Anjelica Huston

Anjelica Huston
Huston at the Metropolitan Opera opening night of Das Rheingold
Born	(1951-07-09) July 9, 1951 (age 61) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1967–present
Spouse(s)	Robert Graham Jr. (1992–2008; his death)

Anjelica Huston /ˈhjuːstən/ (born July 9, 1951) is an American actress. Huston became the third generation of her family to win an Academy Award, for her performance in 1985's Prizzi's Honor, joining her father, director John Huston, and grandfather, actor Walter Huston. She later was nominated in 1989 and 1990 for her acting in Enemies, a Love Story and The Grifters respectively. Among her roles, she starred as Morticia Addams in The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993), receiving Golden Globe nominations for both. Huston also played the Grand High Witch in the children's movie Witches, TheThe Witches in 1990 and is, more recently, known for her frequent collaborations with director Wes Anderson. She currently stars on the NBC musical drama Smash.

Early life [edit]

Anjelica Huston was born in Santa Monica, California, and is the daughter of director and actor John Huston and Italian–American prima ballerina Enrica 'Ricki' (née Soma), from New York.^[1] Huston's paternal grandfather was Canadian-born actor Walter Huston. Huston spent most of her childhood in Ireland and England. She grew up in Saint Clerans House near Craughwell, County Galway. In 1969, she began taking a few small roles in her father's movies. In that same year, her mother, who was 39 years old, died in a car accident, and Huston relocated to the US, where she modeled for several years. While she modeled, she worked with photographers such as Richard Avedon and Bob Richardson.

Huston has an older brother, Tony, a younger maternal half-sister named Allegra, whom she called "Legs", and a younger paternal half-brother, actor Danny Huston. She is the aunt of "Boardwalk Empire" actor Jack Huston.^[2]

Career [edit]

Acting career [edit]

Anjelica Huston with her brother Danny Huston at the 62nd Annual Academy Awards in 1990

Deciding to focus more on movies, in the early 1980s she studied acting. Her first notable role was in Bob Rafelson's remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981). Later, her father cast her as Maerose, daughter of a Mafia don whose love is scorned by a hit man (Jack Nicholson) in the film adaptation of Richard Condon's Mafia-satire novel Prizzi's Honor (1985). Huston won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance, making her the first person in Academy Award history to win an Oscar when a parent and a grandparent had also won one.

Huston earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a con artist in Stephen Frears' The Grifters (1990). She also starred as the lead in her father's final directorial film, The Dead (1987), an adaptation of a James Joyce story.

She was then cast as Morticia Addams, in the hugely successful 1991 movie adaptation of The Addams Family. In 1993, she reprised the role for the sequel Addams Family Values. Anjelica also starred in the 1998 Hollywood blockbuster, Ever After: A Cinderella Story alongside Drew Barrymore and Melanie Lynskey as the Baroness Rodmilla De Ghent. She starred in two Wes Anderson films, The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), as well as appearing in a minor role in 2007's The Darjeeling Limited. She voiced the role of Queen Clarion in the Disney Fairies film series starring Tinker Bell. On January 22, 2010, Huston was honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2011, Huston was in the film: Horrid Henry- the movie. Huston is currently part of the NBC television series, Smash, portraying Broadway producer Eileen Rand.^[3]

Directing career [edit]

Huston has recently expanded her horizons, following in her father’s footsteps in the director’s chair. Her first directorial credit was Bastard Out of Carolina (1996), followed by Agnes Browne (1999), in which she both directed and starred, and then Riding the Bus with My Sister (2005).

Political activism [edit]

Huston in 2005.

In 2007, Huston led a letter campaign organized by the U.S. Campaign for Burma and Human Rights Action Center. The letter, signed by over twenty five high-profile individuals from the entertainment business, was addressed to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and urged him to "personally intervene" to secure the release of Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma.^[4]

Huston has donated $2,000 to Democratic political candidates John Kerry and Dick Gephardt.

In 2012, Huston recorded a public service announcement for PETA, urging her colleagues in Hollywood to refrain from using great apes in television, movies and advertisements.^[5] Later the animal rights organization named her their Person of the Year 2012.^[6]

Personal life [edit]

While working as a model in her teens during the late 1960s, Huston had a relationship with photographer Bob Richardson, who was 23 years her senior.^[7] Her on-and-off relationship with actor Jack Nicholson spanned from 1973 to 1989.

On May 23, 1992, she married sculptor Robert Graham. The couple lived in Venice, California, until his death on December 27, 2008. They never had any children.

Filmography [edit]

Television and other awards [edit]

Emmy Award nominations [edit]

• 1989 – Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special – Lonesome Dove
• 1995 – Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special – Buffalo Girls
• 1997 – Outstanding Directing In A Miniseries Or A Special – Bastard Out of Carolina
• 2002 – Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie – The Mists of Avalon
• 2004 – Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie – Iron Jawed Angels
• 2008 – Outstanding Guest Actress – Drama Series – Medium

Golden Globes [edit]

• 1990 – Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television – Lonesome Dove
• 1994 – Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television – Family Pictures
• 2004 – Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television – Iron Jawed Angels'

Other [edit]

• 1996 – Recipient – Women in Film Crystal Award- for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry.^[8]

References [edit]

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anjelica Huston

• Anjelica Huston at the Internet Movie Database
• Anjelica Huston at the Internet Broadway Database
• Anjelica Huston at the Internet Off-Broadway Database