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John Huston: Courage and Art
From the acclaimed biographer of Ernest Hemingway, Humphrey Bogart, and
Errol Flynn comes the first complete biography of the legendary John Huston, the extraordinary director, writer, actor, and bon vivant who made iconic films such as The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Asphalt Jungle, and The African Queen —and lived one of the most vibrant, eventful lives in Hollywood history.
An actor in the 1920s and scriptwriter in the 1930s, John Huston made his dazzling directorial debut in 1941 with The Maltese Falcon . His career as a filmmaker spanned some fifty-seven years and yielded thirty-seven feature films. He made most of his movies abroad, spent much of his life in Ireland and Mexico, and remains one of the most intelligent and influential filmmakers in history. With equal attention given to Huston’s impressive artistic output and tempestuous personal relationships, biographer Jeffrey Meyers presents a vivid narrative of Huston’s remarkably rich creative life.
The son of the famous stage and screen actor Walter Huston, John Huston was born in Nevada City, Missouri, and suffered from a weak heart that forced him to live as an invalid for much of his childhood. One day, however, he impulsively left his sickbed, dove over a waterfall, swam into a raging river and began to lead a strenuous life. He became an expert sportsman as well as a boxer, bullfighter, hunter, soldier, gambler and adventurer. Though he didn’t finish high school, he was a man of true genius: a serious painter and amusing raconteur, playwright and story writer, stage and screen actor, director of plays on Broadway and operas at La Scala, autobiographer and political activist who crusaded against Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anticommunist witch hunts in Hollywood. He was a discerning collector of art and connoisseur of literature, food and wine. Passionate about horses and women, he had five successively younger wives.
Meyers chronicles Huston’s extraordinarily peripatetic life and examines his rise as a great masculine artist in the formidable tradition of Melville, Conrad and Hemingway, whose persona, ethos, prose style and virile code had a powerful influence on his life and work. Thirty-four of Huston’s thirty-seven films adapted important novels, stories and plays, and Meyers perceptively describes how Huston brilliantly transformed the written word into the cinematic image. Huston’s dominant theme is the almost impossible quest, tempered by detachment and irony. His heroes sacrifice honor in pursuit of wealth but fail in that venture, are mocked by cruel fate and remain defiant in the face of defeat. Based on research in Huston’s personal and professional archives, and interviews with his children, friends and colleagues, this is the dramatic story of a courageous artist who, Meyers persuasively argues, is “one of the most fascinating men who ever lived.”
Errol Flynn comes the first complete biography of the legendary John Huston, the extraordinary director, writer, actor, and bon vivant who made iconic films such as The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Asphalt Jungle, and The African Queen —and lived one of the most vibrant, eventful lives in Hollywood history.
An actor in the 1920s and scriptwriter in the 1930s, John Huston made his dazzling directorial debut in 1941 with The Maltese Falcon . His career as a filmmaker spanned some fifty-seven years and yielded thirty-seven feature films. He made most of his movies abroad, spent much of his life in Ireland and Mexico, and remains one of the most intelligent and influential filmmakers in history. With equal attention given to Huston’s impressive artistic output and tempestuous personal relationships, biographer Jeffrey Meyers presents a vivid narrative of Huston’s remarkably rich creative life.
The son of the famous stage and screen actor Walter Huston, John Huston was born in Nevada City, Missouri, and suffered from a weak heart that forced him to live as an invalid for much of his childhood. One day, however, he impulsively left his sickbed, dove over a waterfall, swam into a raging river and began to lead a strenuous life. He became an expert sportsman as well as a boxer, bullfighter, hunter, soldier, gambler and adventurer. Though he didn’t finish high school, he was a man of true genius: a serious painter and amusing raconteur, playwright and story writer, stage and screen actor, director of plays on Broadway and operas at La Scala, autobiographer and political activist who crusaded against Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anticommunist witch hunts in Hollywood. He was a discerning collector of art and connoisseur of literature, food and wine. Passionate about horses and women, he had five successively younger wives.
