John Huston (1906-1987) was an influential American director, screenwriter, and actor, with an extraordinarily long and varied career. He made his directorial debut with *The Maltese Falcon* (1941), a cornerstone of film noir. His versatile style is evident in masterpieces such as *The Treasure of the Sierra Madre* (1948), for which he won two Academy Awards (for Best Director and Best Screenplay), and *The African Queen* (1951).

His successes also include *Moby Dick* (1956), *The Man Who Would Be King* (1975), and, in his later years, *Prizzi's Honor* (1985) and *The Dead* (1987). Huston's style was distinguished by his ability to adapt literary works, often exploring human nature through complex characters, anti-heroes, and adventurous or dramatic plots imbued with cynicism and fatalism.