Robert Houston

Robert "Bobby" Houston (born 1955) is an American filmmaker and actor. He made his acting debut in The Hills Have Eyes before becoming a film director and screenwriter. His films include Shogun Assassin (1980) and Bad Manners (1984). Later in his career, Houston became a successful documentarian. He won an Emmy Award for the film Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks (2002) and an Academy Award for the film Mighty Times: The Children's March (2004) in 2005.

Life and career Houston first came to prominence with his performance of the character Bobby in Wes Craven's 1977 horror film The Hills Have Eyes. He would reprise his role in the sequel, The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1984).

In June 1977, Houston was recruited by photographer Christopher Makos to model nude for Pop artist Andy Warhol at his Factory in New York. In the book The Andy Warhol Diaries, Warhol mentioned in a November 7, 1977, diary entry that Houston was writing a movie he had assigned to him about "kids who commit suicide."

Houston and film producer David Weisman acquired the rights for the film Baby Cart at the River Styx, which had been adapted from the Lone Wolf & Cub Japanese action film. They re-edited, re-scored, and co-wrote a script for the English-dubbed film they retitled Shogun Assassin (1980). Houston also wrote and directed several independent films in the 1980s, including the teen comedy Bad Manners (1984).

Houston is also the author of the novel Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, which served as the basis for the 1986 film A Killing Affair.

Houston studied documentary filmmaking at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts before moving to Los Angeles. He transitioned from writing to directing until his partner died of AIDS in 1995. It had screened at film festivals titled The Human Race. The film follows a crew of HIV+ sailors who enter the Trans-Pacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Hawaii. The Legacy of Rosa Parks won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Special after airing on HBO in 2005.

Filmography