John Huston John Huston John Marcellus Huston (; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. Huston was a citizen of the United States by birth but renounced U.S. citizenship to become an Irish citizen and resident. He returned to reside in the United States where he died. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: "The Maltese Falcon" (1941), "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948), "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950), "The African Queen" (1951), "The Misfits" (1961), "Fat City" (1972) and "The
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