George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American filmmaker and actor. Remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre,[1][2] he is considered among the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time.[3]
George Orson Welles was born May 6, 1915, inKenosha, Wisconsin, the younger of two sons of Richard Head Welles[13]: 26 [14][a] and Beatrice Ives Welles (née Beatrice Lucy Ives).[14][15]: 9 [b] He was named after one of his great-grandfathers, Kenosha attorneyOrson S. Head, and his brother George Head.[13]: 37 [c]
Orson had a brother ten years older than himself, Richard Ives Welles (1905–1970s), who struggled all his life with mental health issues and was often institutionalized.
Despite his family's affluence, Welles encountered hardship when his parents separated and moved toChicago in 1919. His father, who made a fortune as the inventor of a type of bicycle lamp,[18] became an alcoholic and stopped working. Welles's mother was a concert pianist who had studied with the pianist-composerLeopold Godowsky.[19] She played during lectures by Dudley Crafts Watson at theArt Institute of Chicago to support her son and herself. Welles receivedpiano andviolin lessons arranged by his mother. His elder brother "Dickie" was institutionalized because he had learning difficulties. Beatrice died ofhepatitis in a Chicago hospital on May 10, 1924, just after Welles's ninth birthday.[20]: 3–5 [21]: 326 The Gordon String Quartet, a predecessor to theBerkshire String Quartet, which had made its first appearance at her home in 1921, played at Beatrice's funeral.[22][23]
After his mother died, Welles ceased pursuing a musical career. It was decided he would spend the summer with the Watson family at a private art colony established byLydia Avery Coonley Ward in the village ofWyoming in theFinger Lakes Region of New York.[24]: 8 There, he played and became friends with the children of theAga Khan, including the 12-year-oldPrince Aly Khan.[d] Then, in what Welles later described as "a hectic period", he lived in a Chicago apartment with his father and Maurice Bernstein, a Chicago physician who had been a close friend of his parents. Welles attended public school[25]: 133 before his alcoholic father left business altogether and took him along on travels to Jamaica and the Far East. When they returned, they settled in a hotel his father owned inGrand Detour, Illinois. When the hotel burned down, Welles and his father took to the road again.[24]: 9
"During the three years that Orson lived with his father, some observers wondered who took care of whom", wrote biographer Frank Brady.[24]: 9
"In some ways, he was never really a young boy, you know", said Roger Hill, who became Welles's teacher and lifelong friend.[26]: 24
Welles in 1926: "Cartoonist, Actor, Poet and only 10"
Welles attended public school in Madison, Wisconsin, enrolled in the fourth grade.[24]: 9 On September 15, 1926, he entered theTodd Seminary for Boys,[25]: 3 an expensive independent school inWoodstock, Illinois, that his older brother Richard Ives Welles had attended ten years earlier, until he was expelled.[13]: 48 At Todd School, Welles came under the influence of Roger Hill, a teacher who was later the school's headmaster. Hill provided Welles with anad hoc educational environment that proved invaluable to his creative experience, allowing Welles to concentrate on subjects that interested him. Welles performed and staged theatrical experiments and productions.[27]
"Todd provided Welles with many valuable experiences", wrote critic Richard France. "He was able to explore and experiment in an atmosphere of acceptance and encouragement. In addition to a theatre, the school's own radio station was at his disposal."[29]: 27 Welles's first radio experience was on that station, performing his own adaptation ofSherlock Holmes.[20]: 7
On December 28, 1930, when Welles was 15, his father died of heart and kidney failure in a hotel in Chicago, aged 58. Shortly before, Welles had told his father that he refused to see him until he stopped drinking. Welles suffered lifelong guilt and despair that he was unable to express. "That was the last I ever saw of him", Welles told biographer Barbara Leaming 53 years later. "I've never, never ... I don't want to forgive myself."[26]: 32–33, 463 His father's will left Welles to name his own guardian. When Roger Hill declined, he chose Dr. Maurice Bernstein,[30]: 71–72 a physician and friend of the family.[31][32]
Following graduation from Todd in May 1931,[25]: 3 Welles was awarded a scholarship toHarvard College; his mentor Roger Hill advised him to attendCornell College in Iowa.[e][34] Instead, Welles chose travel. He studied for a few weeks at the Art Institute of Chicago[35]: 117 withBoris Anisfeld, who encouraged him to pursue painting.[24]: 18
Welles occasionally returned to Woodstock. He was asked in a 1960 interview, "Where is home?" and replied, "I suppose it's Woodstock, Illinois, if it's anywhere. I went to school there for four years. If I try to think of a home, it's that."[36]
After graduating, 16-year-old Welles embarked on a painting and sketching tour of Ireland and theAran Islands, traveling by donkey cart (1931).
