Laura Huxley

Laura Huxley (née Archera) (November 2, 1911 – December 13, 2007) was a musician, author, psychological counselor and lecturer.

Born in Turin, Italy, she began playing the violin at the age of ten, studying in Berlin, Paris and Rome, where she earned a Professor of Music degree. She also studied at the Curtis Institute of Philadelphia, played in a major symphony orchestra, and performed at Carnegie Hall in her teens. In 1949, she was working as a freelance documentary filmmaker. According to her obituary in the "Los Angeles Times", Archera called Aldous Huxley at home, saying that John Huston had promised to finance her proposed documentary film on the Palio di Siena if she could get Huxley to agree to write a screenplay. Archera then became close friends with Huxley and his first wife Maria, who died in 1955.

In 1956, she married writer and philosopher, Aldous Huxley. After his death in 1963, she wrote "This Timeless Moment" (1968), a book describing life with her husband. She wrote several self-help books concerning human relations, including "You Are Not the Target" (1963) with a foreword written by Aldous Huxley.

In 1977 she founded Our Ultimate Investment (OUI), a non-profit organization dedicated to the nurturing of the possible human, which sponsored a four-day conference entitled Children: Our Ultimate Investment (now also the name of the organization). Huxley has received widespread recognition for her humanistic achievements, including an Honorary Doctorate of Human Services from Sierra University, Honoree of the United Nations Fellow of the International Academy of Medical Preventics, and Honoree of the World Health Foundation for Development, from which she received the Peace Prize in 1990.

In December 2003, the Association of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health honored her as the 6th recipient of the Thomas R. Verny Award, chosen for outstanding contributions to the field of prenatal and perinatal psychology. [http://birthpsychology.com/bits/verny.html Association of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health, Thomas R. Verny Award] ]

Laura Huxley died of cancer, aged 96, at her Hollywood Hills home.

Film

She was a producer of documentary films, and an assistant film editor at RKO. Huxley appeared in "Hofmann's Potion: The Early Years of LSD", a documentary from the National Film Board of Canada.

Bibliography

* 1963 - "You Are Not the Target" - Metamorphous Press; Reissue edition (August 1995) ISBN 155552009X, ISBN 978-1555520090 foreword by Aldous Huxley
* 1969 - "This Timeless Moment" - Celestial Arts; New Ed edition (December 2000) ISBN 0890879680, ISBN 978-0890879689
* 1974 - "Between Heaven and Earth" - Hay House; Reprint edition (February 1, 1991) ISBN 0937611875, ISBN 978-0937611876
* 1986 - "Oneaday Reason to be Happy" - Compcare Publications ISBN 0896381129, ISBN 978-0896381124
* 1987 - "The Child of Your Dreams" (with Piero Ferrucci) - Compcare Publications ISBN 0896381102, ISBN 978-0896381100

References

External links

* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3059512.ece Obituary in "The Times", 17 December 2007]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/books/19huxley.html "New York Times" obituary]
* [http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-huxley15dec15,0,3825593.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california Los Angeles Times obituary]
* [http://books.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,2228580,00.html Guardian obituary]