Paul Huson (born 19 September 1942) is a British writer and artist currently living in the United States. In addition to writing several books about

occultism The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mystic ...

and

witchcraft Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...

, he has worked extensively in the film and television industries.

Early life

Huson was born on 19 September 1942 in London, the son of the author Edward Richard Carl Huson and painter and motion picture costume designer Olga Lehmann. Huson attended North Bridge House School from 1949 through 1956 and

Leighton Park School Leighton Park School is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private school for both day and boarding pupils in Reading, Berkshire, Reading in South East England. The school's ethos is closely tied to the Quaker values, having ...

from 1956 through 1959, then entered the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

as a Diploma student from 1959 through 1963, with a principal in painting under Andrew Forge and a subsidiary in theatrical design under Nicholas Georgiadis and

Peter Snow Peter John Snow (born 20 April 1938) is a British radio and television presenter and historian. Between 1969 and 2005, he was an analyst of general election results, first on ITV and later for the BBC. He presented ''Newsnight'' from its lau ...

. In 1963 he was awarded an Associated Rediffusion Scholarship to study film under

Thorold Dickinson Thorold Barron Dickinson (16 November 1903 – 14 April 1984) was a British film director, screenwriter, film editor, film producer, and Britain's first university professor of film. Dickinson's work received much praise, with fellow direct ...

for a further post graduate year.

Work in film and television

After a walk-on role in

René Clément René Clément (; 18 March 1913 – 17 March 1996) was a French film director and screenwriter. He is known for directing the films ''The Battle of the Rails'' (1946), ''Forbidden Games'' (1952), ''Gervaise (film), Gervaise'' (1956), ''Purple No ...

's film starring Gerard Phillipe, '' Monsieur Ripois'', Huson acted in

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...

's film of ''

Richard III Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...

'' playing the part of Edward, Prince of Wales, one of the two

Princes in the Tower The Princes in the Tower refers to the mystery of the fate of the deposed King Edward V of England and his younger brother Prince Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, heirs to the throne of King Edward IV of England. The brothers were the only ...

. From 1965 through 1968 Huson worked as an art director for

BBC television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

and

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

, UK, before emigrating to the United States, where he began writing books and stories and scripts for American television, which included the television series ''

Family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

'' and ''

James at 15 ''James at 15'' (later ''James at 16'') is an American drama series that aired on NBC during the 1977–78 season. The series was preceded by the 1977 TV movie ''James at 15'', which aired on Monday September 5, 1977 and was intended as a telev ...

''. Between 1982 and 1987 he and his partner William Bast wrote and produced three television series '' Tucker's Witch'', ''

The Hamptons The Hamptons, part of the East End (Long Island), East End of Long Island, consist of the town (New York), towns of Southampton (town), New York, Southampton and East Hampton (town), New York, East Hampton, which together compose the South Fork ...

'', and ''

The Colbys ''The Colbys'' (originally titled ''Dynasty II: The Colbys'') is an American prime time soap opera that originally aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from November 20, 1985, to March 26, 1987. Created by Richard and Esther Shapiro and E ...

'' (a spin-off of the Aaron Spelling series ''

Dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

''); ''The Colbys'' won the 1986

People's Choice Award The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the Fan (person), fans and Public, general public. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined us ...

. In 1989 he and Bast wrote a two-part series ''Twist of Fate'', followed in 1991 by '' The Big One: the Great Los Angeles Earthquake'', another two-parter, which was instrumental in alerting Los Angeles to their inadequate earthquake response arrangements at that time. In 1995 Huson and Bast wrote the teleplay for

Danielle Steel Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel (born August 14, 1947) is an American writer, best known for her romance novels. She is the bestselling living author and one of the best-selling fiction authors of all time, with over 800 milli ...

's popular novel '' Secrets''. In 1995 they wrote '' Deadly Invasion: The Killer Bee Nightmare''; a paranormal thriller ''The Fury Within''; and ''Power and Beauty'', a controversial biographical teleplay about socialite Judith Exner and her relationship with President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

Esoteric studies

While still a student at the Slade Huson studied the

Qabalah Hermetic Qabalah () is a Western esotericism, Western esoteric tradition involving mysticism and the occult. It is the underlying philosophy and framework for magical societies such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, has inspired esoter ...

and the Western Esoteric Tradition with

Dion Fortune Dion Fortune (born Violet Mary Firth, 6 December 1890 – 6 or 8 January 1946) was a British occultist, ceremonial magician, and writer. She was a co-founder of the Fraternity of the Inner Light, an occult organisation that promoted philoso ...

's Society of the Inner Light. In 1964 he worked as Karlis Osis' research assistant at the American Society for Psychical Research in New York. In 1965 he studied the history and practices of the

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (), more commonly the Golden Dawn (), was a secret society devoted to the study and practice of occult Hermeticism and metaphysics during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Known as a magical order, ...

and the Stella Matutina under the aegis of

Israel Regardie Francis Israel Regardie (; né Regudy; November 17, 1907 – March 10, 1985) was an English and American occultist, ceremonial magician, and writer who spent much of his life in the United States. He wrote fifteen books on the subject of occultis ...

. Huson subsequently wrote a number of popular books on occult and allied subjects: the influential '' Mastering Witchcraft'' (1970) a study of

tarot Tarot (, first known as ''trionfi (cards), trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a set of playing cards used in tarot games and in fortune-telling or divination. From at least the mid-15th century, the tarot was used to play t ...

symbolism ''The Devil's Picturebook'' (1971); ''Mastering Herbalism'' (1974); an introduction to parapsychology '' How to Test and Develop your ESP'' (1975); two novels, ''The Keepsake'' (1981), and ''The Offering'' (1984), and a second work on tarot symbolism and the history of tarot reading, ''Mystical Origins of the Tarot'' (2004). He generally illustrates his non-fiction books himself, and designed a deck of tarot cards based upon his research, ''Dame Fortune's Wheel Tarot'' (2009).

Memberships

He is a member of the

Authors Guild The Authors Guild is the United States' oldest and largest professional organization for writers and provides advocacy on issues of free expression and copyright protection. Since its founding in 1912 as the Authors League of America, it has coun ...

of America, the

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), also colloquially known as the Television Academy, is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the Television in the United States, television industry in the United S ...

, the

Writers Guild of America, west The Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) is a labor union representing film, television, radio, and new media writers. It was formed in 1954 from five organizations representing writers, including the Screen Writers Guild. It has around 20,000 m ...

, and the

British Academy of Film and Television Arts The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

Personal life

Huson lives in Los Angeles. His frequent collaborator and partner for forty-nine years was William Bast.

Notes

External links

Paul Huson's web site, containing excerpts from some of his books.
*
Paul Huson: Google Book Search

Interview with Paul Huson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huson, Paul 1942 births Living people Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Alumni of University College London English occult writers Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn English LGBTQ writers People educated at Leighton Park School Society of the Inner Light People associated with tarot