Director John Huston White Hunter Black Heart

Director John Huston

Actor and director John Huston was born in Missouri in 1906. It would not be controversial to say Huston is one of the greatest American directors. In “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die” 5^th edition (edited by Steven Schneider), Huston had nine movies listed as follows: The Maltese Falcon (1941), San Pietro (1945), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The African Queen (1951), Beat the Devil (1953), Fat City (1972), Prizzi’s Honor (1985), and The Dead (1987). I don’t know why Beat the Devil (1953) was on this list, whether it was serious or spoof, it’s still horrible.

Huston was the son of the legendary actor Walter Huston. It is said that John began acting in vaudeville with his father at the age of 3. John was 14 when his parents divorced. He spent his youth traveling with his actor father and reporter mother. Huston was a sickly child but by 14 he started boxing and later won the Amateur Lightweight Boxing Championship of California.

Huston appeared on Broadway in 1925. Huston, escaped to Mexico, leaving behind his work and his wife, where he served in the cavalry for a time. He returned to New York and worked as a journalist before skipping off Europe. As a result of screenwriting, he had appeared in some films. Huston returned to the US in 1933.

He worked as a screenwriter for Warner Brothers and eventually he was given the job of screenwriter and director for The Maltese Falcon (1941). This movie made Humphrey Bogart a superstar and the director gave a role to his father, Walter Huston. Huston continued to screen write and directed in This Our Life (1942) and Across the Pacific (1942).

Huston served in World War II and made government films. Following the war, he married his third wife, Evelyn Keyes. Keyes was discussed in 99 River Street (1953). She is the only one of John Huston’s five wives that I am mentioning because she told him she or the pet monkey would have to leave and Huston said. It’s you!

Huston knocked it out of the park again with Humphrey Bogart and his father Walter Huston in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). Walter received an Oscar for best supporting actor and John won for both the screenplay and the directing. John also cast himself in the movie. John Huston’s career was in high gear and the movies that followed included Key Largo (1948), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The African Queen (1951), The Red Badge of Courage (1951), Moulin Rouge (1952), Moby Dick (1956), The Misfits (1961), The Night of the Iguana (1964), The Bible: In the Beginning… (1966), Casino Royale (1967), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), Annie (1982), and Prizzi’s Honor (1985).

During this time Huston was brave enough to help form a group called the Committee for the First Amendment in 1947, which stood up to the un-American activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee.

In 1964, Huston moved to Ireland but kept working including some great acting roles like in Otto Preminger’s The Cardinal (1963), Chinatown (1974), and my personal favorite, The Wind and the Lion (1975) where he played advisor to the president. He also starred in some real dogs like Candy (1968) and Myra Breckinridge (1970).

Huston’s personal life is often compared to men like Ernest Hemingway. Clint Eastwood starred in White Hunter Black Heart (1990), which is a semi-autobiographical story of an African elephant-hunting adventure Huston took while filming The African Queen (1951).

Huston died at the age of 81 in 1987. Some of Huston’s achievements include directing a father and a daughter, Anjelica Huston, to an Oscar. He was part of the first father/son duo to win Oscars for the same film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). He directed 15 different actors to an Oscar win. Finally, he was voted the 13th greatest director of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

Learn more about John Huston by reading his autobiography “An Open Book” 1980.

Review Films directed by John Huston

Reviewed Films Starring John Huston

John Huston on iMDB.com