JOHN HUSTON, PRACTICAL JOKER

According to at least two biographies that I've read, John Huston was rampant practical joker while on location in Ireland and the focus of almost all of his jokes was none other than poor old Ray Bradbury. Evidently the coup-de-grace of Huston's jokes was the one that actually threw poor Bradbury into a literal fit. Huston arranged for somebody in the LA office to send Huston a fake telegram. The telegram stated that Huston and Bradbury were to stop everything and write in a sexy female leading role for Sophia Loren who was going to be joining the cast and crew in a few days. Huston calls Bradbury over, shows him the telegram, and tells him to get busy adding this new female lead to the script while adding that perhaps Loren could play Ahab's love interest. Bradbury stares at the telegram for a few minutes, does a slow burn and then with a roar he rips it up and proceeds to stomp on the pieces repeatedly. Everyone on the set laughs up a storm while Bradbury stands there on the verge of humiliation. Years later Bradbury would get his revenge in print. His short story "The Banshee" centers on a directer much like Huston who is carried off in the night by a supernatural Banshee. Peter O'Toole plays Huston's doppleganger in the TV adaptation.