Williard Whyte is an American billionaire with extensive holdings in Las Vegas. Sometime between 1969 and 1971, he was targeted by criminal mastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Blofeld had Whyte abducted and imprisoned while Blofeld assumed control of Whyte's empire. Whyte was a recluse, so the outside world was unaware what had transpired. British Intelligence agent James Bond unearthed what happened while investigating what appeared to be an ordinary diamonds smuggling ring. Bond rescued Whyte and smashed Blofeld's plot. In reality, 007 producer Albert R. Cubby Broccoli had a dream in which he was outside the window of his old friend, billionaire Howard Hughes. In the dream, Broccoli cried out to Hughes, who turned around and revealed himself to be someone else. This became the hook for the 1971 Bond film Diamonds Are Forever. Broccoli instructed screenwriter Tom Mankiewich to incorporate this idea into a rewrite Mankiewicz was doing on Richard Maibuam's early draft.