John Huston

In "The Man Who Would Be King" (1975), co-written and directed by John Huston, two rogues, Peachy Carnehan (Michael Caine) and Daniel Dravot (Sean Connery), desert their British army post in India in the 1880s to go adventuring. In a retrospective voice-over, Peachy fondly remembers their encounters with native tribesmen: "At night, we told them stories of our own devising, and they loved them, because we showed them that their dreams could come true."

In the years immediately preceding his death in 1987, John Huston's critical reputation as one of America's leading directors was reestablished with the twin success of "Prizzi's Honor" (1985) and "The Dead" (1987). But it is his earlier films, especially "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948), "The African Queen" (1951) and "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) which will ultimately be responsible for Huston's place in film history as a teller of imaginative tales of enchantment, quest and loss.

The son of noted stage and screen actor Walter Huston (who would win an Oscar for his role in his son's "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"), John Huston was a juvenile actor on the vaudeville circuit, a champion boxer, a painter, a leading man on the legitimate stage, a writer and reporter and even a lieutenant in the Mexican cavalry. After an abortive career as a screenwriter in the early 1930s, Huston returned to Hollywood later in the decade and achieved great renown with his contributions to six screenplays written under contract at Warner Bros., including "Jezebel" (1938), "High Sierra" (1941) and "Sergeant York" (1941). Even after he became a director, Huston would continue to contribute substantially to the screenplays of all his films.

Huston made a stunning debut as a director with "The Maltese Falcon." One of the first examples of film noir, this stylistically assured feature revealed his interests in ironic comedy and the motif of the unresolved quest. "The Maltese Falcon" is one of the most influential and enjoyable of the cinema's masterworks.

Huston's wartime filmmaking experiences for the signal corps resulted in equally groundbreaking documentary work, including "The Battle of San Pietro" (1945) and "Let There Be Light" (1945), the latter an account of psychological dysfunction among American G.I.s which federal authorities withheld from release for many years.

Between 1948 and 1952, Huston produced a succession of important films. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" refined the Huston theme of the quest into an archetype and cemented his critical reputation, largely thanks to a series of reviews and articles by James Agee--who would later write the screenplay for "The African Queen." "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950) proved Huston's ability to manipulate simultaneously a variety of characters and stories; the film's sharply drawn milieu and unusual sympathy for its criminal protagonists mark it as among Huston's most compelling works. "The Red Badge of Courage" (1951) began Huston's identification as an adapter of literary classics. This film also marked the first of several visually stylized features which Huston based on specific visual sources. "The Red Badge" took its groupings of figures and sun-bleached tones from Mathew Brady's daguerreotypes of the Civil War; the compositions in "Moby Dick" (1956) emulate scrimshaw carvings from the whaling days it depicts; and "Moulin Rouge" (1952) utilizes a color scheme based on Toulouse-Lautrec's paintings, which are themselves an important part of the film's narrative. This period of maturity and experimentation also saw the production of "The African Queen," an essentially two-character film which underscored Huston's deft control of actors.

Beginning with the disappointing reception accorded his offbeat comic thriller "Beat the Devil" (1953), Huston's reputation suffered a series of setbacks over the next 20 years. A tumultuous personal life mirrored this decline, but Huston continued his dedication to literary adaptations. In 1963, with Otto Preminger's "The Cardinal," Huston began an acting career, appearing in his own and others' films. He provided narration for a multitude of TV shows and documentary films, and appearances in public service campaigns and his outspoken opposition to colorization gained him further public recognition. By the time of his death, Huston's craggy, beautifully ugly face and melodious baritone voice made him one of the few directors of his era as familiar to his public as any of his stars.

"Fat City" (1972), a sorrowful story of the ebbing fortunes of a washed-up boxer, marked the start of Huston's comeback in the critical community. "The Man Who Would Be King," originally planned more than 20 years previous as a vehicle for Bogart and Gable, remains Huston's most fully realized quest narrative. "Wise Blood" (1979), a compelling piece of Southern Gothic based on Flannery O'Connor's novel, similarly represents one of Huston's greatest achievements as an adapter of literature. After the disasters of "Escape to Victory" (1981) and "Annie" (1982), Huston scored another triumph with "Prizzi's Honor", a grim but somehow hilarious and touching comedy of love among mobsters. The film won a supporting actress Oscar for Huston's daughter Anjelica, mirroring father Walter's win for "Treasure of the Sierra Madre."

Huston's final completed film was "The Dead" (1987), another long-cherished literary adaptation, of James Joyce's short story. Huston's son Tony adapted the story and Anjelica was featured in the cast. At the time of his death, he was involved in the production of "Mr. North" (1988) as writer and producer, with his son Danny directing.