Meyers chronicles Huston’s extraordinarily peripatetic life and examines his rise as a great masculine artist in the formidable tradition of Melville, Conrad and Hemingway, whose persona, ethos, prose style and virile code had a powerful influence on his life and work. Thirty-four of Huston’s thirty-seven films adapted important novels, stories and plays, and Meyers perceptively describes how Huston brilliantly transformed the written word into the cinematic image. Huston’s dominant theme is the almost impossible quest, tempered by detachment and irony. His heroes sacrifice honor in pursuit of wealth but fail in that venture, are mocked by cruel fate and remain defiant in the face of defeat. Based on research in Huston’s personal and professional archives, and interviews with his children, friends and colleagues, this is the dramatic story of a courageous artist who, Meyers persuasively argues, is “one of the most fascinating men who ever lived.”
496 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
2 people are currently reading
124 people want to read
About the author
Jeffrey Meyers
111 books26 followersJeffrey Meyers, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, has recently been given an Award in Literature by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Thirty of his books have been translated into fourteen languages and seven alphabets, and published on six continents. He lives in Berkeley, California.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
April 29, 2012
It's inherently interesting, but not told well enough to do the man justice. The Man Who Would Be King deserves more than, like, five pages. Plus, Meyers comes off pretty creepy. He gets way too into the mystique of being an old-timey tough guy - you really shouldn't characterize someone as "faggy" in a biography written in 2011.
August 17, 2020
This is the kind of life I want for myself; the kind that is best described by words like courage and art. Apart from Huston and Orson Welles, I have never idolized any men. These two were the biggest of all artistic giants of the twentieth century. They were film directors but they wrote too. Both men were talented painters, both used their voices like instruments, both men had inimitable charm and wit that got them any woman they desired. They were noble, generous and maybe a little macho, these were men
July 17, 2020
John Huston: Courage and Art is an exhaustive but fascinating review of the legendary film director, writer, and actor. In the prologue, the biographer lays out the similarities and the friendship of Huston to Ernest Hemingway, an interesting way to start.
From there, we’re off - starting with Huston’s childhood, where we learn he moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, “where belonging to the upper class depended on background, good manners, the appearance of morality - and money.” John was not close to his father, the actor Walter Huston, until joining his father in NYC when he was around 20 years old. Walter Huston was an established stage and film actor, and took John under his wing. John acknowledged, “I didn’t find my father’s reputation difficult to deal with. I rode on it, for all it’s worth.”
He learned the craft quickly and, after directing war movies for the military, he wrote and directed his first movie - The Maltese Falcon. This critical and financial hit laid the groundwork for a life of making over forty movies on location throughout the world, often in some dangerous places. Ray Bradbury thought Huston so reveled in risk that he was “not comfortable in any situation unless death was near.”
The biography is laid out mostly chronological, covering every film he directed, and every wife he married (five), and (possibly?) every affair he had throughout his life. At one point, as the biographer lists out women he had affairs with in a short span of years, most of them notable actors and/or socialites, he ends the sentence with “…and Pauline Potter, who had slept with the man who killed Rasputin.”
For all his faults and regrets, what shines through in this biography is Huston’s relish for experiencing the world. While he directed many masterpieces that were surely labors of love, several movies he directed because he needed the cash for the upkeep of St. Clerans, his estate in Ireland.
Huston was known for being in debt for maintaining the Irish home and his house in Tarzana, keeping his ex-wives and children content, and buying artwork and horses. While directing some pictures, he often lost interest and was writing his next script.
Huston was known as a gifted storyteller, and what he said about his friend, a con man by the name of Billy Pearson, could also be said about himself. “His accounts of our experiences together are infinitely better than what really happened.”
Huston worked and/or partied with practically every major movie start of the 20th century, including Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Truman Capote, Robert Mitchum, Marilyn Monroe, Arthur Miller, Katharine Hepburn, Orson Welles, Montgomery Clift, Jack Nicholson, He once praised Jacqueline Bisset after she pulled off a physically hard scene, by saying, “You can take that girl on a tiger hunt," a line she recalled fondly.
As he aged, Huston’s smoking caught up with him and he developed emphysema. When someone suggested Huston could prolong his life if he would stop drinking and smoking, his mistress and manager Eloise Hardt said, “Leave him alone. He knows what he’s doing. He wants to die with his boots on.”
