Martin Huston

Martin W. Huston, also known as Marty Huston (February 8, 1941–August 1, 2001),^[1] was an American actor of primarily television and stage.

Huston's longest-running role was as the teenager Skipper Bradley on the syndicated television series Jungle Jim. He played the son of the Johnny Weismuller lead character, Jim "Jungle Jim" Bradley, a guide, hunter, and explorer of Africa, Asia, and South America. The series also featured Dean Fredericks as Kaseem, Bradley's Hindu manservant; Paul Cavanagh as Commissioner Morrison,^[2] and a chimpanzee called Tamba, who was particularly friendly on and off the set with young Huston.^[3]

Early career

Huston was born in Lexington in Fayette County, Kentucky. His mother, Marcella Martin Huston (October 4, 1918–July 25, 2002),^[1] later appeared in 1975 in the NBC soap opera, Somerset, a spin-off of Another World. Young Huston made his acting debut with his sister, then Gaye Huston, along with June Lockhart, in the 1951 episode, "The Doctor's Wife" of Lux Video Theatre, then aired on CBS. On July 7, 1952, he guest starred in "21-Plus" of NBC's Hallmark Hall of Fame. The next year he appeared as a boy named Lester in a segment of Wally Cox's NBC situation comedy, Mister Peepers.^[4]

In 1953, he starred in eleven episodes of the summer series My Son Jeep in the role of Jeffrey "Jeep" Allison, who is reared by his widowed physician-father, Robert Allison, portrayed by Jeffrey Lynn. Huston's Jungle Jim role began in 1955 and extended for twenty-six episodes, ending on March 19, 1956. In 1958, he appeared with Zina Bethune in "This Property Is Condemned", based on a Tennessee Williams play, the last show of the series of NBC's Kraft Television Theatre. In 1959, he appeared at the age of eighteen in the role of Johnny Blake in the short-lived comedy/drama series, Too Young to Go Steady, with Joan Bennett and Brigid Bazlen.^[3]

In 1960, he was cast as Link, the handyman in most of the nine episodes of Diagnosis: Unknown, a medical/mystery series starring Patrick O'Neal, which aired on CBS at 10 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday as a summer replacement for The Garry Moore Show. In 1961, he appeared as Ronnie with Murray Hamilton and Doris Roberts in the episode "Side Show" of the short-lived CBS science fiction thriller series, Way Out, hosted by the author Roald Dahl.^[3]

Later career

His last television roles were as George Thomas in the episode "Faces" of Frank Converse's short-lived Coronet Blue (1967) and in the episode "The Experiment" of the CBS western series, Lancer,^[3] starring Andrew Duggan, Wayne Maunder, and James Stacy. He also appeared in the 1971 film Calliope.^[4]

Huston made his Broadway debut in 1959 in Only in America. His theatre credits include Take Her, She's Mine (also a film starring Jimmy Stewart), Come Blow Your Horn (the first Neil Simon production), and A Race of Hairy Men. At thirty-two, Huston portrayed the title role of Norman Chambers in the first play to deal with homosexuality in a comedy genre.^[5] Entitled, Norman, Is That You?, a couple having marital problems, portrayed by Lou Jacobi and Maureen Stapleton, come to terms with their son's life-style. The two-act play by Ron Clark and Sam Bobrick was first performed at the Lyceum Theatre in New York City.^[5]

Huston died at the age of sixty of cancer in Manhattan, where he had long resided. Survivors included a daughter, Kimberly Koester of Tampa, Florida; two sons, Tracey Huston of Austin, Texas, and Trevor Huston, of New York City; two sisters, Gaye Gath of Beverly Hills, California, and Michael Beth Huston of New York City; a brother, Bradley Huston, of Westbrook, Connecticut; his mother and stepfather, Marcella Huston and Armond Vergara of New York City; his grandmother, Marcella Henratty of New York City; and two grandchildren. His sister, formerly Gaye Paull, acted mostly on television from 1951-1976. His mother died a year later. His New York Times obituary does not list the name of his father or former wife. Huston was the last surviving member of the Jungle Jim cast.^[6][7]

References