A Story Lately Told

August 19, 2013
Actress Huston achieves some moments of ringing clarity in this memoir of her youth, especially as regards her famous director father, John Huston, whom she was both terrified and in awe of (people “considered him a lion, a leader, the pirate they wished they had the audacity to be”). The daughter of his fourth wife, the dancer Ricki Soma (who was much younger than him), Anjelica Huston and her older brother, Tony, were raised in a remote 110-acre estate in West Country, Ireland, called St. Clerans, where being homeschooled; being visited by famous, quirky people; riding horses amid wildly romantic scenery; and playing dress-up filled her youth. Her father was frequently absent on far-flung shoots, and her exotic mother was “out of her element.” With her parents’ separation, Anjelica moved between Ireland and London, where her mother lived and where Anjelica went to school in the 1960s. She gradually embraced an acting career, appearing in her father’s A Walk with Love and Death, though without confidence. After the death of her mother in 1969, Huston slipped into a more comfortable role of modeling and serving as the muse for the troubled, brilliant (and much older) fashion photographer Bob Richardson over four tortured years. Huston ends her brave account by describing her complex relationship with her father.

January 27, 2014
This first installment of a planned two-part memoir by actress and former model Huston focuses on her childhood as the daughter of film director John Huston and his fourth wife, a young ballerina. Most of the author’s early years were spent abroad, particularly in the west country of Ireland, so here listeners are occasionally treated to a hint of brogue. Huston reads her memoir in a quiet voice, betraying little emotion but showing flashes of affection for her father (who, in one memorable scene, gambled the last of their household money for a Monet) and her mother (who was tragically killed when Huston was just 17). Huston’s low, rich voice adds a certain darkness to this audio performance, even when she’s recounting lighter tales, and her wry humor is evident when she describes the hijinks that ensued at the many house parties her parents hosted. A Scribner hardcover.