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John Huston,a well known actor, screen writer and director,was born on 5th August 1906 in Nevada, MO. John Huston led an extensively independent and adventurous life and struggled hard to achieve his individuality. This aspect of his life reflected quite lucidly in the films he directed. The characters of his films largely portrayed such professions as boxer, horseman, cavalry officer and major in U.S. Army. |
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On the contrary the female characters in the films were mainly depicted as either weak or as threat to manhood. This can largely be the consequence of his disturbed and frequently unstable married life that led to four divorces. John Huston was born to actor Walter Huston and started his career by writing dialogues in Hollywood. His directorial debut was in 1941 when Warner & Bros production company hired him to direct The Maltese Falcon. Although the novel based script was filmed twice before, Huston's version became the most memorable. In his subsequent films like Across the Pacific, Key Largo and Treasure of the Sierra Madre; he casted Humphrey Bogart who became a star because of Huston. John Huston won his first Oscar Award for directing Sierra Madre which was an adventure drama film shot in Mexico. His father Walter Huston earned his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the same.
Huston continued to write for Hollywood and made documentaries for U.S War department. In 1950, came his big directorial success with The Asphalt Jungle which was followed by The African Queen. Bogart who again starred for this film, received his first and by far the only Academy Award for his role as a drunken boat captain Charlie Allnut. Then came Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage followed by Moulin Rogue which won two Oscars for art direction and costume design. John Huston gave up the production of A Farewell to Arms, after he shifted to Ireland with his wife and new born daughter Anjelica. His next film was the romantic Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison and The Misfit in 1961.Huston made two more films that were an adaptation of novels, The List of Adrian Messenger and The Night of the Iguana.
Later in his life, Huston won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in Otto Preminger's The Cardinal after which he got engaged in acting for another decade before he again directed A Walk With Love and Death which also launched his daughter Anjelica. His other notable performances include Chinatown, The Man Who Would Be King, Wise Blood, Annie, Prizzi's Honor and The Dead . In that same year, 1987, Huston died of pneumonia.
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