After his father's death, Welles traveled to Europe using a portion of his inheritance. Welles said that while on a walking and painting trip through Ireland, he strode into theGate Theatre in Dublin and claimed he was a Broadway star. The manager of the Gate,Hilton Edwards, later said he had not believed Welles but was impressed by his brashness and an impassioned audition.[37]: 134 Welles made his stage debut at the Gate Theatre on October 13, 1931, appearing inAshley Dukes's adaptation ofJud Süß as Duke Karl Alexander of Württemberg. He performed supporting roles in Gate productions, and produced and designed productions of his own. In March 1932, Welles performed inW. Somerset Maugham'sThe Circle at Dublin'sAbbey Theatre and traveled to London to find work in the theatre. Unable to obtain a work permit, he returned to the U.S.[21]: 327–330
Welles found his fame ephemeral and turned to a writing project at Todd School that became immensely successful, first entitledEverybody's Shakespeare,[38][39] for the first three volumes,[40] and subsequently,The Mercury Shakespeare. In Spring 1933, Welles traveled via theSS Exermont, a tramp steamer, writing the introduction for the books while onboard. After landing at Morocco, he stayed as the guest ofThami El Glaoui, in the Atlas mountains surroundingTangier,[41] while working on thousands of illustrations for theEverybody's Shakespeare series of educational books, a series that remained in print for decades.[citation needed]
In 1934, Welles got his first job on radio—withThe American School of the Air—through actor-directorPaul Stewart, who introduced him to director Knowles Entrikin.[21]: 331 That summer, Welles staged a drama festival with the Todd School at the Opera House in Woodstock, Illinois, invitingMicheál Mac Liammóir andHilton Edwards from Dublin's Gate Theatre to appear along with New York stage luminaries in productions includingTrilby,Hamlet,The Drunkard andTsar Paul. At the old firehouse in Woodstock, he also shot his first film, an eight-minute short titledThe Hearts of Age.[21]: 330–331
On November 14, 1934, Welles married Chicago socialite and actress Virginia Nicolson[21]: 332 [42] in a civil ceremony in New York. To appease the Nicolsons, who were furious at the elopement, a formal ceremony took place December 23, 1934, at the New Jersey mansion of the bride's godmother. Welles wore acutaway borrowed from his friendGeorge Macready.[30]: 182
A revised production of Katharine Cornell'sRomeo and Juliet opened December 20, 1934, at theMartin Beck Theatre in New York.[21]: 331–332 [43] The Broadway production brought the 19-year-old Welles to the notice ofJohn Houseman, a theatrical producer who was casting the lead in the debut production of one ofArchibald MacLeish's verse plays,Panic.[44]: 144–158 On March 22, 1935, Welles made his debut on theCBS Radio seriesThe March of Time, performing a scene fromPanic for a news report on the stage production.[24]: 70–71
By 1935, Welles was supplementing his earnings in the theatre as a radio actor inManhattan, working with many actors who later formed the core of hisMercury Theatre on programs includingAmerica's Hour,Cavalcade of America,Columbia Workshop andThe March of Time.[21]: 331–332 "Within a year of his debut Welles could claim membership in that elite band of radio actors who commanded salaries second only to the highest paid movie stars," wrote criticRichard France.[29]: 172
Part of theWorks Progress Administration, theFederal Theatre Project (1935–39) was aNew Deal program to fund theatre and other live artistic performances and entertainment programs in the US during theGreat Depression. It was created as arelief measure to employ artists, writers, directors and theatre workers. Under national directorHallie Flanagan it was shaped into a national theatre that created relevant art, encouraged experimentation and innovation, and made it possible for millions of Americans to see live theatre for the first time.[45]
John Houseman, director of theNegro Theatre Unit in New York, invited Welles to join the Federal Theatre Project in 1935. Far from unemployed—"I was so employed I forgot how to sleep"—Welles put a large share of his $1,500-a-week radio earnings into his stage productions, bypassing administrative red tape and mounting the projects more quickly and professionally. "Roosevelt once said that I was the only operator in history who ever illegally siphoned moneyinto a Washington project," Welles said.[21]: 11–13
The Federal Theatre Project was the ideal environment in which Welles could develop his art. Its purpose was employment, so he was able to hire many artists, craftsmen and technicians, and he filled the stage with performers.[46]: 3 The company for the first production, an adaptation of Shakespeare'sMacbeth with an African-American cast, numbered 150.[47] The production became known as theVoodoo Macbeth because Welles changed the setting to a mythical island suggesting the Haitian court of KingHenri Christophe,[48]: 179–180 withHaitianvodou fulfilling the role of Scottishwitchcraft.[49]: 86 The play opened April 14, 1936, at theLafayette Theatre in Harlem and was received rapturously. At 20, Welles was hailed as a prodigy.[50] The production then made a 4,000-mile national tour[21]: 333 [51] that included two weeks at theTexas Centennial Exposition in Dallas.[52]
From left, Houseman, Edwin Denby and Welles at a rehearsal ofHorse Eats Hat (1936)
Outside the scope of the Federal Theatre Project,[29]: 100 American composerAaron Copland chose Welles to directThe Second Hurricane (1937), an operetta with a libretto by Edwin Denby. Presented at theHenry Street Settlement Music School in New York for the benefit of high school students, the production opened April 21, 1937, and ran its scheduled three performances.[21]: 337
In 1937, Welles rehearsedMarc Blitzstein's political opera,The Cradle Will Rock.[54] It was originally scheduled to open June 16, 1937, in its first public preview. Because of cutbacks in the WPA projects, the premiere at theMaxine Elliott Theatre was canceled. The theater was locked, and guarded, to prevent any government-purchased materials from being used for a commercial production of the work. In a last-minute move, Welles announced to ticket-holders that the show was being transferred tothe Venice, 20 blocks away. Some cast, crew and audience, walked on foot. The union musicians refused to perform in a commercial theater for lower non-union government wages. The actors' union stated that the production belonged to the Federal Theatre Project, and could not be performed outside that context without permission. Lacking participation of the union members,The Cradle Will Rock began with Blitzstein introducing it and playing the piano accompaniment on stage, with some cast members performing from the audience. This impromptu performance was well received by its audience.
