Walter Huston shot while delivering the black bird to Sam Spade in "The Maltese Falcon". This was an uncredited performance. Walter's son, John Huston, directed the picture. John, as a practical joke, had his father enter the scene and die in more than 10 different takes. In 1948, he played Howard in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", which was also directed by his son, John Huston. The film was based on B. Traven's novel, which told the story of three gold diggers in 1920s post-revolution Mexico. Walter Huston won the Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
John Huston next script was "High Sierra" (1941), to be directed by Raoul Walsh. The film became the hit Huston wanted. It also made Humphrey Bogart a star with his first major role, as a gunman on the run. Warners kept their end of the bargain, and gave Huston his choice of subject. For his first directing assignment, Huston chose Dashiell Hammett's detective thriller, "The Maltese Falcon", a film which failed at the box office in two earlier versions by Warners. However, studio head Jack L. Warner approved of Huston's treatment of Hammett's 1930 novel, as he stood by his word to