Hustons - Softcover

Grobel, Lawrence

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0380712245 ISBN 13: 9780380712243

Publisher: Avon Books, 1990

Synopsis

At the centre of this book is a portrait of a great film director whose films include "The Maltese Falcon", "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", "The Asphalt Jungle", "The African Queen", "The Misfits", and finally, "The Dead". But although John Huston is the hub of the story, around him are Walter Huston, song-and-dance man in vaudeville, and Angelica, John Huston's daughter, all of whom are Oscar winners. The author describes their hardships, triumphs, their love affairs, their losses, and draws on more than 200 interviews with Huston's wives, children, friends and the people he worked with, as well as an interview with John Huston himself.

About this title

About the Author:

Lawrence Grobel is the author of 18 books and a contributor to numerous publications including the New York Times, Newsday, and Rolling Stone. Grobel's books include Conversations with Brando; and the New York Times bestseller Climbing Higher with Montel Williams.

From Publishers Weekly:

Starting with Walter (1884-1960), peaking with John (1906-1987) and continuing with Anjelica (born 1951), three generations of Oscar-winning Hustons have enriched American theater and films. In this anecdotal composite biography, based on talks with family members, friends and associates, Grobel ( Conversations with Capote ) follows the careers of all the Hustons but focuses on John. His research is the most impressive aspect of this massive volume, and he is even-handed, if undiscriminating. No detail is too insignificant for inclusion; no single reaction to an event or version of a story will do if many are available. Thus, the reader comes away with myriad impressions of John's parents, five wives, numerous mistresses, several children, in-laws and paramours. But as Edna O'Brien observes here, although he was a man "whom women had been in love with all his life," he was anxious and sadistic and felt that "the biggest unhappiness in his life had been caused by women." John Huston bestrides this book like a colossus, but after 812 pages he remains a mystery. Photos. BOMC and Movie Entertainment Book Club alternates.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Avon Books
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0380712245
• ISBN 13: 9780380712243
• Binding: Paperback