Aged 22 Welles was Broadway's youngest impresario – producing, directing and starring in an adaptation ofJulius Caesar that broke all performance records for the play (1938).
"I think he was the greatest directorial talent we've ever had in the [American] theater", Lloyd said of Welles in 2014. "When you saw a Welles production, you saw the text had been affected, the staging was remarkable, the sets were unusual, music, sound, lighting, a totality of everything. We had not had such a man in our theater. He was the first and remains the greatest."[55]
The Mercury Theatre opened November 11, 1937, withCaesar, Welles's modern-dress adaptation of Shakespeare'sJulius Caesar—streamlined into ananti-fascist tour de force that Joseph Cotten later described as "so vigorous, so contemporary that it set Broadway on its ear".[53]: 108 The set was completely open with no curtain, and the brick stage wall was painted dark red. Scene changes were achieved by lighting alone.[56]: 165 On the stage was a series of risers; squares were cut into one at intervals and lights, designed byJean Rosenthal, were set beneath it, pointing straight up to evoke the "cathedral of light" at theNuremberg Rallies.[57] "He staged it like a political melodrama that happened the night before," said Lloyd.[55]
Beginning January 1, 1938,Caesar was performed in repertory withThe Shoemaker's Holiday; both productions moved to the largerNational Theatre. They were followed byHeartbreak House (April 29, 1938) andDanton's Death (November 5, 1938).[46]: 344 As well as being presented in a pared-down oratorio version at the Mercury Theatre in December 1937,The Cradle Will Rock was at theWindsor Theatre January 4 – April 2, 1938.[21]: 340 Such was the success of the Mercury Theatre that Welles appeared on the cover ofTime, in full makeup as Captain Shotover inHeartbreak House, on May 9—three days after his 23rd birthday.[58]
Welles was the voice ofThe Shadow on the Mutual radio network (1937–1938).
Simultaneously with his work in the theatre, Welles worked extensively in radio as an actor, writer, director, and producer, often without credit.[46]: 77 Between 1935–37 he was earning as much as $2,000 a week, shuttling between studios at such a pace that he would arrive barely in time for a scan of his lines before he was on the air. While he was directing theVoodoo Macbeth Welles was dashing between Harlem andmidtown Manhattan three times a day to meet his radio commitments.[29]: 172 In addition to continuing as a repertory player onThe March of Time, in the fall of 1936 Welles adapted and performedHamlet in an episode ofCBS Radio'sColumbia Workshop. His performance as the announcer in the series' April 1937 presentation ofArchibald MacLeish's verse dramaThe Fall of the City was an important development in his radio career[46]: 78 and made the 21-year-old Welles an overnight star.[59]: 46
In July 1937, theMutual Network gave Welles a seven-week series to adaptLes Misérables. It was his first job as a writer-director for radio,[21]: 338 the debut of the Mercury Theatre, and one of Welles's finest achievements.[60]: 160 He invented the use of narration in radio.[21]: 88
"By making himself the center of the storytelling process, Welles fostered the impression of self-adulation that was to haunt his career to his dying day", wrote criticAndrew Sarris. "For the most part, however, Welles was singularly generous to the other members of his cast and inspired loyalty from them above and beyond the call of professionalism."[59]: 8
That September, Mutual chose Welles to play Lamont Cranston, also known asThe Shadow. He performed the role through mid-September 1938.[46]: 83 [61]
Welles at the press conference after "The War of the Worlds" broadcast (October 31, 1938)
After the theatrical successes of the Mercury Theatre,CBS Radio invited Welles to create a summer show for 13 weeks. The series began July 11, 1938, with the formula that Welles would play the lead in each show.[59] The weekly hour-long show presented radio plays based on classic literary works, with original music composed and conducted byBernard Herrmann.
The Mercury Theatre'sradio adaptation ofThe War of the Worlds byH. G. Wells October 30, 1938, brought Welles instant fame. The combination of the news bulletin form of the performance, with the between-breaks dial-spinning habits of listeners, created confusion among listeners who failed to hear the introduction, although the extent of this confusion has come into question.[4][62][63][64] Panic was reportedly spread among listeners who believed the fictional news reports of a Martian invasion.[65] The myth of the result created by the combination was reported as fact around the world and disparagingly mentioned byAdolf Hitler in a speech.[66]
The Mercury Theatre on the Air becameThe Campbell Playhouse in December 1938.
Welles's growing fame drewHollywood offers, lures that the independent-minded Welles resisted at first.The Mercury Theatre on the Air, which had been a sustaining show (without sponsorship), was picked up byCampbell Soup and renamedThe Campbell Playhouse.[67]The Mercury Theatre on the Air made its last broadcast on December 4, 1938, andThe Campbell Playhouse began five days later.
