MCM: Danny Huston

As part of the Huston family of actors and filmmakers, Danny Huston can be considered Hollywood royalty. Son of legendary director John Huston, his older half-sister is none other than Anjelica Huston, and his nephew is Jack Huston. Amid the other Huston siblings and relatives all in the movie business, it may seem that Danny Huston could get lost in the talent pool, but he’s carved a niche for himself as a competent character actor. Here’s a look at some of his historical roles!

Stiva in Anna Karenina (1997)

Danny Huston in "Anna Karenina" (1997) — Danny Huston plays Stiva Oblonsky, Anna’s charming, easygoing brother, whose affair with the governess sets the plot in motion, requiring Anna (played by Sophie Marceau) to travel to Moscow to help smooth things over. Unfortunately for Anna, this just provides an opportunity to cause more dynastic disaster as she meets and falls in love with Count Vronsky on that trip, ruining her own marriage in the process.

Jack Frye in The Aviator (2004)

Danny Huston in "The Aviator" (2004) — Danny Huston plays TWA president Jack Frye in Scorsese’s epic film about Howard Hughes (played by Leonardo Dicaprio). Frye is Hughes’s key ally in the airline business, so although he’s a relatively minor character in the film, without him Howard Hughes wouldn’t have become Howard Hughes.

Emperor Joseph II in Marie Antoinette (2006)

Danny Huston in "Marie Antoinette" (2006) — He pops up playing the elder brother of Marie Antoinette (played by Kirsten Dunst), Emperor Joseph II, who comes to Versailles at the behest of their controlling mother to try to figure out, and hopefully fix, whatever the problem is between his sister and her husband’s inability to figure out how sex works.

Samuel Adams in John Adams (2008)

Danny Huston in "John Adams" (2008) — This miniseries is an annual watch for me. One of my favorite little plot lines in this otherwise sprawling story about America’s second president (played by Paul Giamatti) is his often fraught relationship with his cousin, Samuel Adams (yes, the guy on the beer bottle — but also an early American revolutionary in the purest sense of the word). Huston plays Sam Adams as a man of very high ideals who often clashes with his more circumspect cousin John, though both are committed to bringing the great American experiment into fruition.

King Richard in Robin Hood (2010)

Danny Huston in "Robin Hood" (2010) — Danny Huston plays King Richard the Lionheart in Ridley Scott’s adaptation of the Robin Hood mythos. He portrays the warrior king as charismatic and hot-tempered, fresh off the Crusades and plundering his way back through France to fund his campaigns. Dunno about those blue contact lenses, though.

Joseph Holt in The Conspirator (2010)

Danny Huston in The Conspirator (2010) — Danny Huston plays Joseph Holt, the Army’s Judge Advocate General in Robert Redford’s courtroom drama about the aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination. Holt is the government’s prosecutor in the military tribunal trying the alleged conspirators, including Mary Surratt (played by Robin Wright), who ran the boarding house where the plotters met.

Colonel in The Warrior’s Way (2010)

Danny Huston in The Warrior's Way (2010) — Huston plays the Colonel, the main villain of this wild, highly stylized fantasy western about a Chinese swordsman who escapes to a dusty American frontier town to hide from his past. I very much do not like Westerns as a genre, but this is weird enough that it’s gotten my attention.

Whitfield Cook in Hitchcock (2012)

Danny Huston in Hitchcock (2012) — Danny Huston plays Whitfield Cook, a screenwriter and friend of Alma Reville (Helen Mirren), Alfred Hitchcock’s wife and closest collaborator. The two flirt (literally) with a romantic entanglement that ultimately goes nowhere once Alma discovers what a cad Whitfield is and cuts him off from her genius (among other things).

Ben Diamond in Magic City (2012-13)

Danny Huston in Magic City (2012-2013) — Huston plays Ben “The Butcher” Diamond, a mobster in1959 Miami Beach.

Torkington in The Liberator (2013)

Danny Huston in The Liberator (2013) — Danny Huston plays Martin Torkington, an English banker in the Venezuelan epic about Simón Bolívar. One review describes his portrayal as “deliciously duplicitous” as a British backer of the revolutionaries.

Dick Nolan in Big Eyes (2014)

Danny Huston in Big Eyes (2014) — Huston plays Dick Nolan, a San Francisco newspaper columnist who also acts as the film’s gossipy narrator. He covers the rise of Margaret Keane’s career while her husband takes credit for it.

