Orson Welles

 

Orson Welles + Dorothy Comingore in Citizen KaneTim Holt + Dolores Costello + Joseph Cotten in The magnificient AmbersonsJoseph Cotten + Orson Welles in The third man

Biography

Orson Welles

Orson Welles
I started at the top and worked down

Remarkable:

Orson has a star on Hollywood Boulevard.
It’s located between Las Palmas and Cherokee.

Born:

May 6, 1915

Born as:

George Orson Welles

Died:

October 19, 1985

Orson was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin (USA). He made his stage debut in Ireland in 1931, but back in the USA his career went off when he started to direct the Federal Theatre Project.

In 1937 he was a founder of the Mercury Theatre, which produced innovative stage and radio drama. Their 1938 broadcast was an adaptation of the of H. G. Wells 's The War of the Worlds, done in the style of a news broadcast, panicked the listening public and brought Welles national attention.

Orson toyed with various ideas for his first project for RKO but picked Citizen Kane (1941), which is considered by many to be the greatest film ever made. The film was not commercially successful, however, and the follow up (re-edited by the studio) The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) wasn't either.

From 1948 Welles spent most of the next two decades in Europe. His films were self-financed with acting fees or funded by sympathetic producers. He made a notable appearance in front of the camera. In Graham Greene 's The Third Man (1949).

Welles made a brief return to Hollywood in 1958 to make Touch of Evil.

Academy awards:

1971 Honorary Award
1943 Nominated Best Picture for: The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
1942 Won Oscar Best Writing for: Citizen Kane (1941)
1942 Nominated Best Actor for: Citizen Kane (1941)
1942 Nominated Best Director for: Citizen Kane (1941)
1942 Nominated Best Picture for: Citizen Kane (1941)

Selected Movies:

Books:

Joseph McBride -> Orson Welles (1972/1996)
Barbara Leaming -> Orson Welles (1985/1995)
Simon Callow -> Orson Welles (1995)
Ronald Gottesman -> Focus on Orson Welles (1976)
Richard France ->The Theatre of Orson Welles (1977)

 

Orson Welles + Rita Hayworth in The lady from Shanghai

News

Poster of The Stranger

This week 62 years ago The Stranger premiered (May 25, 1946)

Poster of The immortal story

This week 40 years ago The immortal story premiered (May 24, 1968)

Trivia

In 1938 Orson directed his radio play The war of the worlds, based on H.G. Wells’s novel, causing a nationwide panic. The public uproar forced H.G. Wells to say: “It was not explained to me that this dramatization would be made with a liberty that amounts to a complete rewriting of The war of the worlds and renders it into a complete rewriting”. Source / More (Book)

Orson has a star on Hollywood Boulevard.
It’s located between Las Palmas and Cherokee.

Writer Dorothy Parker about Welles: “It’s like meeting God without dying” Source / More (Book)

When Welles stayed in South America in 1942, film studio RKO edited down The magnificent Ambersons from 131 minutes to 88. The studio hoped the film would appeal to a wider public than Citizen Kane which failed at the box office.

Rita Hayworth said she could not live up to Orson’s giant intellect: “You get fed up listening to how great a person he is and you get weary of so much egotism” Source / More (Book)

Bibliography