Welles began commuting from California to New York for the Sunday broadcasts ofThe Campbell Playhouse after signing a film contract withRKO Pictures in August 1939. In November, production of the show moved to Los Angeles.[21]: 353 After 20 shows, Campbell began to exercise more creative control and had complete control over story selection. As his contract with Campbell came to an end, Welles chose not to sign on for another season. After the broadcast of March 31, 1940, Welles and Campbell parted amicably.[24]: 221–226
RKO Radio Pictures presidentGeorge J. Schaefer ultimately offered Welles what generally is considered the greatest contract offered to a filmmaker, much less to one who was untried. Engaging him to write, produce, direct and perform in two pictures, the contract subordinated the studio's financial interests to Welles's creative control, and broke precedent by granting Welles final cut.[68]: 1–2 After signing a summary agreement with RKO on July 22, Welles signed a full-length 63-page contract August 21, 1939.[21]: 353 The agreement was bitterly resented by the Hollywood studios and persistently mocked in the trade press.[68]: 2
RKO rejected Welles's first two movie proposals,[68]: 3–15 but agreed on the third—Citizen Kane. Welles co-wrote, produced, directed and starred in it.[69] Welles conceived the project with screenwriterHerman J. Mankiewicz, who was writing radio plays forThe Campbell Playhouse.[68]: 16 Mankiewicz based the original outline of the film script on the life ofWilliam Randolph Hearst, whom he knew and came to hate after being exiled from Hearst's circle.[70]: 231
After agreeing on the storyline and character, Welles supplied Mankiewicz with 300 pages of notes and put him under contract to write the first-draft screenplay under the supervision ofJohn Houseman. Welles wrote his own draft,[21]: 54 then drastically condensed and rearranged both versions and added scenes of his own. The industry accused Welles of underplaying Mankiewicz's contribution to the script, but Welles countered the attacks by saying, "At the end, naturally, I was the one making the picture, after all—who had to make the decisions. I used what I wanted of Mank's and, rightly or wrongly, kept what I liked of my own."[21]: 54
For the cast, Welles primarily used actors from his Mercury Theatre, includingWilliam Alland,Ray Collins,Joseph Cotten,Agnes Moorehead,Erskine Sanford,Everett Sloane andPaul Stewart in their film debuts. Welles's project attracted some of Hollywood's best technicians, including cinematographerGregg Toland.[69] Welles and Toland made extensive use ofdeep focus photography, in which everything in the frame is in focus. Toland explained that he and Welles thought "that if it was possible, the picture should be brought to the screen in such a way that the audience would feel it was looking at reality, rather than merely at a movie." They composed "our angles and compositions so that action which ordinarily would be shown in direct cuts would be shown in a single, longer scene--often one in which important action might take place simultaneously in widely separated points in extreme foreground and background."[71]
Toland explained their use of deep (or pan) focus:
Through its use, it is possible to photograph action from a range of eighteen inches from the camera lens to over two hundred feet away, with extreme foreground and background figures and action both recorded in sharp relief. Hitherto, the camera had to be focused either for a close or a distant shot, all efforts to encompass both at the same time resulting in one or the other being out of focus. This handicap necessitated the breaking up of a scene into long and short angles, with much consequent loss of realism. With pan-focus, the camera, like the human eye, sees an entire panorama at once, with everything clear and lifelike.[72]
Welles called Toland "the greatest gift any director—young or old—could ever, ever have. And he never tried to impress on us that he was performing miracles. He just went ahead and performed them. I was calling on him to do things only a beginner could be ignorant enough to think anybody could ever do, and there he was,doing them." When asked why he and Toland used depth of focus, Welles explained: "Well, in life you see everything in focus at the same time, so why not in the movies?"[21]: 60
It was the first film scored byBernard Herrmann, who had worked with Welles in radio. Hermann recalled: "two full weeks were spent in the dubbing room, and music under our supervision was often re-recorded six or seven times before the proper dynamic level was achieved. The result is an exact projection of the original musical ideas in the score. Technically, no composer could ask for more."[73] FilmingCitizen Kane took ten weeks.[69]
Hearst's newspapers barred all reference toCitizen Kane and exerted enormous pressure on the Hollywood film community to force RKO to shelve the film.[68]: 111 RKO chiefGeorge J. Schaefer received a cash offer fromMGM'sLouis B. Mayer and other major studio executives if he would destroy the negative and existing prints of the film.[68]: 112
Canada Lee as Bigger Thomas inNative Son (1941), co-produced and directed by Welles
