Kathryn Grayson, movie musical star and onetime Hughes fiancee, has died

Kathryn Grayson, the soprano who starred in popular MGM movie musicals such as "Kiss Me Kate" and "Show Boat," has died in Los Angeles. She was 88.

In 1954, Grayson was seriously involved with Howard Hughes. In fact, Hughes asked her to marry him and she accepted, though it didn't work out, in part because at the time Hughes really was in love with Jean Peters, whom he eventually married.

Richard Hack, a Hughes biographer, goes into some detail about the Hughes-Grayson affair in his 2001 book, "Hughes: The Private Diaries, Memos and Letters."

According to Hack:

- "As she (Grayson) tells the story, Hughes appeared one night on her front lawn [of her parents' house in Pacific Palisades] and refused to leave, at which point her father Charles grabbed a shotgun and went to vanquish the intruder. When she next saw her father, the sun had risen, she was heading to work, and the two new best friends were talking aviation."

- "Initially, Kathryn was not attracted to this man who had literally roamed into her home like a stray cat that lingers near the back door, hoping to be tossed a scrap of food or be offered a warm leg against which to rub. Her love built slowly, glimpses stacked upon gestures which when taken alone were meaningless, yet when assembled became like the complex jigsaw puzzle that one feels obliged to show off to neighbors and friends for its difficulty and brilliance."

Peters married Stuart Cramer on May 29, 1954, despite continuing to have feelings for Hughes and vice versa. But Hughes had not taken the next step with Peters and Cramer moved quickly. Soon thereafter, Hughes asked Grayson to marry him and she accepted.

Hughes planned to follow through on a Las Vegas wedding, but, Hack writes, a premonition of disaster involving a child kept Grayson from going along.

"Hughes was already at his plane preparing to fly the couple to Las Vegas when he received the news, and despite his efforts to change her mind, Kathryn was unwavering. Hughes flew to Las Vegas alone and received word after he had returned to the Green House: Kathryn's young nephew Timothy had drowned in her brother's swimming pool at exactly the time their wedding was to take place."

About a month after her marriage to Cramer, Peters moved out and started divorce proceedings. Hughes, of course, helped her to speed up the divorce. He also hired a private consultant named Robert Maheu to investigate Cramer.

A couple of years later, Hughes, mentally unstable at the time, approached Grayson again about getting married, but this time she refused. This angered Hughes, who "slapped her hard across the face," according to Grayson and related by Hack. She told him she never wanted to see him ever again. That's when Hughes turned his attentions again to Peters, whom he soon married.

For more info on Grayson, go here.

New details released on Project Azorian

The CIA has just released an internal document kept secret for 25 years describing Project Azorian in considerable detail, though not entirely. This was the U.S operation to retrieve a sunken Soviet submarine from the Pacific Ocean. Howard Hughes' lent his name to the effort to give the United States cover. Thus the common reference to the "Hughes Glomar Explorer."

Find the full story here. At the end of this Associated Press article, there are links to the 50-page CIA document.

Hughes had role in creation of modern sand wedge

Mary Ann Sarazen, daughter of the late golfing legend Gene Sarazen, tells the story of how her father got the idea for the modern sand wedge. Naturally, there's a Howard Hughes connection. Check out the story here.