John Huston

John Marcellus Huston is a supreme director, actor and screenwriter. He was born on August 5, 1906 in Nevada Missouri and his career spanned over five decades. He is a ten-time Oscar nominated director. At the age of 3 Huston performed with his father in vaudeville. Huston was a sickly child and was placed in a sanitarium to help with kidney ailments and an enlarged heart. He quit school at the age of 14 and became a boxer. He won the Amateur Lightweight Boxing Championship of California.
His first off-Broadway role The Triumph of the Egg followed with a Broadway Debut with Ruin (1925). He also acted on Broadway in Adam Solitaire. He moved to Mexico, abandoned his marriage and career to become an officer in the cavalry. Huston returned to America and began submitting short stores. He was hired by Samuel Goldwyn Jr. as a screenwriter, but could not stand the confinement. He became a homeless beggar while painting in London and Paris.
Huston returned to America in 1933, married again and began to write. He was the screenwriter and director for The Maltese Falcon (1941). This movie made a superstar out of Humphrey Bogart and set Huston on his way. He wrote In This Our Life (1942), Across the Pacific (1942) and made films for the US Government.
In 1948 Huston worked with Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. He received an Oscar for best screenplay and director and his father gained the Best Supporting Actor award. Huston is credited with writing and directing Key Largo (1948), The African Queen (1951), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The Red Badge of Courage in 1951 and Moulin Rouge in 1952. Credit to Huston Moby Dick (1956, The Unforgiven (1960) and The Night of the Iguana (1964).
Huston was an avid supporter of human rights and formed the Committee for the first Amendment in 1957. He was blacklisted by Hollywood and moved to St. Clerans in Ireland. He married Enrica Soma (4th wife) and they had two children including Anjelica Huston who is an actress. Huston returned to America and acted in The Cardinal (1963). He received an Oscar nomination. He also appeared in The Wind and The Lion (1975) and Myra Breckinridge (1970). He directed Angelica in Prizzi's Honor (1985), The Man Who Would be King, and Under the Volcano (1984).
Huston lived life to the fullest and followed no restrictions. He did suffer from chronic emphysema but continued to work. He died while on filming locate at 81 on August 28, 1987.