While waiting forCitizen Kane to be released, Welles produced and directed the original Broadway production ofNative Son, a drama written byPaul Green andRichard Wright based on Wright'snovel. StarringCanada Lee, the show ran March 24 – June 28, 1941, at theSt. James Theatre. The Mercury Production was the last time Welles and Houseman worked together.[46]: 12
AlthoughCitizen Kane was given a limited release, it received overwhelming critical praise. It was voted the best picture of 1941 by theNational Board of Review andNew York Film Critics Circle. The film garnered nine Academy Award nominations but won onlyBest Original Screenplay, shared by Mankiewicz and Welles.[74]Variety reported that block voting by extras deprivedCitizen Kane of Oscars for Best Picture and Best Actor (Welles), and similar prejudices were likely to have been responsible for the film receiving no technical awards.[68]: 117 Bosley Crowther wrote that Welles "has made a picture of tremendous and overpowering scope, not in physical extent so much as in its rapid and graphic rotation of thoughts. Mr. Welles has put upon the screen a motion picture that really moves."[75]Cecelia Ager, inPM Magazine, wrote: "BeforeCitizen Kane, it's as if the motion picture were a slumbering monster, a mighty force stupidly sleeping, lying there...awaiting a fierce young man to come kick it to life, to rouse it, shake it, awaken it to its potentialities ... Seeing it, it's as if you never really saw a movie before."[5]
The delay in the film's release and uneven distribution contributed to mediocre results at the box office. After it ran its course theatrically,Citizen Kane was retired to the vault in 1942. In France, however, its reputation grew after it was seen there for the first time in 1946.[68]: 117–118 In the US, it began to be re-evaluated after it appeared on television in 1956. That year it was re-released theatrically,[68]: 119 and film criticAndrew Sarris described it as "the great American film" and "the work that influenced the cinema more profoundly than any American film sinceThe Birth of a Nation."[76]Citizen Kaneis now widely hailed as one of the greatest films ever made.[77] From 1962 to 2012, it topped the decennialSight and Sound poll of the Greatest Films of All Time.[78]
"The fate ofThe Magnificent Ambersons is one of film history's great tragedies," wrote film historian Robert L. Carringer.[79]: 1 It was Welles's second film for RKO, adapted by Welles fromBooth Tarkington'sPulitzer Prize-winning1918 novel about the declining fortunes of a wealthy Midwestern family and thesocial changes brought by the automobile age. Toland was unavailable, soStanley Cortez was named cinematographer. The meticulous Cortez worked slowly and the film lagged behind schedule and over budget. In contract renegotiations with RKO over a film he was obliged to direct, Welles had conceded final cut.[80]
Promotional photograph of Joseph Cotten and Agnes Moorehead in the excised concluding scene ofThe Magnificent Ambersons
The Magnificent Ambersons was in production October 28, 1941, to January 22, 1942,[81] with a cast including Cotten, Collins, Moorehead,Dolores Costello,Anne Baxter andTim Holt.[81] RKO chief George Schaefer understood that presenting a downbeat period film without marquee stars was a risk, but he was reassured by a special screening of the film-in-progress Welles arranged for him on November 28. Schaefer was an expert in film distribution and attended to the marketing strategy.[79]: 1
Required to start filming the "Carnaval" segment ofIt's All True in early February 1942, Welles rushed to editThe Magnificent Ambersons and finish his acting scenes inJourney into Fear. He ended his lucrativeCBS radio show[82]: 189 February 2, flew to Washington, D.C., for a briefing, and then lashed together a rough cut ofAmbersons in Miami with editorRobert Wise.[21]: 369–370
A finished 131-minute version, edited per Welles's detailed instructions, was previewed March 17, 1942, in Pomona. Schaefer was present, and was rattled by the audience response: 75 percent of the preview cards were negative. The film was received more favorably by a preview audience in the more upscale Pasadena on March 19, with only 25 percent of the preview cards negative. But the experience led Schaefer to authorize the studio to make whatever changes necessary to makeThe Magnificent Ambersons a commercial success.[79]: 1–2
Wise, whom Welles had left in charge of postproduction, removed nearly 50 minutes of footage from Welles's cut, and several scenes — including the ending — were rewritten and reshot.Over Welles's opposition,The Magnificent Ambersons was cut to 88 minutes.[79]: 2 [81] Like the film,Bernard Herrmann's score was heavily edited by RKO. When more than half the score was removed and replaced by music byRoy Webb, Herrmann bitterly severed his ties with the film and promised legal action if he was not removed from the credits.[83]
Even in its released form,The Magnificent Ambersons is considered one of the best films of all time.[84] The film was nominated for fourAcademy Awards, includingBest Picture, and added to theNational Film Registry in 1991.
