to AUTUMN 1967: HENRY GELDZAHLER BRINGS FRED HUGHES TO THE FACTORY

Fred Hughes

Fred Hughes had grown up in Houston, working for art patrons John and Dominique de Menil on their art projects and acquistions. After his first visit to the Factory, he started visiting almost daily.

Andy Warhol:

“He’d [Fred Hughes] spend mornings and afternoons at the de Menil Foundation, having meetings with people like Nelson Rockefeller.. and then straight from that he’d come down to the Factory to sweep floors.” (POP216)

According to Warhol, Fred “got caught up in the scene completely” moving from “the beautiful de Menil house ... into the Henry Hudson Hotel on West 57th” where a lot of the Factory people were staying. (POP217)

With the leftover money from a De Menil commission arranged by Fred, Andy was able to start filming Lonesome Cowboys at the end of the year. (POP215-7)

Later, in the seventies, Fred would go on to marry fashion executive Marina Schiano, although the marriage would only last two years. Though he always said that he was heterosexual, he admitted to having homosexual encounters when he had 'enough gin and tonics.' Ed Hayes, the attorney for Andy's estate after his death, said of Hughes, "I knew he was in love with me... I said 'Fred, I'm just too old to change. I'm not like that. I love you, you're my friend." (DD128)

Duncan Roy, the director of the film 'AKA' (released in 2002), admitted to having a gay relationship with Fred Hughes in the late seventies. According to Duncan, "He [Hughes] was a weirdo - he used to wank off in front of me..." When the Warhol Foundation was asked to verify the relationship, a representative from the Foundation replied: "Deception might have been a perfect glue for such a relationship... Fred Hughes was a consummate liar, social climber, and a bespoke SOB who grew to total ghoulishness because of his connection to... Andy Warhol. Why is it, I wonder, that great people seem to love the presence of reptiles like these creatures?" According to Duncan Roy, Fred Hughes would lie to people, telling them that he was Howard Hughes's son. (GW)

According to Bob Colacello, it was Fred Hughes who described himself by saying, "I'm deeply superficial", a quote often attributed to Andy Warhol. (BC92)

to AUTUMN 1967: HENRY GELDZAHLER BRINGS FRED HUGHES TO THE FACTORY