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John Huston

John Huston

Birthday: 1906-08-05 | Place of Birth: Nevada, Missouri, USA

John Marcellus Huston (August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and visual artist. 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 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 an "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. Huston has been referred to as "a titan", "a rebel", and a "renaissance man" in the Hollywood film industry. Author Ian Freer describes him as "cinema's Ernest Hemingway"—a filmmaker who was "never afraid to tackle tough issues head on." During his 46-year career, Huston received 15 Oscar nominations, winning twice. He directed both his father, Walter Huston, and daughter, Anjelica Huston, to Oscar wins. Description above from the Wikipedia article John Huston, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

2021
John Huston: Adventures of a Free Soul

as    Self (archive footage)

2018
The Other Side of the Wind

as    J.J. "Jake" Hannaford

1997
Bogart: The Untold Story

as    Self (archive footage)

1986
Momo

as    Meister Hora

1983
Lovesick

as    Larry Geller, M.D.

1980
The Return of the King

as    Gandalf (voice)

1980
Wise Blood

as    Grandfather

1979
The Visitor

as    Jerzy Colsowicz

1979
Winter Kills

as    Pa Kegan

1979
Jaguar Lives!

as    Ralph Richards

1978
The Bermuda Triangle

as    Edward

1978
The Biggest Battle

as    Sean O'Hara

1977
The Rhinemann Exchange

as    Ambassador Henderson Granville

1977
The Hobbit

as    Gandalf the Grey (voice)

1977
Tentacles

as    Ned Turner

1976
Sherlock Holmes in New York

as    Professor Moriarty

1975
Breakout

as    Harris Wagner

1975
The Wind and the Lion

as    John Hay

1974
Chinatown

as    Noah Cross

1971
Man in the Wilderness

as    Captain Filmore Henry

1970
Myra Breckinridge

as    Buck Loner

1970
The Deserter

as    General Miles

1968
Candy

as    Dr. Arnold Dunlap

1968
Rocky Road to Dublin

as    Self

1966
1963
The Cardinal

as    Kardinal Glennon

1961
The Misfits

as    Extra in Blackjack Scene (uncredited)