Walter Huston | |
|---|---|
 Huston inThe Furies (1950) | |
| Born | Walter Thomas Huston (1883-04-06)April 6, 1883 |
| Died | (1950-04-07)April 7, 1950 (aged 67) Beverly Hills,California, U.S. |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1902–1950 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | John Huston |
| Relatives | Anjelica Huston (granddaughter) Danny Huston (grandson) |
Walter Thomas Huston (/ˈhjuːstən/ ⓘHEW-stən; April 6, 1883[1][2][3][4] or 1884[5][6][7][8] – April 7, 1950) was a Canadian actor and singer. Huston won theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role inThe Treasure of the Sierra Madre, directed by his sonJohn Huston. He is the patriarch of the four generations of the Huston acting family, including his son John, grandchildrenAnjelica Huston andDanny Huston, as well as great-grandchildJack Huston.
Huston was born on April 6, 1883, inToronto,Ontario,[5][6][7][8] where he attended Winchester Street Public School.[9] He was the son of Elizabeth (née McGibbon) and Robert Moore Huston, a farmer who founded a construction company.[10] He was of Scottish and Irish descent.[11] He had a brother and two sisters, one of whom was the theatrical voice coach Margaret Carrington (1877–1941).[citation needed]
His family moved, before his birth, fromMelville,[12] just south ofOrangeville, Ontario, where they were farmers. As a young man, he worked in construction and in his spare time attended the Shaw School of Acting. He made his stage debut in 1902. He went on to tour inIn Convict Stripes, a play byHal Reid, father ofWallace Reid, and also appeared withRichard Mansfield inJulius Caesar. He again toured in another play,The Sign of the Cross. In 1904, he married Rhea Gore (1882–1938), a sports editor for various publications, and gave up acting to work as a manager of electric power stations inNevada, Missouri. He maintained these jobs until 1909.[citation needed]
The couple's only childJohn Huston was born on August 5, 1906, in Nevada, Missouri, at which point Rhea gave up her work to concentrate on motherhood.[citation needed]
In 1909, with his marriage foundering, he appeared with an older actress namedBayonne Whipple (born Mina Rose, 1865–1937).[14] They were billed as Whipple and Huston.
Walter and Rhea Gore Huston divorced in 1913, and in December 1914, Huston married Mina Rose. Vaudeville was their livelihood into the 1920s, and Walter's son John was sent to live and study inboarding schools. During summer vacations, John traveled separately with each of his parents – with father Walter on vaudeville tours, and with his mother Rhea to horse races and other sports events.
Walter Huston began hisBroadway career on January 22, 1924, when he performed there in the playMr. Pitt.[15] He then solidified his Broadway career with roles in productions such asDesire Under the Elms,Kongo,The Barker, andElmer the Great.
Oncetalkies began inHollywood, he was cast in both character roles and as aleading man. His first major role was portraying the villainous Trampas inThe Virginian (1929), aWestern that costarsGary Cooper andRichard Arlen. Some of Huston's other early sound roles includeAbraham Lincoln (1930),Rain (1932), andGabriel Over the White House (1933).
The career of Mina Rose (a.k.a. Bayonne Whipple) did not follow the same trajectory as Huston's, and their act -- and marriage -- collapsed after Huston began to accept solo work. After several years of separation, the two divorced in 1931.[16] Huston remarried that same year, to Ninetta (Nan) Sunderland,[17] and the two remained married until Huston's death.
Huston remained busy on stage and screen throughout the 1930s and 1940s, becoming during that period one of America's most prominent actors. He starred as the title character in the 1934 Broadwayadaptation ofSinclair Lewis's novelDodsworth as well as in the play'sfilm version released two years later. For his role as Sam Dodsworth, Huston won theNew York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and was Oscar nominated. He performed "September Song" in the original Broadway production ofKnickerbocker Holiday (1938). Huston's recording of "September Song" is heard repeatedly inSeptember Affair (1950).[18]
Huston makes an uncredited appearance in the 1941film noir classicThe Maltese Falcon, portraying the ship's captain who is shot just before delivering the black bird to Sam Spade, played byHumphrey Bogart. Walter's son,John Huston, directed the picture. As a practical joke during filming, John had his father enter the scene and die in more than 10 different takes.[citation needed]
Among several of his contributions toWorld War II Allied propaganda films, Huston in an uncredited role portrays a military instructor in theshortSafeguarding Military Information (1942). That film was produced by theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and distributed by theWar Activities Committee of the Motion Pictures Industry. He, along with Anthony Veiller, is also a narrator in theWhy We Fight series of World War II documentaries directed byFrank Capra. Other films of this period in which he appears areThe Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) asMr. Scratch,Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), andMission to Moscow (1943). In the latter feature, a pro-Soviet World War IIpropaganda film, he plays United States Ambassador Joseph E. Davies.
Huston portrays the character Howard in the 1948 adventure dramaThe Treasure of the Sierra Madre, which was also directed by his son John. Based on the mysteriousB. Traven'snovel, the film depicts the story of three gold prospectors in 1920s post-revolution Mexico. Walter Huston won the Golden Globe Award and theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film, while John Huston won the Best Director Academy Award, thus making them the first father and son to win at the same ceremony. His last film isThe Furies (1950) in which he costars withBarbara Stanwyck andWendell Corey. In thatWestern, Huston's final line is "There will never be another one like me."[citation needed]
On April 7, 1950, Huston died of anaortic aneurysm in his hotel suite inBeverly Hills one day after his birthday.[19][20] He was cremated.[21]
In 1960, a decade after his death, Huston received a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame at 6624 Hollywood Boulevard, memorializing his contributions to the entertainment industry through his extensive, critically acclaimed work in motion pictures.[22][23] He was also a member of theAmerican Theater Hall of Fame.[24]
In 1998,Scarecrow Press published John Weld'sSeptember Song—An Intimate Biography of Walter Huston.
