Star Tells All About Her Marriage to Howard Hughes

Hollywood icon Terry Moore has had an impressive career spanning decades. She was barely a teenager when she first started appearing in films during the early 1940s. Then the bomb dropped in 1949 when she married billionaire aviator-innovator, moviemaker, and famous recluse Howard Hughes.

Moore was 18 and Hughes was in his 40s when they met. Controversy ensued and it would haunt them until they split in the mid-1950s. Moore went on to become a star while Hughes battled with drug addiction, according to Deseret News.

Now, Moore has opened up about her marriage in an interview with Fox News that was published Tuesday.

"In the beginning, I had no feelings for him," she recalled. "But as time went on, I fell madly in love with him. In fact, Howard was the love of my life."

The 91-year-old Hollywood veteran said it was flying that initially drew her to Hughes. She had always wanted to learn and he wanted to teach her.

"He arranged for me to jump with the 82nd Airborne [Division in the Army], which I did. And I just loved that," she said. "Flying with Howard was magical, especially at night when we'd see all the stars above us and all the lights below us. I mean, it was just so thrilling and he was thrilled with it too."

Hughes drew a lot of negative press, but Moore said the public had forgotten that he was also "a great hero."

"Maybe I love heroes because he was the first man to ever fly around the world. They talk so much about [Charles] Lindbergh, but he only flew the Atlantic. Howard flew around the world," she said.

Years later, Leonardo DiCaprio was cast to play Hughes in "The Aviator," which was released in 2005. He sought out Moore in hopes that she could assist him with the character. She was impressed.

"He called me and I was so surprised. It was just wonderful helping him with the character," Moore said.

DiCaprio was not the only famous star whose path would cross Moore's. Marilyn Monroe and James Dean both featured strongly in her life. One she would befriend and the other she would date.

Moore recalled her friendship with Monroe.

"I was so happy to meet her. And we became close, fast friends," she said. "I would take her home to dinner with me. My parents were just crazy about her. She was one of the sweetest, loneliest girls I ever met. But she learned so quickly as an actress."

Dean had to work harder to impress Moore, who she initially thought was a showoff but later grew to adore.

"Most actors are very shy, but he wasn't," she said. "He came to my house for dinner one night and after he ate, he undid his fly and burped. And my father said, 'Put his food on the floor and let him eat like a dog.' And so I did. Jimmy got down there and licked up his plate. That was Jimmy. He loved to shock people. But he knew what he was doing."

Things have changed in Hollywood since those days. Movies and its stars lack a certain charm that was prominent several decades ago in the age of Dean and Monroe. Moore believes it is talent.

"And also, I don't think there are as many beautiful people as there were when we had the Lanas and the Avas and the Rita Hayworths," she said. "They were so beautiful. We have lovely actresses today, but they don't make them like that anymore."

Moore continues to keep her acting flame burning though, and is showing no signs of stopping.

"I'm working still. I've got two unreleased movies and a lot more happening, which I'm very excited about it," she said, adding that she would "like to keep working until the very end."