John Huston, (born Aug. 5, 1906, Nevada, Mo., U.S—died Aug. 28, 1987, Middletown, R.I.), U.S. film director and screenwriter. The son of Walter Huston, he was briefly a boxer, a Mexican cavalry officer, and a reporter before becoming a scriptwriter. His first work as a director, The Maltese Falcon (1941), began an illustrious career studded with film classics: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948, Academy Awards for best director and screenplay), Key Largo (1948), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The African Queen (1951), Moulin Rouge (1952), The Night of the Iguana (1964), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), Prizzi’s Honor (1985), and The Dead (1987). He wrote screenplays for many of his own films and for others such as Jezebel (1938), Juarez (1939), and High Sierra (1941). He also worked as an actor, notably in Chinatown (1974). His daughter Anjelica (b. 1951) was an accomplished actress, earning an Academy Award for her performance in Prizzi’s Honor (1985).
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