JOHN HUSTON
Name: John Marcellus Huston
Born: 5 August 1906 Nevada, Missouri, U.S.
Died: 28 August 1987 Middletown, Rhode Island, U.S.
John Marcellus Huston (August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an Academy Award-winning
American film director and actor. He was known for directing several classic
films, The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The Treasure of the
Sierra Madre (1948), Key Largo (1948), and The African Queen (1951). He is the
father of actress Anjelica Huston and director Danny Huston, and his own father
was actor Walter Huston.
Huston was born in Nevada, Missouri, the son of the Canadian-born actor, Walter
Huston, and Rhea Gore, a sports reporter; he was of Scots-Irish descent on his
father's side, his ancestrial surname was Houston, and English and Welsh on
his mother's. Huston was raised by his maternal grandparents, Adelia Richardson
and John Marcellus Gore.
As a ten year old he was stricken by a serious illness which left him all but
bedridden for several years. On his recuperation, this acted as the spur to
pursue a full life, both intellectually and physically.
Huston began his film career as a screenwriter and made films mainly adapted
from books or plays. The six-foot-two-inch, brown-eyed director also acted in a
number of films, with distinction in Otto Preminger's The Cardinal for which he
was nominated for the Academy award for Best Supporting Actor and in Roman
Polanski's Chinatown as the film's central heavy against Jack Nicholson.
Huston's films were insightful about human nature and human predicaments. They
also sometimes included scenes or brief dialogue passages that were remarkably
prescient concerning environmental issues that came to public awareness in the
future, in the period starting about 1970; examples include The Treasure of the
Sierra Madre (1948) and The Night of the Iguana (1964). Huston also directed The
Misfits (1960) with an all-star cast including Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe,
Montgomery Clift, and Eli Wallach. Famously, Huston spent long evenings
carousing in the Nevada casinos after filming, surrounded by reporters and
beautiful women, gambling, drinking, and smoking cigars. Gable remarked during
this time that 'if he kept it up he would soon die of it'. Ironically, and
tragically, Gable died three weeks after the end of filming from a massive heart
attack while Huston went on to live for twenty-six more years.
After filming the documentary Let There Be Light on the psychiatric treatment of
soldiers for shellshock, Huston resolved to make a film about Sigmund Freud and
psychoanalysis. The film, Freud the Secret Passion, began as a collaboration
between Huston and Jean-Paul Sartre. Sartre dropped out of the film and
requested his name be removed from the credits. Huston went on to make the film
starring Montgomery Clift as Freud.
In the 1970s, he was a frequent actor in Italian films, but continued acting
until the age of 80 (Momo, 1986), one year before he passed away.
Huston is also famous to a generation of fans of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth
stories as the voice of the wizard Gandalf in the Rankin/Bass animated
adaptations of The Hobbit (1977) and The Return of the King (1980).
Many of his films were edited by Russell Lloyd, who was nominated for an Oscar
for editing The Man Who Would Be King (1975).
In 1941, Huston was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
for The Maltese Falcon. He was nominated again and won in 1948 for The Treasure
of the Sierra Madre, for which he also received the Best Director award.
Huston received 15 Oscar nominations in the course of his career. In fact, he is
the oldest person ever to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar when, at 79
years old, he was nominated for Prizzi's Honor (1985). He also has the unique
distinction of directing both his father Walter and his daughter Anjelica in
Oscar-winning performances (in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Prizzi's
Honor, respectively), making the Hustons the first family to have three
generations of Academy Award winners.
Name: John Marcellus Huston
Born: 5 August 1906 Nevada, Missouri, U.S.
Died: 28 August 1987 Middletown, Rhode Island, U.S.
John Marcellus Huston (August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an Academy Award-winning
American film director and actor. He was known for directing several classic
films, The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The Treasure of the
Sierra Madre (1948), Key Largo (1948), and The African Queen (1951). He is the
father of actress Anjelica Huston and director Danny Huston, and his own father
was actor Walter Huston.
Huston was born in Nevada, Missouri, the son of the Canadian-born actor, Walter
Huston, and Rhea Gore, a sports reporter; he was of Scots-Irish descent on his
father's side, his ancestrial surname was Houston, and English and Welsh on
his mother's. Huston was raised by his maternal grandparents, Adelia Richardson
and John Marcellus Gore.
As a ten year old he was stricken by a serious illness which left him all but
bedridden for several years. On his recuperation, this acted as the spur to
pursue a full life, both intellectually and physically.
Huston began his film career as a screenwriter and made films mainly adapted
from books or plays. The six-foot-two-inch, brown-eyed director also acted in a
number of films, with distinction in Otto Preminger's The Cardinal for which he
was nominated for the Academy award for Best Supporting Actor and in Roman
Polanski's Chinatown as the film's central heavy against Jack Nicholson.
Huston's films were insightful about human nature and human predicaments. They
also sometimes included scenes or brief dialogue passages that were remarkably
prescient concerning environmental issues that came to public awareness in the
future, in the period starting about 1970; examples include The Treasure of the
Sierra Madre (1948) and The Night of the Iguana (1964). Huston also directed The
Misfits (1960) with an all-star cast including Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe,
Montgomery Clift, and Eli Wallach. Famously, Huston spent long evenings
carousing in the Nevada casinos after filming, surrounded by reporters and
beautiful women, gambling, drinking, and smoking cigars. Gable remarked during
this time that 'if he kept it up he would soon die of it'. Ironically, and
tragically, Gable died three weeks after the end of filming from a massive heart
attack while Huston went on to live for twenty-six more years.
After filming the documentary Let There Be Light on the psychiatric treatment of
soldiers for shellshock, Huston resolved to make a film about Sigmund Freud and
psychoanalysis. The film, Freud the Secret Passion, began as a collaboration
between Huston and Jean-Paul Sartre. Sartre dropped out of the film and
requested his name be removed from the credits. Huston went on to make the film
starring Montgomery Clift as Freud.
In the 1970s, he was a frequent actor in Italian films, but continued acting
until the age of 80 (Momo, 1986), one year before he passed away.
Huston is also famous to a generation of fans of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth
stories as the voice of the wizard Gandalf in the Rankin/Bass animated
adaptations of The Hobbit (1977) and The Return of the King (1980).
Many of his films were edited by Russell Lloyd, who was nominated for an Oscar
for editing The Man Who Would Be King (1975).
In 1941, Huston was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
for The Maltese Falcon. He was nominated again and won in 1948 for The Treasure
of the Sierra Madre, for which he also received the Best Director award.
Huston received 15 Oscar nominations in the course of his career. In fact, he is
the oldest person ever to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar when, at 79
years old, he was nominated for Prizzi's Honor (1985). He also has the unique
distinction of directing both his father Walter and his daughter Anjelica in
Oscar-winning performances (in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Prizzi's
Honor, respectively), making the Hustons the first family to have three
generations of Academy Award winners.