Huston’s description of his film Prizzi’s Honor, a mob film shot in the 1980s, is as timely today as it was then. “It’s greed all right, but marching under the banner of honor. Whatever is good for the family, materially speaking, is morally justifiable according to the Prizzi’s. This is a trait that might well describe society at large at the present moment.”
Huston’s last film, The Dead, based on a short story by James Joyce, was shot while he was near death and is considered a masterpiece. Huston said the film is “about a man being revealed to himself, what we think we are and what we really are. This self discovery is a soul shaking experience.”
This biography covers a lot of territory, and we learn about Huston's triumphs and his faults. It's an interesting read that covers not just his amazing life, but also the film industry throughout the 20th century.
From there, we’re off - starting with Huston’s childhood, where we learn he moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, “where belonging to the upper class depended on background, good manners, the appearance of morality - and money.” John was not close to his father, the actor Walter Huston, until joining his father in NYC when he was around 20 years old. Walter Huston was an established stage and film actor, and took John under his wing. John acknowledged, “I didn’t find my father’s reputation difficult to deal with. I rode on it, for all it’s worth.”
He learned the craft quickly and, after directing war movies for the military, he wrote and directed his first movie - The Maltese Falcon. This critical and financial hit laid the groundwork for a life of making over forty movies on location throughout the world, often in some dangerous places. Ray Bradbury thought Huston so reveled in risk that he was “not comfortable in any situation unless death was near.”
The biography is laid out mostly chronological, covering every film he directed, and every wife he married (five), and (possibly?) every affair he had throughout his life. At one point, as the biographer lists out women he had affairs with in a short span of years, most of them notable actors and/or socialites, he ends the sentence with “…and Pauline Potter, who had slept with the man who killed Rasputin.”
For all his faults and regrets, what shines through in this biography is Huston’s relish for experiencing the world. While he directed many masterpieces that were surely labors of love, several movies he directed because he needed the cash for the upkeep of St. Clerans, his estate in Ireland.
Huston was known for being in debt for maintaining the Irish home and his house in Tarzana, keeping his ex-wives and children content, and buying artwork and horses. While directing some pictures, he often lost interest and was writing his next script.
Huston was known as a gifted storyteller, and what he said about his friend, a con man by the name of Billy Pearson, could also be said about himself. “His accounts of our experiences together are infinitely better than what really happened.”
Huston worked and/or partied with practically every major movie start of the 20th century, including Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Truman Capote, Robert Mitchum, Marilyn Monroe, Arthur Miller, Katharine Hepburn, Orson Welles, Montgomery Clift, Jack Nicholson, He once praised Jacqueline Bisset after she pulled off a physically hard scene, by saying, “You can take that girl on a tiger hunt," a line she recalled fondly.
As he aged, Huston’s smoking caught up with him and he developed emphysema. When someone suggested Huston could prolong his life if he would stop drinking and smoking, his mistress and manager Eloise Hardt said, “Leave him alone. He knows what he’s doing. He wants to die with his boots on.”
Huston’s description of his film Prizzi’s Honor, a mob film shot in the 1980s, is as timely today as it was then. “It’s greed all right, but marching under the banner of honor. Whatever is good for the family, materially speaking, is morally justifiable according to the Prizzi’s. This is a trait that might well describe society at large at the present moment.”
Huston’s last film, The Dead, based on a short story by James Joyce, was shot while he was near death and is considered a masterpiece. Huston said the film is “about a man being revealed to himself, what we think we are and what we really are. This self discovery is a soul shaking experience.”
This biography covers a lot of territory, and we learn about Huston's triumphs and his faults. It's an interesting read that covers not just his amazing life, but also the film industry throughout the 20th century.
February 19, 2017
I knew pretty much nothing about John Huston, other than he was part of an acting family and he was pretty big back in his day. Reading it, I felt the women in his life played an even more important part than some of his male centric movies. I kind of assumed he took advantage of women at first, but it sounds like he treated them (at times), better than they treated him (at times). I liked hearing how influential he was as a director, even though I didn't understand everything that was going on when chapters discussed a certain film he was making and took us, a to z through that film.
