couldn't be. He was a great presence . . . a real wheeler-dealer," Broeske added.
