John Houston is a very significant figure in the American film industry of the last century. A man who amazed the whole world with his talent and his eccentricity.
Biography
John Marcellus Houston was born at the beginning of the last century (August 5, 1906) in American Nevada. A boy was born into a family of avid gamblers: although his mother was a journalist, she was also fond of playing the sweepstakes. And his grandfather bought a house in Texas thanks to a poker game. This passion for gambling was in the blood of the Houston family. John's father was an actor, but he left his family early and devoted himself to theater. Thanks to his father in the future, John also linked his life with cinema. But that was later.
In the adolescent period of his life, the young man became very interested in boxing, to which he devoted a lot of time. So many that he even dropped out of school. He achieved great results in boxing and often won amateur boxing competitions. But, his successful career as a boxer, Houston ended because of a very unpleasant incident, which he did not like to talk about. The future celebrity loved all sorts of adventures. Such an adventure was his first marriage at the age of nineteen. He married his high school friend Dorothy Harvey. But this marriage lasted only a year, after which they parted. At the same time, John Houston tries himself as an actor, starring in an episode of a low-budget film. It was a very insignificant role and after it no one invited him to the cinema anymore. After this failure, he moved to Mexico, where he served in the Mexican cavalry, and then, falling in love with horses, for some time engaged in their breeding.
Thanks to his father, with whom he was always in touch, he went to Hollywood, but became not an actor as he wanted, but a screenwriter. He had excellent literary abilities, thanks to which he writes good scripts, and soon he himself becomes a director and films art films. Proof that he writes good scripts was that John was accepted into the writing team of Hollywood, where random people did not get.
Career and personal life
John's second wife is Leslie Bdeck, whom he marries in 1937. At the same time, he is seriously thinking about his Hollywood career. He writes several very significant scripts ("Jezebel"), he himself makes his directorial debut with the film "The Maltese Falcon". For three pre-war years (1938-1840), he was nominated for an Oscar three times. During the war, he was engaged in documentary films, as well as other Hollywood directors. But he also shot feature films. At this time, his "Across the Ocean" (thriller) and "This is our life" (melodrama) came out.
John Houston, according to his colleagues and contemporaries who knew him, always had a cheerful, mischievous, kind disposition. He adored all kinds of entertainment, jokes and practical jokes, loved noisy friendly companies, loved to drink well at them. He shifted his character and this attitude to life onto his heroes. The characters in his scripts are often people like him - sparkling merry fellows. At the same time, he himself never denied himself the pleasure of playing even a small role in his film. Often these roles were barely visible, but the actor played them with great pleasure. He liked to do everything that could somehow reflect and influence his favorite cinema. For example, being already a well-known director and actor, he could take up the usual dubbing of a cartoon or a full-length film, for him everything was equally significant.
As for his personal life, he also broke up with his second wife Leslie Bdeck John. They had no children, like their first wife. For the third time, the director marries Evelyn Keyes, also an actress. They lived together for 5 years. Married to Houston, Keyes adopts a Mexican boy and names him Pablo. Houston continues to shoot a lot, and does not forget about his beloved father, who literally before his death manages to get an Oscar for his role in the film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. It should be noted that the name of the director John Huston is famous for the fact that he was the first to reveal the name of Marilyn Monroe to the world.
It was in the famous movie "Asphalt Jungle", which was released in 1950. Plus, this movie brought Hollywood back to real life and real characters.
But not everything in Houston's life as a director was always smooth. It happened that his films had a very sad life. For example, an anti-war pamphlet entitled "The Scarlet Sign of Valor" saw such a fate in 1951. This film was criticized, caused a flurry of dissatisfaction with censors and producers. It was reworked many times, and in the end not even a copy of the original film survived. In response to this setback, the director directed his film, The African Queen. Unlike the previous one, it becomes a classic of an adventure film and has been with success for many years on screens around the world.
In the same 1951, due to political differences with the American authorities, John Houston moved to Ireland, where he received Irish citizenship. But he accepted it only in 1964.
As for family life, the director is as bright and varied as his work. He breaks up with his next wife and marries a beautiful Italian woman who was a ballerina and a fashion model, her name was Enrica Soma.
She danced in the Balanchine troupe, famous at that time. Soma gave birth to two daughters to John. Angelica, who also became a famous actress, and Allegra.
But there is evidence that Allegra Houston, although she bore her father's surname, was born of Baron Norwich, with whom the ballerina cheated on her husband. Enrika's life ended tragically - she crashed in a car. In total, Houston was married 5 times, he has four children. In addition, he always had many girlfriends whom he never hid.
Merits and awards
During his life, John Houston has shot many films that have gone down not only in the history of Hollywood cinema, but also in cinematography around the world. His films are interesting to this day, as they are shown in cinemas around the world.
The director has tried and filmed different genres throughout his life. He did not shoot only musical films that were not given to him. His only musical film, Annie, was a flop with “great success”. He himself, as an actor, starred not only in his own films, but also starred in 21 films by other directors. John Huston was called "the king of the black film" during his lifetime. He became a true Hollywood legend.
The director was a fairly wealthy American. He had 3 houses - in America, Ireland and Mexico. This man was obsessed with life. Having married 5 times, had many girlfriends, loved gambling: cards, bullfights, horse races, hunted a lot, loved fishing. He flew an airplane, was licensed and engaged in collecting. And most importantly, he created a great movie.
Two years before his death, he was awarded a special prize for creativity. John Houston was awarded with such awards as "Golden Globe" (1949, 1964, 1986), "Oscar" (1949), "Silver Lion" (1953), "Golden Lion" (1985). He rightfully bears the title of "Best Director" of American cinema.
John Marcellus Houston passed away on August 28, 1987 in Middletown, Rhode Island, USA.