Honestly, I was more taken with the women he had affairs with (and there were a lot of them), than many of his movies. I watched Asphalt Jungle based on reading about it, and thought it was pretty good, but not as memorable as African Queen or Maltese Falcon, or even Treasure of the Sierra Madre. I almost could visualize the affairs so potent was the writing about them.
Honestly, I was more taken with the women he had affairs with (and there were a lot of them), than many of his movies. I watched Asphalt Jungle based on reading about it, and thought it was pretty good, but not as memorable as African Queen or Maltese Falcon, or even Treasure of the Sierra Madre. I almost could visualize the affairs so potent was the writing about them.
November 28, 2017
I'm surprised by the negativity of some of the other reviews here as I enjoyed this and found it to be a well-written and researched book, although not without certain flaws and eccentricities. It does contain some of the worst puns I've ever had the misfortune to cringe over and the editor really should have reigned Meyers in on this aspect. There's a decent amount about the making of most of the movies Huston directed, with the unexplained exceptions of 'The Mackintosh Man' and 'Phobia' (neither of which I've seen). There's also a great deal about Huston's many wives and mistresses and I perhaps learnt more than I really cared to about his sex life. Meyers lets Huston off easily over his love of hunting, but otherwise this seems to be a fair and accurate portrait of a larger than life character who was often charming, brave, kind and generous, but was also in some respects a bit of a bastard - a beguiling monster indeed.
November 27, 2023
John Huston is best known as the director of such film classics as "The Maltese Falcon," "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" and "The African Queen." But as Jeffrey Meyers details in "John Huston: Courage and Art" (2011), that's just for starters. Huston also was a larger-than-life character who was married five times, cheated on all those wives (not to mention his many mistresses), largely ignored his children as they were growing up, was a dedicated art collector (much of it stolen from Mexico) and was capable of surprising generosity when he wasn't being a big-time jerk. Meyers isn't an especially entertaining writer: There's a completely superfluous 15-page prologue comparing Huston to Ernest Hemingway and too many narrative-deadening literary allusions; he curiously skips over a few of Huston's 41 films and barely mentions the director's secondary career as an actor; and, no doubt aware of the negative picture he's about to paint, he urges readers in his Acknowledgements to appreciate Huston's films instead of judging his conduct. He also posits -- twice -- that Huston probably made more great films than any other American director ... which is debatable. But I will say I think I now know all I need to know about John Huston, so there's that.
May 8, 2024
An interesting and well-written biography.
Huston led an interesting life, to say the least. Meyers provides all the expected biographical details including background info on the movies he directed, wrote, co-wrote, and acted in.
The way Huston conducted his personal life is fascinating. It's hard to fathom how he juggled his wives, girlfriends, affairs, family, and career all at the same time.
There are far too few pictures included, especially since we know Huston's career in the spotlight spanned decades.
Occasionally the author adds some humor of his own to the text which, while not a bad thing, seems to be inappropriate and draws attention away from the subject at hand.
Read
January 31, 20253.5
Well paced and highly readable overview of one of the 20th Century's filmmaking titans, even if the author is deeply, deeply creepy with his repeated focus on reviews of Huston's lovemaking techniques, his tendency to over explain and pardon Huston's faults, and especially the misogyny of referring to the women on a scale of how attractive they were, and referring to the 10-year-old actresses competing for the lead in Annie as "nymphets." Someone really should have edited and/or fumigated Jeffrey Meyers' worst tendencies (and bad puns) before they got to print.
Well paced and highly readable overview of one of the 20th Century's filmmaking titans, even if the author is deeply, deeply creepy with his repeated focus on reviews of Huston's lovemaking techniques, his tendency to over explain and pardon Huston's faults, and especially the misogyny of referring to the women on a scale of how attractive they were, and referring to the 10-year-old actresses competing for the lead in Annie as "nymphets." Someone really should have edited and/or fumigated Jeffrey Meyers' worst tendencies (and bad puns) before they got to print.
April 20, 2023
3.5 stars.
