A Hoax So Bold

April 6, 2007 — -- The scam was so audacious, so outrageous and so clever that it fooled the best and brightest in American publishing.

In 1971, author Clifford Irving convinced McGraw-Hill and Life magazine that Howard Hughes, the reclusive billionaire, had secretly given him permission to write Hughes' autobiography.

Irving was so convincing -- and the publishers so eager -- that they handed over checks totalling close to $1 million. By the time the hoax unraveled, Time magazine had put Irving on its cover as "Con-man of the Year," a title that Irving, now 76 and living in Aspen, Colo., has never quite lived down.

Watch the full interview tonight on "Nightline" at 11:35 EDT

The release of a new movie entitled "The Hoax," after Irving's own memoir, has dredged up a chapter of his life that Irving would just as soon forget.

"I have a list of things I'm called," said Irving, who is played in the film by Richard Gere. "A scam artist, totally reprehensible, con man, flimflam man, a man incapable of the truth, shameless liar and finally, from Richard Gere, 'really not a grown-up.'"

Hughes, of course, was among the most compelling and mysterious characters of his time. The billionaire aviator, movie mogul and industrialist had not been seen in public for 15 years. He was a rich and eccentric hermit. Irving, already a published author, was searching for a new book topic when a magazine article gave him a jolt of inspiration.

Irving says that his researcher, Dick Suskind, and his wife at the time, artist Edith Irving, joined him in hoodwinking his publishers into believing that Hughes had chosen Irving to tell his remarkable life story. At the time, Irving was a relatively obscure writer -- even more astounding, Irving persuaded McGraw-Hill to give him the advance check made out to Hughes.

"You know, one word from your wife, 'That's a stupid idea, you'd go to prison for that,' and it would have been off," Irving said, "but unfortunately when I told her about the idea, she said, 'Oh, that sounds like a lot of fun. Can I be involved? Can I play too?'"