Collection P107 - Huston Family Collection

13 boxes

John Huston (1906-1987) was born in Nevada, Missouri, the son of actor and journalist Rhea Gore Huston. As a teen he moved with his mother to Los Angeles, where he attended Lincoln High School. He was raised by his maternal grandparents John Marcellus and Adelia, and was diagnosed with a serious illness at the age of 11. He dropped out of school at 14 to pursue boxing, then painting, studying the latter with Stanton MacDonald-Wright at the Arts Student League of Los Angeles. Huston pursued acting in New York with the Provincetown Players in 1924. He started writing short stories and worked as a reporter for a New York newspaper. In the early 1930s he travelled to London and Paris, living the Bohemian lifestyle.

Huston came to Hollywood as a writer in the early 1930s, under contract first with Samuel Goodwyn, then at Universal. Settling in Los Angeles in 1937, Huston found his niche as a writer with Warner Brothers. He scripted Jezebel (1938), Juarez (1939) and High Sierra (1941), among other films. His directorial debut was The Maltese Falcon (1941), for which he also wrote the screenplay. His directing career was interrupted by service in the Army Signals Corps, where he directed three documentaries. Back at Warner Brothers, Huston directed The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948) and Key Largo (1948). During the HUAC investigation of Communism in Hollywood in the late 1940s, Huston was a member of the Committee for the First Amendment. Eventually disenfranchised, he moved to Ireland in 1952, and became an Irish citizen in 1964, taking up residence at St. Cleran's near Craughwell, County Galway. Huston went on to direct such pictures as The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Moulin Rouge (1952), Moby Dick (1956), The Misfits (1961), Freud (1962), The Night of the Iguana (1964), The Bible (1966), Wise Blood (1979), Under the Volcano (1984) and Prizzi's Honor (1985). His last film was The Dead (1987). As an actor Huston has appeared in The Cardinal (1963), Chinatown (1974), Wise Blood and The Treasure of Sierra Madre , among other films. Huston's children, Angelica, Danny and Tony, have all found work in acting and directing. John Huston received Academy Awards for writing and directing The Treasure of Sierra Madre in 1948. His 15 nominations span five decades and three categories (writing, directing and acting). Along with his father, Walter, and daughter, Angelica, he ensuring the Hustons became the only family who have won academy awards over three generations.

The material in this collection came to NUI, Galway in 2010 from the Huston family.

The material consists of legal documents, scripts and some production material relating to the work of John Huston, as well as some material relating to other members of his family. The bulk of the material relates to the production of his film The Dead , an adaptation of James Joyce's short story to film. There is also some material relating to his grandmother Adelia, his mother Rhea and his son Tony. There are 13 boxes of material, in a variety of formats including some artefacts. The collection is in good physical condition.

The collection has been divided by creator, with material associated with Adelia, Rhea, John and Tony grouped together. The material associated with John has been further sub-divided by function into a number of sub-series. Numbering includes a collection code and an item code which reflects the order under the system of arrangement.

The material was donated to the James Hardiman Library, NUl Galway. It is accessible to all bone fide researchers, and subject to the conditions of access governing the consultation of archival material at the James Hardiman Library. No material may be reproduced from this The material in this collection is available to all bone fide researchers and subject to the conditions of access governing the consultation of archival material at the James Hardiman Library. No material may be reproduced from this collection without the written permission of the archivist and reproductions are subject ot the conditions of access. The most appropriate form of reference is title of item: date of item: reference number (P107/?), James Hardiman Archives, NUI, Galway.
Open

Descriptive List

496

Catalog

27/06/2013
25/06/2025