Laura Huxley

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

Life and work

Born in Turin, Italy, Laura Archera 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 Music in Philadelphia, played in a major symphony orchestra, played before the Queen of Italy at the age of 14 , 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 philosopher and author 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, Archera married Huxley. After his death in 1963, she wrote This Timeless Moment: a personal view of Aldous Huxley (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 La 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.

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

• Hawtree, Christopher (17 December 2007). "Obituary - Laura Huxley: Author, therapist, musician and muse to husband Aldous, she devoted her life to preserving his legacy". The Guardian. http://books.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,2228580,00.html. Retrieved 2009-10-18. 
• "Laura Archera Huxley Wife of Aldous Huxley who championed the ‘human potential movement' through books and a charitable foundation". The Times. December 17, 2007. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3059512.ece. Retrieved 2009-10-18. 
• Fox, Margalit (December 19, 2007). "Laura Huxley, Her Husband’s Biographer, Dies at 96". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/books/19huxley.html. Retrieved 2009-10-18. 
• Los Angeles Times obituary
• "Laura Huxley.(living treasure)(Brief Article)(Biography)". Mothering. September 1, 2004. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-122105290/laura-huxley-living-treasure.html. Retrieved October 17, 2009. 

External links

• Children: Our Ultimate Investment
• Laura Huxley biography