Anjelica Houston

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. Huston also played the Grand High Witch in the children's classic The Witches in 1990 and also more recently, 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. 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. 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, actor Danny Huston. She is the aunt of "Boardwalk Empire" actor Jack Huston.

Career

Acting career

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 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

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.
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.
In 2011, she endorsed the presidential campaign of Sinn Féin politician Martin McGuinness.

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.
The actor Jack Huston is her nephew.




Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
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 Angelica 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 Misdemeanors 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 Grifters Lilly 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
1993 Family Pictures Lainey Eberlin Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1993 Manhattan Murder Mystery Marcia 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 Leila
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 Mists 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 Pending - Independent Spirit Awards - for Best Supporting Female
2011 Horrid Henry: The Movie Miss Battle-Axe
2011 The Big Year Debi Shearwater
2012 Smash Eileen Series Regular — Filming