The Big Break: Anjelica Huston First Debuted in Bond Classic ‘Casino Royale’ 55 Years Ago
Steven Gaydos Executive VP of ContentActress-director Anjelica Huston may have been born into film royalty and may have fulfilled that royal destiny by becoming the third generation, after actor grandfather Walter and director-actor-writer father John Huston, to score Oscar gold, but her early innings were not the stuff cinema dreams are made of.“Casino Royale” is the film where she first appeared, as an uncredited young teen 55 years ago this month. It is largely regarded as an overcooked comedy fiasco, or as Variety deemed it back then, “an attempt to spoof the pants off the James Bond.” The film had no less than five directors, including her father, John.Variety was kinder to John Huston’s 1969 film “A Walk with Love and Death,” Anjelica’s first starring role, but most other outlets were tougher on the film and Huston’s performance, and it came and went with little notice. In a vain attempt to overcome that fate, 20th Century Fox publicity took Anjelica and her costar, Assi Dayan (son of Israeli war hero Moshe Dayan) on a multi-city promo tour and ran this quirky early branded content item in Variety:“Assaf Dayan romances his costar Anjelica Huston, under the watchful eye of her director-father, John Huston.