At RKO's request, Welles worked on an adaptation ofEric Ambler's spy thrillerJourney into Fear, co-written with Cotten. In addition to acting in it, Welles was the producer. Direction was credited toNorman Foster. Welles later said they were in such a rush that the director of each scene was determined by whoever was closest to the camera.[21]: 165 Journey into Fear was in production January 6 – March 12, 1942.[85]
The OCIAA sponsored cultural tours to Latin America and appointed goodwill ambassadors includingGeorge Balanchine and theAmerican Ballet,Bing Crosby,Aaron Copland,Walt Disney,John Ford andRita Hayworth. Welles was briefed in Washington, D.C., immediately before departure for Brazil, and film scholar Catherine L. Benamou, finds it likely he was among the goodwill ambassadors asked to gather intelligence for the U.S. government. She concludes that Welles's acceptance of Whitney's request was "a logical and patently patriotic choice".[86]: 245–247
In addition to working on his ill-fated filmIt's All True, Welles was responsible for radio programs, lectures, interviews and informal talks as part of his OCIAA-sponsored cultural mission, which was regarded as a success.[82]: 192 He spoke on topics ranging from Shakespeare to visual art at gatherings of Brazil's elite, and his intercontinental radio broadcasts in April 1942 were particularly intended to tell U.S. audiences that PresidentGetúlio Vargas was a partner with the Allies. Welles's ambassadorial mission was extended to permit his travel to Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay.[86]: 247–249, 328 Welles worked for more than 6 months with no compensation.[86]: 41, 328 [82]: 189
Welles's own expectations for the film were modest. "It's All True was not going to make any cinematic history, nor was it intended to," he later said. "It was intended to be a perfectly honorable execution of my job as a goodwill ambassador, bringing entertainment to the Northern Hemisphere that showed them something about the Southern one."[26]: 253
Welles on location inFortaleza, Brazil, while filming the "Jangadeiros" section of the unfinished filmIt's All TrueSome of Welles'sIt's All True film crew at the top ofSugarloaf Mountain, Rio de Janeiro, in early 1942
In July 1941, Welles conceivedIt's All True as anomnibus film mixing documentary anddocufiction[26]: 221 [86]: 27 in a project that emphasized thedignity of labor and celebrated the cultural and ethnic diversity of North America. It was to have been his third film for RKO, followingCitizen Kane (1941) andThe Magnificent Ambersons (1942).[88]: 109 Duke Ellington was put under contract to score a segment with the working title, "The Story of Jazz", drawn fromLouis Armstrong's 1936 autobiography,Swing That Music.[89]: 232–233 Armstrong was cast to play himself in the dramatization of the history of jazz performance, from its roots to its place in American culture.[88]: 109 "The Story of Jazz" was to go into production in December 1941.[86]: 119–120
Mercury Productions purchased the stories for other segments—"My Friend Bonito" and "The Captain's Chair"—from documentary filmmakerRobert J. Flaherty.[86]: 33, 326 Adapted byNorman Foster andJohn Fante, "My Friend Bonito" was the only segment of the originalIt's All True to go into production.[88]: 109 Filming took place in Mexico September–December 1941, with Norman Foster directing under Welles's supervision.[86]: 311
In December 1941, theOffice of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs asked Welles to make a film in Brazil that would showcase theCarnaval in Rio.[87]: 65 With filming of "My Friend Bonito" about two-thirds complete, Welles decided he could shift the geography ofIt's All True and incorporate Flaherty's story into an omnibus film about Latin America—supporting theRoosevelt administration'sGood Neighbor policy, which Welles advocated.[86]: 41, 246 In this revised concept, "The Story of Jazz" was replaced by the story ofsamba, a musical form with a comparable history and one that came to fascinate Welles. He decided to do a ripped-from-the-headlines episode about the epic voyage of four poor Brazilian fishermen, thejangadeiros, who had become national heroes. Welles later said this was the most valuable story.[21]: 158–159 [46]: 15
Required to film the Carnaval in Rio in early February 1942, Welles rushed to editThe Magnificent Ambersons and finish his acting scenes inJourney into Fear. He ended his lucrativeCBS radio show[82]: 189 February 2, flew to Washington, D.C., for a briefing, and then lashed together a rough cut ofAmbersons in Miami with editorRobert Wise.[21]: 369–370 Welles recorded the film's narration the night before he left for South America: "I went to the projection room at about four in the morning, did the whole thing, and then got on the plane and off to Rio—and the end of civilization as we know it."[21]: 115
Welles left for Brazil on February 4 and began filming in Rio on February 8, 1942.[21]: 369–370 It did not seem that Welles's other film projects would be disrupted, but as film historian Catherine L. Benamou wrote, "the ambassadorial appointment would be the first in a series of turning points leading—in 'zigs' and 'zags,' rather than in a straight line—to Welles's loss of complete directorial control overThe Magnificent Ambersons andIt's All True, the cancellation of his contract at RKO Radio Studio, the expulsion of his company Mercury Productions from the RKO lot, and the total suspension ofIt's All True."[86]: 46
In 1942 RKO Pictures underwent changes under new management.Nelson Rockefeller, the primary backer of the Brazil project, left its board, and Welles's principal sponsor at RKO, studio president George Schaefer, resigned. RKO took control ofAmbersons and edited it into what RKO considered a commercial format. Welles's attempts to protect his version failed.[81][90] In South America, Welles requested resources to finishIt's All True. Given a limited amount of black-and-white film stock and a silent camera, he was able to finish shooting the episode about thejangadeiros, but RKO refused to support further production.
"So I was fired from RKO," Welles recalled. "And they made a great publicity point of the fact that I had gone to South America without a script and thrown all this money away. I never recovered from that attack."[91]: 188 Later in 1942, when RKO Pictures began promoting its new corporate motto, "Showmanship In Place of Genius: A New Deal at RKO",[92] Welles understood it as a reference to him.[91]: 188
Welles performs a card trick forCarl Sandburg before the War Bond drive broadcastI Pledge America (August 1942).
Welles returned to the US on August 22, 1942, after more than six months in South America.[21]: 372 A week after his return[93][94] he produced and emceed the first two hours of a seven-hour coast-to-coastWar Bond drive broadcast titledI Pledge America. Airing August 29, 1942, on theBlue Network, the program was presented in cooperation with theUnited States Department of the Treasury,Western Union and theAmerican Women's Voluntary Services. Featuring 21 dance bands and a score of stage and screen and radio stars, the broadcast raised more than $10 million—more than $146 million today[95]—for the war effort.[96][97][98][99][100][101]
On October 12, 1942,Cavalcade of America presented Welles's radio play,Admiral of the Ocean Sea, an entertaining and factual look at the legend ofChristopher Columbus. "It belongs to a period when hemispheric unity was a crucial matter and many programs were being devoted to the common heritage of the Americas," wrote broadcasting historianErik Barnouw. "Many such programs were being translated into Spanish and Portuguese and broadcast to Latin America, to counteract many years of successful Axis propaganda to that area. The Axis, trying to stir Latin America against Anglo-America, had constantly emphasized the differences between the two. It became the job of American radio to emphasize their common experience and essential unity."[102]: 3
Admiral of the Ocean Sea, also known asColumbus Day, begins with the words, "Hello Americans"—the title Welles would choose for his own series five weeks later.[21]: 373
Hello Americans, a CBS Radio series broadcast November 15, 1942 – January 31, 1943, was produced, directed and hosted by Welles under the auspices of the Office of the Coordinator for Inter-American Affairs. The 30-minute weekly program promoted inter-American understanding and friendship, drawing upon the research amassed for the ill-fated film,It's All True.[103] The series was produced concurrently with Welles's other CBS series,Ceiling Unlimited (November 9, 1942 – February 1, 1943), sponsored by theLockheed-Vega Corporation. The program was conceived to glorify the aviation industry and dramatize its role in World War II. Welles's shows were regarded as significant contributions to the war effort.[59]: 64 Throughout the war Welles worked on patriotic radio programs includingCommand Performance,G.I. Journal,Mail Call,Nazi Eyes on Canada,Stage Door Canteen andTreasury Star Parade.
"Hello, suckers!" Orson the Magnificent welcomes the audience toThe Mercury Wonder Show (August 1943).
In early 1943, the two concurrent radio series (Ceiling Unlimited,Hello Americans) that Welles created forCBS to support the war effort had ended. Filming had wrapped on the 1943film adaptation ofJane Eyre, for which he received $100,000; that fee, in addition to the income from his guest-star roles in radio, made it possible for Welles to fulfill a lifelong dream. He approached the War Assistance League of Southern California and proposed a show that evolved into a big-top spectacle, partcircus and partmagic show. He offered his services as magician and director,[104]: 40 and invested $40,000 in an extravaganza he co-produced with his friend Cotten:The Mercury Wonder Show for Service Men. Members of the armed forces were admitted free of charge, while the public had to pay.[105]: 26 The show entertained 1,000 service members each night, and proceeds went to the War Assistance League, a charity for military service personnel.[106]
Welles leaves his Army physical after being judged unfit for military service (May 6, 1943).
The development of the show coincided with the resolution of Welles's oft-changingdraft status in May 1943, when he was finally declared 4-F—unfit for military service—for medical reasons. "I felt guilty about the war," Welles told biographerBarbara Leaming. "I was guilt-ridden about my civilian status."[107]: 86 He had been publicly hounded about his patriotism sinceCitizen Kane, when the Hearst press began persistent inquiries about why Welles had not been drafted.[87]: 66–67 [108][109]
Rita Hayworth took a lunch-hour break from the set ofCover Girl to marry Welles, with best man Cotten (September 7, 1943).[107]: 91
The Mercury Wonder Show ran August 3 – September 9, 1943, in an 80-by-120-foot tent[106] located at 900Cahuenga Boulevard, in the heart of Hollywood.[21]: 377 [105]: 26 At intermission on September 7, 1943,KMPC radio interviewed audience and cast members ofThe Mercury Wonder Show—including Welles andRita Hayworth, who were married earlier that day. Welles remarked thatThe Mercury Wonder Show had been performed for 48,000 members of the armed forces.[21]: 378 [46]: 129
The idea of doing a radio variety show occurred to Welles after his success as substitute host of consecutive episodes (March 14 – April 4, 1943) ofThe Jack Benny Program, radio's most popular show, whenBenny contracted pneumonia on a performance tour of military bases.[24]: 368 [110] A half-hour variety show broadcast January 26 – July 19, 1944, on the Columbia Pacific Network,The Orson Welles Almanac presented sketch comedy, magic, mindreading, music and readings from classic works. Many of the shows originated on U.S. military camps, where Welles and his repertory company and guests entertained the troops with a reduced version ofThe Mercury Wonder Show.[59]: 64 [111][112] The performances of theall-star jazz group Welles brought together for the show were so popular that the band became a regular feature and was an important force in reviving interest intraditional New Orleans jazz.[113]: 85
Welles was placed on the U.S. Treasury payroll on May 15, 1944, as an expert consultant for the duration of the war, with a retainer of $1 a year.[114] On the recommendation of PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt, Secretary of the TreasuryHenry Morgenthau asked Welles to lead the Fifth War Loan Drive, which opened June 12 with a radio show on all four networks, broadcast from Texarkana, Texas. Including a statement by the President,[115] the program defined the causes of the war and encouraged Americans to buy $16 billion inbonds to finance theNormandy landings. Welles produced additional war loan drive broadcasts on June 14 from theHollywood Bowl, and June 16 fromSoldier Field, Chicago.[24]: 371–373 Americans purchased $21 billion in War Bonds during the Fifth War Loan Drive, which ended on July 8, 1944.[116]
