American Actress Anjelica Huston

A Bitesize Biography Of The Oscar-Winning Actress

Jul 20, 2009

Anjelica Huston comes from an acting dynasty and has successfully carved out her own career to become a much loved and respected actor.

Anjelica Huston was born in 1951 into a film-making family. Before taking up the family mantle and starting her illustrious career, Huston was first a model in the late 1970's. She worked with famed fashion photographers Helmut Newton and David Bailey, the latter with whom she was also romantically involved.

The Family Business

However, modelling was never going to be enough for Anjelica Huston. Her grandfather was actor Walter Huston (1884 – 1950) and her father was director John Huston (1906 – 1987), whose credits include The African Queen (1951), starring Katherine Hepburn and The Misfits (1961), which ended up being the last film to star Marilyn Monroe before her death in 1962.

With the opportunity to act so readily available to her, Anjelica Huston made her movie debut in A Walk with Love and Death in 1969, which was directed by her father, Joh Huston. She worked with her father again in later years on the 1985 film Prizzi’s Honor. This was a very successful collaboration that saw Anjelica Huston pick up the Best Supporting Actress award in 1985 for her role in the film.

Anjelica Huston became the third generation of her family to win an Oscar, making them the only family to hold this honour. Interestingly, both Anjelica Huston and her grandfather won awards for films that were directed by their father/son respectively, John Huston, with Walter Huston winning Best Supporting Actor in 1948 for his role in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). John Huston also picked up two Oscars for the 1948 film, for directing and adapting the screenplay.

Anjelica Huston co-starred in Prizzi’s Honor (1985) with American actor Jack Nicholson, whom she dated, but never married, for 16 years, from 1973 – 1989. She ended the relationship in 1989 when it was revealed that he had fathered a child with another woman. Huston went on to marry sculptor Robert Graham Jr when she was 41. He sadly died in 2008; they did not have any children.

Career Highlights

Following in her fathers footsteps, Anjelica Huston has taken up directing. She directed the TV movie Riding The Bus With My Sister (2005) and also paid homage to her Irish roots in 1999, by starring in and directing Agnes Browne, a film adaptation of a book by Irish comedian Brendan O'Carroll, which tells of the life and times of an Irish mother. Anjelica Huston spent her childhood in Galway, Ireland, moving to America in 1969 after her mother’s death.

In recent years, Huston has struck up a working partnership with director Wes Anderson, working with him on The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) The Darjeeling Limited (2007) and upcoming film, The Fantastic Mr.Fox (2009).

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