- During his teaching days at Julliard School of Fine Arts, one of his students was Robin Williams, whom Houseman admired. The actor later advised the future comedian that he should quit Julliard since he was wasting his talent, and strike out on his own as a comedian which Williams soon did.
- Former acting teacher of Robin Williams and Christopher Reeve.
- Formerly a close friend and collaborator of Orson Welles during their theater days, they had two blow-ups as Welles began his screen career. Welles originally planned to make his screen debut with an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's novel "Heart of Darkness", starring himself as Kurtz. It was to have been made by RKO Radio Pictures, but a host of production problems caused the studio to tell Welles that if no progress had been made by December 31, 1939, none of the cast would be paid. Welles offered to pay the cast himself if that happened. Houseman told him during a studio dinner that their production company did not have enough money to pay them all. Welles called him a bloodsucker and crook. Houseman began to leave, and Welles started throwing dinnerware at him. The two later reconciled during the writing of Citizen Kane (1941), when Welles asked Houseman to "babysit" Herman J. Mankiewicz, meaning to keep him from drinking too much. After Mankiewicz delivered his script, Welles made a few changes before going into production. Welles later publicly claimed to have substantially re-written the script. Houseman, based on having been with Mankiewicz during the writing, publicly disagreed, saying that most of the credit belonged to Mankiewicz, with a little guidance from himself. This led Welles to permanently end their friendship.
- He and Orson Welles were the founders of the famous Mercury Theatre Players.
- His hatred for former partner Orson Welles was notorious, and Houseman never passed up an opportunity to attack him, often on very personal grounds. He is known to have given a great deal of information, most of it false or misleading, to Pauline Kael for her much-criticized essay, "Raising Kane". However, he could never escape from Welles' shadow, and even managed to die on the 50th anniversary of the famous "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast. On his deathbed, he admitted to Welles' biographer, Simon Callow, that "meeting Welles was the most important event of my life".
- He worked for only one day on John Carpenter's horror classic The Fog (1980) and was given a "special appearance" credit. His character, Mr. Machen, could be a reference to Arthur Machen, Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction.
- Taught acting at Julliard School of Fine Arts for awhile.
- In his Oscar acceptance speech, he made a point of thanking the cameraman on "The Paper Chase", Gordon Willis, who at that time had not been nominated, either for that film or any other in his distinguished career.
- Houseman was a producer of unit 891, the government theatre project funded by the WPA. He was producer of the legendary "Cradle Will Rock" which sent shock waves of paranoia from New York to Washington, D.C.
- Co-founded the Theatre Group at the University of California at Los Angeles, with Robert Ryan and Sidney Harmon (1959).
- Member of the jury at the Venice Film Festival in 1962.
- Had two sons with his second wife, Joan Houseman.
- One of his films as a producer was Julius Caesar (1953), which was the first American film for John Gielgud. Gielgud would later turn down the role for which Houseman received an Academy Award, The Paper Chase (1973). However, Gielgud did succeed Houseman in The Winds of War (1983) sequel, War and Remembrance (1988).
- Attended and graduated from Clifton College in Bristol, England.
- He passed away soon after filming The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988) but before its theatrical release. Coincidentally, Ethel Merman's final film role was in another Zucker film, Airplane! (1980).
- Founded The Acting Company in 1972 with Margot Harley.
- He has produced two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) and The Bad and the Beautiful (1952).
- Has never appeared in a film nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.
- Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 435-437. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons (1999).
- Before getting into the theater business, Houseman worked in the grain industry, living in Galveston, Texas.
- In the film "Freedom to Speak", John Houseman plays Benjamin Franklin; in the Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman series, he plays a villain human-robot creator named Lee Franklin.
- With Orson Welles he formed Mercury Theatre of the Air and produced memorable radio drama such as War of the Worlds and films such as Julius Caesar with Marlon Brando and wrote Citizen kane while as an actor he was in The Paper Chase for which he won an Oscar.
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