The Carpetbaggers is a 1964 American film starring George Peppard as Howard Hughes and Alan Ladd as Nevada Smith, a role Steve McQueen played the following year. Carroll Baker played an actress who was modeled by Jean Harlow, who starred in John Hughes' epic picture Hell's Angels. The Carpetbaggers was Alan Ladd's final picture; he died before its premiere. George Peppard plays a motivated industrialist reminiscent to Howard Hughes. His friends and lovers struggle to access his human side while he builds planes, directs movies, and breaks hearts. The film's title refers to self-promoting tycoons who undertake fast financial takeovers, impose totalitarian rules for short-term profits, then move on.