John Marcellus Huston (/ˈhjuË stÉ™n/ HEW-stÉ™n; August 5, 1906 â€"
August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor,
and visual artist. He travelled widely, settling at various times in
France, Mexico, and Ireland. Huston was a citizen of the United States
by birth but renounced U.S. citizenship to become an Irish citizen and
resident in 1964. He later returned to the United States, where he
lived the rest of his life. He wrote the screenplays for most of the
37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered
classics: The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
(1948), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The African Queen (1951), The
Misfits (1961), Fat City (1972), The Man Who Would Be King (1975) and
Prizzi's Honor (1985).In his early years, Huston studied and worked as
a fine art painter in Paris. He then moved to Mexico, and began
writing, first plays and short stories, and later working in Los
Angeles as a Hollywood screenwriter, and was nominated for several
Academy Awards writing for films directed by William Dieterle and
Howard Hawks, among others. His directorial debut came with The
Maltese Falcon, which despite its small budget became a commercial and
critical hit; he would continue to be a successful, if iconoclastic,
Hollywood director for the next 45 years. He explored the visual
aspects of his films throughout his career, sketching each scene on
paper beforehand, then carefully framing his characters during the
shooting. While most directors rely on post-production editing to
shape their final work, Huston instead created his films while they
were being shot, with little editing needed. Some of Huston's films
were adaptations of important novels, often depicting a "heroic
quest," as in Moby Dick, or The Red Badge of Courage. In many films,
different groups of people, while struggling toward a common goal,
would become doomed, forming "destructive alliances," giving the films
a dramatic and visual tension. Many of his films involved themes such
as religion, meaning, truth, freedom, psychology, colonialism, and
war.While he had done some stage acting in his youth, and had
occasionally cast himself in bit parts in his own films, he primarily
worked behind the camera until Otto Preminger cast him in the title
role for 1963's The Cardinal, for which he was nominated for an
Academy Award. He continued to take prominent supporting roles for the
next two decades, including 1974's Chinatown (directed by Roman
Polanski), and he leant his booming baritone voice as a voice actor
and narrator to a number of prominent films. His last two films,
1985's Prizzi's Honor, and 1987's The Dead, filmed while he was in
failing health at the end of his life, were both nominated for
multiple Academy Awards. He died shortly after completing his last
film.
August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor,
and visual artist. He travelled widely, settling at various times in
France, Mexico, and Ireland. Huston was a citizen of the United States
by birth but renounced U.S. citizenship to become an Irish citizen and
resident in 1964. He later returned to the United States, where he
lived the rest of his life. He wrote the screenplays for most of the
37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered
classics: The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
(1948), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The African Queen (1951), The
Misfits (1961), Fat City (1972), The Man Who Would Be King (1975) and
Prizzi's Honor (1985).In his early years, Huston studied and worked as
a fine art painter in Paris. He then moved to Mexico, and began
writing, first plays and short stories, and later working in Los
Angeles as a Hollywood screenwriter, and was nominated for several
Academy Awards writing for films directed by William Dieterle and
Howard Hawks, among others. His directorial debut came with The
Maltese Falcon, which despite its small budget became a commercial and
critical hit; he would continue to be a successful, if iconoclastic,
Hollywood director for the next 45 years. He explored the visual
aspects of his films throughout his career, sketching each scene on
paper beforehand, then carefully framing his characters during the
shooting. While most directors rely on post-production editing to
shape their final work, Huston instead created his films while they
were being shot, with little editing needed. Some of Huston's films
were adaptations of important novels, often depicting a "heroic
quest," as in Moby Dick, or The Red Badge of Courage. In many films,
different groups of people, while struggling toward a common goal,
would become doomed, forming "destructive alliances," giving the films
a dramatic and visual tension. Many of his films involved themes such
as religion, meaning, truth, freedom, psychology, colonialism, and
war.While he had done some stage acting in his youth, and had
occasionally cast himself in bit parts in his own films, he primarily
worked behind the camera until Otto Preminger cast him in the title
role for 1963's The Cardinal, for which he was nominated for an
Academy Award. He continued to take prominent supporting roles for the
next two decades, including 1974's Chinatown (directed by Roman
Polanski), and he leant his booming baritone voice as a voice actor
and narrator to a number of prominent films. His last two films,
1985's Prizzi's Honor, and 1987's The Dead, filmed while he was in
failing health at the end of his life, were both nominated for
multiple Academy Awards. He died shortly after completing his last
film.
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