Add/Update Information: John Huston - Director

An American actor, director, writer, and producer, born in Nevada, Missouri, on August 5, 1906, to actor Walter Huston. He left school at the age of fourteen to become a boxer, and at the age of nineteen he left for Mexico. In the 1930s, he went to Hollywood to pursue a career as a screenwriter, but after having a series of misadventures, he left for Europe, making a living by singing in the streets, and he learned to paint in Paris. Huston returned to Hollywood in 1938 and wrote several scripts, this time with success. Among his most notable work from that period was the movie Jezebel (1938). He made his directorial debut in The Maltese Falcon (1941). During World War II, Huston served in the US Army and made several documentaries, and after the war, he directed three of his most notable movies The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), for which he won the Academy Awards for Best Screenplay and Best Director, Key Largo (1948), and The Asphalt Jungle (1950). During the McCarthy Era, Huston traveled to Ireland in protest against the practices of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. In 1957, Huston returned to Hollywood. He did not appear in his movies except in small roles, but, starting in the seventies, he acted frequently in the films of other directors. He was nominated for an Best Actor in a Supporting Role for The Cardinal (1963). Among his other best known roles was that in director Roman Polanski's movies Chinatown (1974). Houston died in Middletown, Rhode Island, USA, on August 28, 1987.