Walter Thomas Huston ( ; April 6, 1883 or 1884
– April 7, 1950) was a Canadian actor and singer. Huston won the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 9th Academy Awards to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in ...
for his role in ''
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'', directed by his son
John Huston. He is the patriarch of the four generations of the Huston acting family, including his son John, grandchildren
Anjelica Huston and
Danny Huston, as well as great-grandchild
Jack Huston. The family has produced three generations of Academy Award winners: Walter, his son John, and granddaughter Anjelica.
Early life
Huston was born on April 6, 1883 or 1884, in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
,
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
,
[ where he attended Winchester Street Public School.] He was the son of Elizabeth (née McGibbon) and Robert Moore Huston, a farmer who founded a construction company. He was of Scottish and Irish descent. He had a brother and two sisters, one of whom was the theatrical voice coach Margaret Carrington (1877–1941).
His family moved, before his birth, from Melville, just south of Orangeville, 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 in ''In Convict Stripes'', a play by Hal Reid, father of Wallace Reid, and also appeared with Richard Mansfield in ''Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...
''. 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 in Nevada, Missouri. He maintained these jobs until 1909.
The couple's only child John Huston was born on August 5, 1906, in Nevada, Missouri, at which point Rhea gave up her work to concentrate on motherhood.
Career
In 1909, with his marriage foundering, he appeared with an older actress named Bayonne Whipple (born Mina Rose, 1865–1937). 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 in boarding 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 his Broadway career on January 22, 1924, when he performed there in the play ''Mr. Pitt''. He then solidified his Broadway career with roles in productions such as ''Desire Under the Elms'', ''Kongo'', ''The Barker'', and ''Elmer the Great''.
Once talkies began in Hollywood, he was cast in both character roles and as a leading man. His first major role was portraying the villainous Trampas in '' The Virginian'' (1929), a Western that costars Gary Cooper and Richard Arlen. Some of Huston's other early sound roles include ''Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
'' (1930), ''Rain
Rain is a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...
'' (1932), and '' Gabriel 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. Huston remarried that same year, to Ninetta (Nan) Sunderland, 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 Broadway adaptation
In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...
of Sinclair Lewis
Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1930, he became the first author from the United States (and the first from the America ...
's novel '' Dodsworth'' as well as in the play's film version released two years later. For his role as Sam Dodsworth, Huston won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and was Oscar nominated. He performed " September Song" in the original Broadway production of '' Knickerbocker Holiday'' (1938). Huston's recording of "September Song" is heard repeatedly in ''September Affair
''September Affair'' is a 1950 American romantic drama film directed by William Dieterle and starring Joan Fontaine, Joseph Cotten, and Jessica Tandy. It was produced by Hal B. Wallis.
Plot
Marianne "Manina" Stuart (Joan Fontaine), a prominent c ...
'' (1950).
Huston makes an uncredited appearance in the 1941 film noir
Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...
classic '' The Maltese Falcon'', portraying the ship's captain who is shot just before delivering the black bird to Sam Spade, played by Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected 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.
Among several of his contributions to World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
Allied propaganda films, Huston in an uncredited role portrays a military instructor in the short '' Safeguarding Military Information'' (1942). That film was produced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...
and distributed by the War Activities Committee of the Motion Pictures Industry. He, along with Anthony Veiller, is also a narrator in the '' Why We Fight'' series of World War II documentaries directed by Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-American film director, producer, and screenwriter who was the creative force behind Frank Capra filmography#Films that won Academy Award ...
. Other films of this period in which he appears are '' The Devil and Daniel Webster'' (1941) as Mr. Scratch, '' Yankee Doodle Dandy'' (1942), and '' Mission to Moscow'' (1943). In the latter feature, a pro-Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
World War II propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...
film, he plays United States Ambassador Joseph E. Davies.
Huston portrays the character Howard in the 1948 adventure drama '' The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'', which was also directed by his son John. Based on the mysterious B. Traven's novel
A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
, the film depicts the story of three gold prospectors in 1920s post-revolution Mexico. Walter Huston won the Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 9th Academy Awards to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in ...
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 is '' The Furies'' (1950) in which he costars with Barbara Stanwyck and Wendell Corey. In that Western, Huston's final line is "There will never be another one like me."
Death
On April 7, 1950, Huston died of an aortic aneurysm in his hotel suite in Beverly Hills. He was cremated.
Legacy
In 1960, a decade after his death, Huston received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6624 Hollywood Boulevard, memorializing his contributions to the entertainment industry through his extensive, critically acclaimed work in motion pictures. He was also a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Huston's son John initially became a screenwriter before becoming an Academy Award-winning director and acclaimed actor. All of Huston's grandchildren have become actors, as well as his great-grandson. Granddaughter Anjelica sang "September Song" on the May 7, 2012, episode of the NBC TV series '' Smash''.
In 1998, Scarecrow Press
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an American independent academic publishing company founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns ...
published John Weld's ''September Song—An Intimate Biography of Walter Huston''.
Filmography
See also
* Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood
* List of actors with Academy Award nominations
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huston, Walter
1880s births
1950 deaths
20th-century American male actors
20th-century Canadian male actors
American male film actors
American male stage actors
Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winners
Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (film) winners
Canadian emigrants to the United States
Canadian expatriate male actors in the United States
Canadian male film actors
Canadian male stage actors
Canadian people of Irish descent
Canadian people of Scottish descent
Deaths from aortic aneurysm
Male actors from Toronto
People from Old Toronto
Walter
People from Orangeville, Ontario
Canadian vaudeville performers
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players
Warner Bros. contract players