Monday 19 September 2011

Opinion: Wes Anderson/Anjelica Huston bio.


Anjelica Huston (born July 8, 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. More recently, she is known for her frequent collaborations with director Wes Anderson.


Early life 

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. Huston spent most of her childhood in Ireland and England. She grew up in Saint Clerns House near Craughwell, County Galway, Eire. 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 modelled, she worked with photographers such as Richard Avedon and Bob Richardson. On the photoshoots with Avedon, her hair was often done by Ara Gallant.

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

Career


Acting career


Deciding to focus more on movies, in the early 1980s she seriously 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 the calculating, imperious 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 an iron-willed 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 revived the Morticia role for the movie 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 highly lauded Wes Anderson films, The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), as well as 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, Anjelica was honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Houston will be part of the new television series, Smash, which will air on NBC in the 2011–12 television season.

Directing career


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


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.

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

Huston has recorded a public service announcement urging her colleagues in Hollywood to refrain from using great apes as slave labour in television, movies and advertisements.

Personal life


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. Her on-and-off relationship with actor Jack Nicholson spanned from 1973 to 1989.

On May 23, 1992, she married sculptor Robert Graham Jr.. The couple lived in Venice, California until his death on December 27, 2008.

She owns a ranch in Three Rivers, California, just east of Visalia, which she visits often.

Filmography 

* 1967, Casino Royale, Agent Mimi's Hands, Uncredited.

* 1969, Hamlet, Court Lady.

* 1969, A Walk with Love and Death, Claudia.

* 1969, Sinful Davey, Uncredited.

* 1975, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Woman in crowd on pier, uncredited.
 
* 1976, Swashbuckler, Woman of dark visage.

* 1976, The Last Tycoon, Edna.

* 1981, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Madge.

* 1982, Rose for Emily, Miss Emily Grierson.

* 1982, The Comic Book Kids, The Princess.

* 1982, Frances, An Extra, Huston was a mental patient rocking back and forth on a bed under a blanket. View DVD, Frances (2001), chapter 23.

* 1984, This is Spinal Tap, Polly Deutsch, credited as Anjelica Huston.

* 1984, The Ice Pirates, Maida.

* 1985, Prizzi's Honor, Maerose Prizzi,  Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress, Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress, National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress, National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress, New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress, Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture.

* 1986, Captain EO, The Supreme Leader.

* 1986, Good to go.

* 1987, Gardens of Stone, Samantha Davis.

* 1987, The Dead, Gretta Conroy, Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female.
* 1988, Mr. North, Persis Bosworth- Tennyson.

* 1988, Lonesome Dove, Clara Allen, Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film.

* 1988, A Handful of Dust, Mrs. Rattery.


* 1989, Crimes and Misdemeanours, Dolores Paley, Nominated- BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

* 1989, Enemies, a love story, Tamara Broder, Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress, National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress, Nominated- Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

* 1990, The Witches, Miss Eva Ernst/ The Grand High Witch, Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress, Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress.
 
* 1990, The Griffers, Lily Dillon, Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress, Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress, Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress, Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama.

* 1991,The Addams Family, Morticia Addams, Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

* 1992, The Player, Herself.

* 1993, Family Pictures, Lainey Eberlin, Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film.

* 1993, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Marica Fox, Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

* 1993, Addams Family Values, Morticia Addams, Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress.

* 1993, And the Band Played On, Dr. Betsy Reisz.

* 1995, The Perez Family, Carmela Perez.

* 1995, Buffalo Girls, Calamity Jane, Television film
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie.


* 1995, The Crossing Guard, Mary, Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture, Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role.


* 1998, Phoenix, Lelia. 


* 1998, Ever After, Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent, Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress – Drama/Romance, Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

* 1998, Buffalo '66, Billy Brown's Mother.

* 1999, Agnes Browne, Agnes Browne, also directed.

* 1999, The Golden Bowl, Fanny Assingham.

* 2001, The Royal Tenenbaums, Etheline Tenenbaum, Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast, Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

* 2001, The Misfits of Avalon, Viviane, Lady of Lake, Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie, Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie.

* 2002, Blood Work, Dr. Bonnie Fox.

* 2002, Barbie as Rapunzel, Madame Gothel, voice: English version.

* 2003, Daddy Day Care, Ms. Harridan.

* 2003, Kaena: The Prophecy, Queen of the Selenites, voice: English version.


* 2004, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Eleanor Zissou, Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast.

* 2004, Iron Jawed Angels, Carrie Chapman Catt,  Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film, Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie.


* 2006, Art School Confidential, Art History Teacher.

* 2006, Covert One: The Hades Factor, President Castilla.

* 2006, Material Girls, Fabiella.

* 2006, These Foolish Things, Lottie Osgood.

* 2006, Huff, Dr. Lena Markova.

* 2007, Seraphim Falls, Madame Louise Fair/ Lucifer.
 
* 2007, The Darjeeling Limited, Patricia Whitman.

* 2007, Martian Child, Mimi.

* 2008, Medium, Cynthia Keener, 7 episodes
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Drama Series.


* 2008, Choke, Ida Mancini, Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture.
  
* 2008, Tinker Bell, Queen Clarion, voice only.

* 2008, Spirit of the Forest, Mrs. D'Abondo.

* 2009, Tinker Bell and The Lost Treasure, Queen Clarion, voice only.


* 2010, When in Rome, Celeste.

* 2011, 50/50, Diane, post-production.
 
* 2011, Horrid Henry: The Movie, Mrs. Battle-Axe, post-production.

* 2012, Smash, Eileen, Series Regular- Filming.

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