Ludendorff in Wonder Woman (2017)

Danny Huston in Wonder Woman (2017) — Huston plays General Erich Ludendorff, the German commander and villain of the superhero story set during World War I. Ludendorff was a real figure, a top German general in the war.

Hal Roach in Stan & Ollie (2018)

Danny Huston in Stan & Ollie (2018) — Huston plays Hal Roach, the charming, but hard-nosed film producer who ran the studio where Laurel and Hardy made their classic comedies. He is often seen a the center of conflicts between the two actors.

Commodore Perry in Samurai Marathon (2019)

Danny Huston in Samurai Marathon (2019) — Huston plays Commodore Matthew C. Perry, the U.S. naval officer whose arrival with warships in the 1850s pressured Japan to end its isolation. The film is set against the arrival of the Americans’ “black ships,” and centers on a feudal Japanese lord who decides to prepare his samurai for modernization by having them run a marathon. It sounds crazy, but apparently this actually happened.

Captain Wes O’Neil in Across the River and Into the Trees (2022)

Danny Huston in Across the River and Into the Trees (2022) — There’s not a lot of info about the role that Huston plays in this film, and I haven’t watched it, sooo … if anyone wants to fill us in, please do so in the comments!

Floyd Hanson in Marlowe (2022)

Danny Huston in Marlowe (2022) — Set in 1939 Los Angeles, Danny Huston plays Floyd Hanson, the villain at the center of the neo-noir crime thriller based on the Phillip Marlowe detective series.

Rudolph Schiller in The Dead Don’t Hurt (2023)

Danny Huston in The Dead Don't Hurt (2023) — Huston plays Rudolph Schiller, the corrupt mayor of Elk Flats, Nevada, in this film set in the 1860s.

Col. Albert Houghton in Horizon: An American Saga (2024)

Danny Huston in Horizon: An American Saga (2024-) — Huston plays Colonel Albert Houghton, a Union Army officer on in this film by Kevin Costner about settlers moving west into New Mexico, and onto Apache land.

Edgar Degas in The Artist (2025-)

Danny Huston in The Artist (2025-) — Huston plays the French Impressionist painter, Edgar Degas, in this gilded-age murder mystery. It’s on my list to watch!

What’s your favorite role played by Danny Huston? Tell us in the comments!

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8 thoughts on “MCM: Danny Huston”

Erin H says:

October 26, 2026 at 6:41 am

I don’t there’s anything I don’t like him in, but he’s been on my Man Candy list for a long long time. I loved him as Sam Adams, and I wish we saw more of him as Hal Roach, but that’s a whole biopic in itself.

I really liked him on American Horror Story too, in both seasons he was in.

Boxermom says:

October 26, 2026 at 7:29 am

Not a Frock Flick, but I loved him in The Naked Gun remake that came out last year. He seemed to be having a ball! He should definitely do more comedies. :)

Northcountry girl says:

October 26, 2026 at 9:55 am

When mentioning his family members don’t forget his grandfather, the wonderful Walter Huston! I especially like him as Sam Adams!

Beth says:

October 26, 2026 at 10:56 pm

Love him in Marie Antoinette, but I adore everything about this film. I didn’t realize he was the psychotic Nazi in Wonder Woman; good job. Haven’t seen too many of his films. He has a way of grounding his characters in a certain type of honesty.

1. ED says:
  
  October 27, 2026 at 4:26 am
  
  I was about to weigh in and describe Ludendorff as one World War too early to be a Nazi, but then remember that NOPE, he actually worked with the actual literal Nazis between the Wars (In fact he was actually part of the Beer Hall putsch).
  
  He wasn’t a Nazi during WWI, but he was definitely a Nazi!
  
Johanna says:

October 27, 2026 at 2:21 am

He’s got such a great face for the movies, doesn’t he? Although not classically handsome he just seems to fit so perfectly on the screen.

ED says:

October 27, 2026 at 4:31 am

I have a deep soft spot for Mr Huston and his slightly-diabolical charm: if he doesn’t play Old Scratch before he’s laid to rest then I shall be quite astonished.

Also, credit where it’s due, his casting as Richard Couer de Lion is one of the few cases where deciding to do without Mr Iain Glenn DOES NOT result in a massive diminution of your movie in my esteem.

(My only regret is that we never get to see Mr Oscar Isaac’s Prince John weasel his way around Brother Richard).

ljones1966 says:

October 27, 2026 at 2:37 pm

Big fan of his for years