November 17, 2012
I found this book interesting, mainly because I already knew of and was interested in John Huston and his work. I have seen and enjoyed many of Huston's movies, and I enjoyed reading his autobiography, An Open Book. If you, too, are a fan, you may enjoy this book.
However, I found this book not to be especially well written. I am a Hemingway fan, and in the prologue of this book, the author sets up a comparison between Hemingway and Huston, which could certainly be apt, but then then does nothing to illustrate this thesis he has presented. He includes a 1954 photo showing both Huston and Hemingway together, but then never even mentions what brought them together at this time. Nor does the author say much about John Huston's supposed "Courage" as the title would suggest, although he does make mention of Huston's role in refuting the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Another issue I found was that I was often "surprised" by how little facts or people showed up in the book. But, all in all, it was OK.
However, I found this book not to be especially well written. I am a Hemingway fan, and in the prologue of this book, the author sets up a comparison between Hemingway and Huston, which could certainly be apt, but then then does nothing to illustrate this thesis he has presented. He includes a 1954 photo showing both Huston and Hemingway together, but then never even mentions what brought them together at this time. Nor does the author say much about John Huston's supposed "Courage" as the title would suggest, although he does make mention of Huston's role in refuting the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Another issue I found was that I was often "surprised" by how little facts or people showed up in the book. But, all in all, it was OK.
November 17, 2012
There is, unfortunately, an entire generation of film goers that really have no idea of the genius who was John Huston. Writer and director of "The Maltese Falcon", "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", "The Misfits", The Man who Would Be King" (my personal favorite)and a dozen more classic or near classic movies. Actor, director, art entusiast, captain of the hounds,serial husband and father. This guy was larger than life much like Orson Welles, only vastly more successful. Meyers presents a much needed review of Huston's life; offering great behind the scene stories of the making of his movies and the relationships with the acting greats of the last century. He is in need of an editor though, he got caught in the weeds while discussing Huston's homes and finances. The last third of the book got to be heavy going. Overall, though, a pretty good read of a great life.
May 14, 2015
Royal Tenenbaum: I've always been considered an asshole for about as long as I can remember. That's just my style. But I'd really feel blue if I didn't think you were going to forgive me.
Henry Sherman: I don't think you're an asshole, Royal. I just think you're kind of a son of a bitch.
I hadn't really spotted it while watching the film, and I'm sure nothing could have been farther from Wes Anderson's mind, but there is a bit of John Huston in the character of Royal Tenenbaum. This book provides a good overview of Huston's films, and shows his character, warts and all. And while he was kind of a son of a bitch, there is no evidence that he ever asked for anybody's forgiveness.
Henry Sherman: I don't think you're an asshole, Royal. I just think you're kind of a son of a bitch.
I hadn't really spotted it while watching the film, and I'm sure nothing could have been farther from Wes Anderson's mind, but there is a bit of John Huston in the character of Royal Tenenbaum. This book provides a good overview of Huston's films, and shows his character, warts and all. And while he was kind of a son of a bitch, there is no evidence that he ever asked for anybody's forgiveness.
September 11, 2013
Gave up on this one about 3/4 through. Mistakes, bland writing, horrible puns (I love bad puns but these did nothing but point cutely to how clever the author was; they didn't do anything to push the narrative or add depth to the portrait) -- after awhile I couldn't take it anymore. Can't believe this guy has published so many books. It actually made me angry to think such a thin excuse for a book could even get published. Huston deserves a lot better treatment.
January 19, 2015
I absolutely hating not finishing a book and rarely put one down but have made an exception for this boring, poorly written book. It's really saying something that the author managed to take the life of John Huston - the action-packed, exciting, long life- and make it so dry and dull. If I needed to write a college paper about the films of John Huston, this would be a good source. Otherwise, yikes, such a painful book to read. No wonder I found it at a thrift store for a dollar.
September 26, 2014
John Huston is the director of some of my favorite films so I curious to know a bit more about his life. This is a good biography, informative and somewhat enlightening about his work ethic and aesthetic sensibilities. Meyers clearly admires Huston but he portrays him as a fascinating, complex man and a genius in many respects with an ugly, unsavory side to his character.
June 13, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews