John Huston was a man of many interests - painting, boxing, sculpture, gambling, fox-hunting, etc. An eccentric rebel of epic proportions, he reigned supreme as director, screenwriter and character actor in a career that endured over five decades. The ten time Oscar nominated legend was born John Marcellus Huston of Scottish and Irish heritage in Nevada, Missouri, on August 5, 1906. The son of acclaimed stage and screen star, Walter Huston, he early on displayed keen interest in the arts.

Warners Brothers was so impressed with a young John Huston that he was signed on as both screenwriter and director for the Dashiell Hammett mystery yarn The Maltese Falcon (1941). The movie classic made a superstar out of Humphrey Bogart and is considered by critics and audiences alike--- 65 years after the fact--- to be the greatest detective film ever made. Hollywood glory came to him again in association with Bogart and Warner Brothers'. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), a classic tale of gold, greed and man's inhumanity to man set in Mexico, won John Oscars for both director and screenplay and his father nabbed the "Best Supporting Actor" trophy.

With the momentum in his favor, John hung around in Hollywood this time to write and/or direct some of the finest American cinema made including Key Largo (1948) and The African Queen (1951) (both with Bogart), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The Red Badge of Courage (1951) and Moulin Rouge (1952). Later films, including Moby Dick (1956), The Unforgiven (1960), The Misfits (1961), Freud (1962), The Night of the Iguana (1964) and The Bible (1966)

An ardent supporter of human rights, he, along with actor Humphrey Bogart and others, dared to form the Committee for the First Amendment in 1947, which strove to undermine the House Un-American Activities Committee. Disgusted by the Hollywood blacklisting that was killing the careers of many talented folk, he moved to St. Clerans in Ireland and became a citizen there along with his fourth wife, ballet dancer Enrica (Ricki) Soma. The couple had two children, including daughter Anjelica Huston who went on to have a bravura Hollywood career of her own. Huston and his third wife split after a son (director Danny Huston) was born.

Huston lived the macho, outdoors life, unencumbered by convention or restrictions, and is often compared in style or flamboyancy to both Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles. This maverick of a man's man who was once called "the eccentric's eccentric" by Paul Newman, left an incredibly rich legacy of work to be enjoyed by film lovers for centuries to come.

This Sunday, 10/7, at 8 pm, ET, author John McCarty - author of The Films of John Huston discusses the life and career of John Huston with ICONS radio hosts, Stephen Bogart and John Mulholland. The three discuss little known facts and off camera stories about John Huston.

John McCarty is a life long fan of the films of John Huston and has contributed articles and reviews to film and other periodicals as diverse as TV Guide, Film Heritage and The Journal of British Film Institute. His laest book Bullets Over Hollywood: The American Gangster Picture from the Silents to "The Sopranos" (Da Capo Press, 2004), was produced as a major documentary by Hugh M. Hefner's Alta Loma Entertainment, for the Starz/Encore cable network; it aired in 2005 and 2006 and has been released on DVD by Image-Entertainment. The author of more than 20 non-fiction books of his own on film and entertainment subjects, Mr. McCarty has appeared in conjunction with his work on such cable network programs as Fox News Saturday, CNN's mid-day news, A&E's Biography, the Bravo network series Backspin, as well as on numerous major market radio stations across the country.