Laura Huxley (née Archera; 2 November 1911 – 13 December 2007) was an American

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

, author, psychotherapist and

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

. She was married to author Aldous Huxley from 1956 until his death in 1963.

Early life

Laura Archera was born in Turin, Italy, on 2 November 1911. She began playing the violin at the age of ten, studying in Berlin, Paris and Rome, where she earned a diploma of musical teaching at 17. She also studied at the

Curtis Institute of Music The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on full scholarship. Hi ...

in Philadelphia, played in a major

symphony orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ce ...

and played before the Queen of Italy at the age of 14, and performed at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

in her teens.

Life and career

In 1949, she was working as a freelance documentary filmmaker. According to her obituary in the '' Los Angeles Times'', Archera called

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

and author Aldous Huxley at home, saying that

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...

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. She wrote several

self-help Self-help or self-improvement is a self-guided improvement''APA Dictionary of Physicology'', 1st ed., Gary R. VandenBos, ed., Washington: American Psychological Association, 2007.—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a subst ...

books concerning human relations, including ''You Are Not the Target'' (1963) with a foreword written by Aldous 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. In 1977 she founded Children: Our Ultimate Investment, also known as "Our Ultimate Investment" or just OUI, a non-profit organization dedicated to the nurturing of the possible human. The organization sponsored a four-day conference also entitled Children: Our Ultimate Investment.

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. Laura felt inspired to illuminate the story of their provocative marriage through Mary Ann Braubach's 2010 documentary, "Huxley on Huxley".

Death

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

Awards and honours

Huxley received widespread recognition for her

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotional ...

achievements, including: * Honorary Doctorate of Human Services from La Sierra University * Honoree of the United Nations Fellow of the International Academy of Medical Preventics * The 1990

World Health Foundation for Development and Peace In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

Prize * The 2003

Association of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

Thomas R. Verny Award, for outstanding contributions to the field of prenatal and perinatal psychology.

Bibliography

* 1963 - ''You Are Not the Target'' - Metamorphous Press; Reissue edition (August 1995) , foreword by Aldous Huxley * 1969 - ''This Timeless Moment'' - Celestial Arts; New Ed edition (December 2000) , * 1974 - ''Between Heaven and Earth'' - Hay House; Reprint edition (February 1, 1991) , * 1986 - ''Oneaday Reason to be Happy'' - Compcare Publications , * 1987 - ''The Child of Your Dreams'' (with

Piero Ferrucci Piero is an Italian given name. Notable people with the name include: *Piero Angela (1928–2022), Italian television host *Piero Barucci (born 1933), Italian academic and politician *Piero del Pollaiuolo (c. 1443–1496), Italian painter *Piero de ...

) - Compcare Publications ,

Notes

References

* * *
Los Angeles Times obituary
*

External links

*
Children: Our Ultimate Investment

* * Documentary of the life of Laura and husband Aldous http://huxleyonhuxley.com/ * 'Hofmann's Potion: The Early Years of LSD': http://www.nfb.ca/film/hofmanns_potion {{DEFAULTSORT:Huxley, Laura American motivational speakers Women motivational speakers American self-help writers Deaths from cancer in California Italian emigrants to the United States Italian violinists People from Greater Los Angeles 1911 births 2007 deaths 20th-century American biographers American women biographers 20th-century American violinists 20th-century Italian musicians

Laura Laura may refer to: People * Laura (given name) * Laura, the British code name for the World War I Belgian spy Marthe Cnockaert Places Australia * Laura, Queensland, a town on the Cape York Peninsula * Laura, South Australia * Laura Bay, a bay on ...

20th-century American women musicians 21st-century American women