Title: Anjelica Huston talks about Jack Nicholson and their new movie together

Title: Anjelica Huston talks about Jack Nicholson and their new movie together.(Originated from Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service)

Date: 11/16/1995; Publication: Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service; Author: Lee, Luaine

It was a reunion of sorts when Anjelica Huston and Jack Nicholson met on the set of in the new Sean Penn film, ``The Crossing Guard.''

It was the first time they had worked together since ``Prizzi's Honor'' nine years ago, and the first time since their breakup after a 17-year relationship.

Huston says that she wasn't frightened to perform again with her former sweetheart.

``I was not really scared to work with him. I felt, first of all, I liked the script and I like Sean and I had a good meeting with him. I think initially Sean was more scared to ask me whether I'd be interested,'' she says, smiling.

``So that was comforting. I think Jack is a phenomenal actor. I've known Jack a long time we have sort of a shorthand when we work together.''

For a time they were Hollywood's favorite couple. They were at the center of the social hierarchy _ he with his sardonic charm and she with her elegant reserve.

But the liaison between Huston and Nicholson began to crumble in 1987. Three years later Nicholson had a child by another woman.

``In some way, I think had our relationship continued at the rate it was going, it was due for an inequity of some sort, in order to either smash it to smithereens or we'd have gone on in a kind of gray, half-light of half truths,'' says Huston.

``I love Jack very much,'' she says. In fact, she says, she realized how much she really cared after the trouble between them began.

``But in a way I was emotionally divorced from him for some time. And there were certain things he couldn't give me and, I guess, I couldn't give him. So life goes on,'' she sighs.

``But it was a very difficult time, a very exacting time in that basically I wanted to kill somebody and it was hard to come by any satisfaction.''

She says she'll always love Nicholson. ``Would I want to be with Jack and live with Jack again? That's an entirely different question. And frankly, at this point, no. And I daresay in some way I value myself too much to be involved with somebody like him anymore, though he's a wonderful person whom I will always love. It wasn't that healthy a relationship for me.''

Huston is happily married to sculptor Robert Graham. They met 5{ years ago on a ``blind date setup.'' At first she thought him too serious, but soon found that their personalities meshed. They've been married for 3{ years and have recently moved into a home he designed in Venice, Calif.

They never run out of things to talk about, she says with a wide grin.

The actress was born into the field. She is the daughter of director John Huston and granddaughter of actor Walter Huston.

``I don't know how long I would have been fascinated by anything else,'' she says, looking model-slender in black jeans, a black top, black patent penny-loafers and a black cardigan with the sleeves tied around her shoulders.

``I would like to have been an artist or a writer, but both are very lonely jobs. And maybe I have a greater need for recognition. If I'd been as good at either as I was of acting, maybe that's how it might have gone.''

In ``The Crossing Guard'' Huston plays Nicholson's ex-wife. It is a story about two strangers _ Nicholson and David Morse _ whose only commonality is a shattering loss.

Nicholson portrays a jeweler who hopes to exact revenge for the death of his child, who was killed eight years earlier by a drunk driver. During that time, Nicholson has been obsessed with the man who was convicted of the crime.

Huston remembers the last time she worked with Nicholson. She played Maerose, the spoiled Mafia daughter in ``Prizzi's Honor.''

``Maerose was hard for me,'' she says. ``I was in there between these two guys. It wasn't easy for me to do. I remember having moments of grave doubt when I was playing that part. I felt very on-the-line.''

Even so, she earned an Academy Award for that role. But it was her part as Lily Dillon in ``The Grifters'' that really taxed her. ``I loved playing her but it was a tough time for me. I thought at one point, `I can't do this thing, I just CAN'T. Before I started I was sad and humiliated and wanted to go hide somewhere because I had broken up with Jack and life was hard. But she was a great character for me because she was a great vessel for all I was feeling at the time.''

In spite of the private schools and privileges of her youth, Huston has faced loss often in her life. Her mother was killed in an accident when Anjelica was 16. And her relationship with her father was, at times, difficult.

But they had reconciled long before he died.

Now she says, ``I think going on in the face of those deaths and those difficulties is the hardest thing because you realize you are ultimately alone. In a way, it makes you appreciate what you have that much more and the people you love that much more. I think that's the toughest thing: saying goodbye.''

(EDITORS: Archive photo of Anjelica Huston available from the KRT Photo Archive through PressLink dialup via Macintosh computer. For information, call (800) 435-7578 or (202) 383-6099.)

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