• Also Credited As:
  John Marcellus Huston
• Born:
  August 5, 1906 in Nevada, Missouri, United States
• Died:
  August 28, 1987.
• Job Titles:
  Director, Actor, Producer, Screenwriter, Artist, Author, Boxer, Journalist

Family

• Daughter: Allegra Huston. daughter of Enrica Soma and a titled Englishman, conceived during Soma s separation from Huston; after Soma s death, Huston raised her as his own child
• Daughter: Anjelica Huston. born on July 8, 1951; mother, Enrica Soma; debut in father s film, Sinful Davey (1969) at age 16; later directed by him in the disastrous A Walk With Love and Death (1969), Prizzi s Honor (1985), for which she earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, and The Dead (1987)
• Father: Walter Huston. born on April 6, 1884; married Huston s mother on December 31, 1904; divorced in 1912; later wed to vaudevillian Bayonne Whipple (from 1915 to 1931) and actress Ninette Sunderland (from 1931 until his death); acted in son s directorial debut The Maltese Falcon (1941) and later won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948); died on April 7, 1950
• Grandfather: John Marcellus Gore. died in 1913
• Grandmother: Adelia Gore. helped to raise Huston
• Mother: Rhea Gore. born c. 1881; married Huston s father on December 31, 1904; divorced in 1912
• Son: Danny Huston. born on May 14, 1962; mother, Zoe Sallis; designed the main title sequence for Huston s Under the Volcano (1984), directed father in the 1990 direct-to-video release Mr Corbett s Ghost (shot in 1986) and helmed Mr. North (1988), produced and scripted by father
• Son: Pablo Huston. adopted
• Son: Tony Huston. born on April 15, 1950; mother, Enrica Soma; acted in The List of Adrian Messenger (1963) and wrote screenplay for The Dead (1987)

Significant Others

• Companion: Maricela Hernandez. met c. 1974 when she was 23 years old; the film The Dead was dedicated to her
• Companion: Marietta Tree.
• Companion: Olivia de Havilland. had relationship in early 1940s; reunited in the 1950s after her divorce
• Companion: Suzanne Flon. appeared in Moulin Rouge
• Companion: Zita Johann. had relationship in the 1930s
• Companion: Zoe Sallis. involved in the 1960s; mother of Danny Huston

Milestones

• 1909 Stage acting debut at age three (date approximate)
• 1917 Moved to L.A. for health reasons
• 1928 Resigned commission
• 1929 Made acting debut with uncredited appearance in Hell s Heroes
• 1932 Left Hollywood
• 1935 Made contract writer at Warner Bros.
• 1940 Earned first Academy Award nomination for contributions to script of Doctor Ehrlich s Magic Bullet
• 1941 Co-wrote the biopic Sergeant York ; shared Academy Award nomination for script
• 1941 Debut as film director with The Maltese Falcon ; also scripted; first screen collaboration with Humphrey Bogart; father Walter appeared in small part; received Oscar nomination for screenplay
• 1942 Became a lieutenant with Signal Corps
• 1945 Returned to Hollywood and did uncredited work on the screenplays of The Killers and The Stranger (both 1946)
• 1948 Received Oscars as Best Director and for Best Screenply for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre ; father Walter won Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for same film
• 1950 Earned dual Oscar nods for writing and directing The Asphalt Jungle
• 1951 Wrote and directed The African Queen ; garnered two more Academy Award nominations; star Humphrey Bogart received Best Actor Oscar
• 1952 Garnered yet another Oscar nomination for direction of Moulin Rouge , the biopic of artist Toulouse-Lautrec
• 1956 Produced, wrote and directed Moby Dick , adapted from Herman Melville s classic novel
• 1957 Earned Academy Award nomination for contributions to script of Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison ; also directed
• 1961 Directed The Misfits , scripted by Arthur Miller and co-starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift
• 1962 Guided Clift through the title role of Freud
• 1963 Co-starred in The Cardinal ; received Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor
• 1964 Helmed the screen adaptation of Tennessee Williams The Night of the Iguana , featuring Ava Gardner, Richard Burton and Deborah Kerr
• 1966 Played Noah and provided the voice of God in The Bible ; also directed
• 1967 Produced and directed Reflections in a Golden Eye
• 1969 Directed daughter Anjelica in the lead of the medieval romance A Walk With Love and Death ; also acted
• 1970 Acted in the camp classic Myra Breckinridge
• 1972 Directed the superb boxing-themed drama Fat City
• 1974 Delivered memorable turn as the nasty Noah Cross in Chinatown
• 1975 Received 13th Academy Award nomination for script of The Man Who Would Be King , adapted from a Rudyard Kipling story; also directed
• 1979 Helmed Wise Blood , adapted from Flannery O Connor s novel; also acted the role of Hazel s grandfather
• 1982 Directed first screen musical, the overproduced boxoffice disappointment Annie , based on the hit Broadway musical
• 1984 Realized a long-held dream to film Under the Volcano with Albert Finney in the lead
• 1985 Earned final Oscar nomination for the black comedy Prizzi s Honor ; daughter Anjelica received the Best Supporting Actress statue for her turn as a Mafia princess
• 1987 Directed last film, The Dead ; daughter Anjelica offered memorable performance; son Tony wrote the screenplay based on the James Joyce story
• 1988 Produced and scripted Mr. North ; had been set to direct but became too ill; son Danny replaced him at the helm
• After parents separated, moved to Texas with mother
• Became boxer at age 14, won Amateur Lightweight Boxing Championship in California
• Became reporter with New York Graphic
• Made several documentaries while in the military including Report From the Aleutians (1943) and Let There Be Light (1945)
• Moved to Hollywood in the early 1930s, debut as screenwriter with Samuel Goldwyn on projects like 1932 s Law and Order , Murder in the Rue Morgue and A House Divided
• Moved to Mexico, became calvary officer
• Professional stage acting debut at age 19
• Promoted to major