A John Huston Timeline Trivia Quiz

This was the first of Huston's five marriages. He married Dorothy in 1926, according to most sources, when they were both aged twenty, with the marriage ending in divorce in 1933. They had no children together, but Huston and his third wife, Evelyn Keyes, had an adopted son and his fourth wife, Enrica Soma, had two children with him, Anjelica and Tony. During the marriage, Enrica gave birth to Allegra, from an affair, with Huston treating her as his own child. He had fathered a child, Danny, during the marriage too.

Enrica was killed in a car accident in 1969 and Huston married, unhappily, for a fifth time in 1972.

Huston's first work in the film industry was in script writing, beginning when the transition to 'talking pictures' meant that people who could create realistic dialogue were much in demand. Huston worked in collaboration with several others, and for 'Jezebel' his co-authors were Clements Ripley and Abem Finkel.

The film was based on an earlier play and was released in 1938 with William Wyler directing. Bette Davis starred as the woman whose wilful behaviour costs her the man she loves, played by Henry Fonda. The title refers to the behaviour, not the name of a character.

Huston's script writing earned him the reward of being allowed to direct a film of his own, and what a debut it was! 'The Maltese Falcon' was released in 1941, and is considered one of the greatest film noirs by many.

The film is based on the book with the same title, written by Dashiell Hammett, and Huston adapted it himself, becoming both scriptwriter and director. Having Bogart as the lead actor obviously helped as the actor already had a solid body of work behind him. Mary Astor also starred and the film was the first for Sydney Greenstreet. The film received three Oscar nominations, for Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor and Best Picture, but won none of them.

This refers to the film 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre', released in 1948. It was based on a novel by B. Traven, and John Huston wrote the script as well as directing the film. His efforts were rewarded with two Oscars, one for Best Director and the other for Best Director.

To add to the success, Walter Huston, John's father, won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Howard, the old former miner who helps locate gold, the treasure of the title. The film also starred Humphrey Bogart.

Walter Huston died in 1950 at the age of sixty-six. He was born in Toronto in 1884 and established himself as a vaudeville performer with his second wife. The advent of talking pictures gave him a long-lasting career as an actor and he became known as a reliable and consistent supporting actor, in particular.

Walter was nominated for four Oscars, two as leading actor in 1937 and 1942, and another two for supporting actor. These were for 'Yankee Doodle Dandy', where he played Jerry Cohan, father of George M Cohan who was portrayed by James Cagney. The one he won was the subject of question four, of course.

John Huston was honoured with a star in 1960 - his father also received a star the same year, although he didn't live to see it.

John Huston was nominated for an Academy Award fifteen times in total, and probably deserved to have won more than the two he did. He is described as having the vision of the artist he almost became. He did direct Humphrey Bogart to his only Oscar, in 1951, for 'The African Queen'.

This 1964 film was based on the Tennessee Williams play of the same name which had first been performed in 1961 in its final version. Williams himself had rewritten his own previous short story of 1948 to be performed as a play. Huston worked with Anthony Veiller to create the screenplay for the film.

The movie version starred Richard Burton as the disgraced clergyman who has ended up as a tour guide in Mexico. He succumbs to the advances of a young woman, played by Sue Lyon, which causes even more problems for him. Other stars of the film include Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr. The film ends with the hope of redemption for Burton's flawed character.

The film in question is 'Chinatown', a mystery starring Faye Dunaway and Jack Nicholson and released in 1974. Huston was not involved in the script and nor did he direct the film. The story was original, not an adaptation, and was created by Robert Towne who won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

The plot is a complicated one, involving corruption and incest, with John Huston playing a villainous role. Nicholson is the private detective who finds himself in the midst of the nefarious goings on, including murder, while Faye Dunaway is the woman who hires him when her husband is killed. There is no happy ending to the film, which is 'explained' by being typical for 'Chinatown'.

The film was released in 1985 and was called 'Prizzi's Honor'. The film received eight nominations, including Best Director, but the only one it won was for Anjelica Huston, who won for Best Supporting Actress. This made history as three generations of Hustons became winners.

The plot was based on a novel by Richard Condon although, unusually, Huston did not adapt it himself. It involved Mafia assassins, played by Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner, who fall in love before being hired to kill each other. Anjelica played the granddaughter of a Mafia don and was rewarded with the Oscar for her role.

The grandson was likely to feature late in the quiz and his birth date of 1982 is the most recent date in the timeline. John Huston had two children with his third wife, Tony and Anjelica, and Jack is the son of Tony. Tony himself became a screenwriter and attorney, and married a minor member of the English nobility, Lady Margaret Cholmondeley (pronounced Chumley).

Jack is the youngest of three children born during the marriage, which ended in divorce, and was born in King's Lynn, Norfolk. He began his acting career at a young age, and has had success with appearances in the television series 'Boardwalk Empire' and on the big screen, including 'House of Gucci' in 2021. Who knows, maybe another generation of Hustons might yet win an Oscar.