Howard Hughes, 1905 - 1976 | LIFE.com: Out of Sight: Famous Recluses

LIFE.com: Out of Sight: Famous Recluses

Howard Hughes, 1905 - 1976

Visionary, aviator, film producer and director, and for years one of the richest men in the world, Howard Hughes is probably remembered today more for his eccentric behavior and reclusiveness late in life than his technical genius and badass, maverick persona. In his final years he lived in a curtained penthouse at the Desert Inn hotel in Vegas—one of five casino hotels he owned. Engineering genius, squire of Hollywood beauties, and battler against long odds, he was a broken, battered soul when he died. One can't help feeling that, for all of his accomplishments—and there were so many, from his aviation records to his Hollywood triumphs—much of Hughes' life must have been a day-to-day horror. (J. R. Eyerman/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images/LIFE.com)

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Sly Stone, 1943 ...

For three decades Sly Stone -- one of popular music's most dynamic and un-pigeonhole-able stars -- lived in almost complete seclusion, occasionally emerging for guest spots during friends' live shows and engaging in a much-publicized "back from oblivion" profile in Vanity Fair magazine in 2007. (Fotos International/Getty Images/LIFE.com)

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Greta Garbo, 190...

In 1999 the American Film Institute ranked the beautiful, mysterious Swedish actress as the fifth greatest female star of all time. In the 1950s she bought an apartment in New York City, where she lived for the rest of her life, hardly venturing out, refusing all interviews. None other than the formidable Bette Davis once said of her: "I cannot analyze this woman's acting. I only know that no one else so effectively worked in front of a camera." (Hulton Archive/Getty Images/LIFE.com)

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Syd Barrett, 194...

Syd Barrett -- front, pictured with Pink Floyd bandmates Roger Waters, Nick Mason, and Rick Wright -- was often called "the most famous recluse in rock," and it's hard to argue with the tag. A founding member of Pink Floyd and the band's leader early on -- especially on the amazing, scarily great debut album, "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" -- Barrett gradually succumbed to mental illness and the effects of massive self-dosing with LSD over the years, and for the last decades of his life lived as a recluse. He died of pancreatic cancer in 2006. The Floyd song, "Shine on You Crazy Diamond," is a tribute to Barrett. (Keystone Features/Getty Images/LIFE.com)

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Howard Hughes, 1...

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Lauryn Hill, 197...

Phenomenally talented, occasionally controversial, and hardly seen in public -- either performing or otherwise -- in years, the former Fugees singer/songwriter Lauryn Hill is a genuine creative force. Unfortunately, her output is also incredibly spotty, both in frequency and quality; but there's no denying her influence (Alicia Keys, John Legend, and others readily sing her praises) or the fascination she still generates in literally millions of music fans. (Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images/LIFE.com)

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Agnetha Faltskog...

Singer with the Swedish superstar pop act, Abba, Agnetha Faltskog retreated from the public eye in the late 1980s, living for years on a remote island off the coast of Sweden. She recently has been seen in public -- at the 2008 Stockholm premiere of the movie "Mama Mia!" for example -- but is still, generally speaking, intensely limelight-shy. (Ake Skoglund/Getty Images/LIFE.com)

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Bobby Fischer, 1...

Genius, chess champion (still the only American to be World No. 1), Holocaust denier, and all-around enigma, Fischer largely disappeared from public view in the 1980s, occasionally popping up to utter something outlandish -- he called the 9/11 terror attacks on the U.S. "wonderful news" -- and ultimately renouncing his American citizenship. He was granted Icelandic citizenship in 2005, 33 years after he bested Russian world champ Boris Spassky in a celebrated match played in Iceland's capital, Reykjavík. (Carl Mydans/Time and Life Pictures/Getty Images/LIFE.com)

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