Welles introduced Vice PresidentHenry A. Wallace at aMadison Square Garden rally advocating a fourth term for President Franklin D. Roosevelt (September 21, 1944).[21]: 385
Welles campaigned ardently for Roosevelt in 1944. A longtime supporter and campaign speaker for FDR, he occasionally sent the president ideas and phrases that were sometimes incorporated into what Welles characterized as "less important speeches".[24]: 372, 374 One of these was the joke in what came to be called theFala speech, Roosevelt's nationally broadcast September 23 address to the InternationalTeamsters Union which opened the1944 presidential campaign.[26]: 292–293 [117]
Welles campaigned for the Roosevelt–Truman ticket almost full-time in the fall of 1944, traveling to nearly every state[24]: 373–374 to the detriment of his health[26]: 293–294 and at his own expense.[13]: 219 In addition to his radio addresses he filled in for Roosevelt, opposite Republican presidential nomineeThomas E. Dewey, atThe New York Herald Tribune Forum broadcast October 18 on the Blue Network.[21]: 386 [26]: 292 Welles accompanied FDR to his last campaign rally, speaking at an event November 4 at Boston'sFenway Park before 40,000 people,[26]: 294 [118] and took part in a historic election-eve campaign broadcast November 6 on all four radio networks.[21]: 387 [119]: 166–167
On November 21, 1944, Welles began his association withThis Is My Best, a CBS radio series he would produce, direct, write and host (March 13 – April 24, 1945).[120][121] He wrote a political column calledOrson Welles' Almanac (later titledOrson Welles Today) forThe New York Post January–November 1945, and advocated the continuation of FDR's New Deal policies and international vision, particularly the establishment of the UN and world peace.[87]: 84
On April 12, 1945, the day Roosevelt died, the Blue-ABC network marshalled its executive staff and national leaders to pay homage to the president. "Among the outstanding programs which attracted wide attention was a special tribute delivered by Orson Welles", reportedBroadcasting magazine.[122] Welles spoke at 10:10 p.m Eastern War Time, from Hollywood, and stressed the importance of continuing FDR's work: "He has no need for homage and we who loved him have no time for tears ... Our fighting sons and brothers cannot pause tonight to mark the death of him whose name will be given to the age we live in."[123] Welles presented another special broadcast on the Roosevelt's death the following evening: "We must move on beyond mere death to that free world which was the hope and labor of his life."[21]: 390 [60]: 242
He dedicated the April 17 episode ofThis Is My Best to Roosevelt and the future of America on the eve of theUnited Nations Conference on International Organization.[21]: 390 [120][121] Welles was an advisor and correspondent for the Blue-ABC radio network's coverage of the San Francisco conference that formed the UN, taking place April 24 – June 23, 1945. He presented a half-hour dramatic program written byBen Hecht on the opening day of the conference, and on Sunday afternoons (April 29 – June 10) he led a weekly discussion from theSan Francisco Civic Auditorium.[124][125]
ProducerSam Spiegel initially planned to hire directorJohn Huston, who had rewritten the screenplay byAnthony Veiller. When Huston entered the military, Welles was given the chance to direct and prove himself able to make a film on schedule and under budget[46]: 19 —something he was so eager to do that he accepted a disadvantageous contract. One of its concessions was that he would defer to the studio in any creative dispute.[24]: 379 [26]: 309–310
The Stranger was Welles's first job as a film director in four years.[21]: 391 He was told that if the film was successful he could sign a four-picture deal with International Pictures, making films of his own choosing.[24]: 379 Welles was given some creative control,[46]: 19 and endeavored to personalize the film and develop a nightmarish tone.[127]: 2:30 He worked on the general rewrite of the script and wrote scenes at the beginning of the picture shot, but cut by producers.[21]: 186 He filmed in long takes that largely thwarted the control given to editor Ernest J. Nims under the terms of the contract.[127]: 15:45
The Stranger was the first commercial film to use documentary footage from the concentration camps.[21]: 189 [128] Welles had seen the footage in early May 1945[127]: 102:03 in San Francisco,[129]: 56 as a correspondent and discussion moderator at the UN Conference on International Organization.[26]: 304 He wrote of the Holocaust footage in his syndicatedNew York Post column May 7, 1945.[129]: 56–57
Completed a day ahead of schedule and under budget,[24]: 379–380 The Stranger was the only film made by Welles to have been abona fide box office success upon its release. Its cost was $1.03 million; 15 months after its release it had grossed $3.2 million.[130] Within weeks of the completion of the film, International Pictures backed out of its promised four-picture deal with Welles. No reason was given, but the impression was left thatThe Stranger would not make money.[24]: 381
In the summer of 1946, Welles moved to New York to direct the Broadway musicalAround the World, a stage adaptation ofJules Verne's novelAround the World in Eighty Days with a book by Welles and music byCole Porter. ProducerMike Todd, who would produce the successful1956 film adaptation, pulled out from the lavish and expensive production, leaving Welles to support the finances. When Welles ran out of money he convincedColumbia Pictures presidentHarry Cohn to send enough to continue the show, and in exchange Welles promised to write, produce, direct and star in a film for Cohn for no further fee. The stage show soon failed due to poor box-office, with Welles unable to claim the losses on his taxes.[131] Inspired by magician and cinema pioneerGeorges Méliès, the show required 55 stagehands and used films to bridge scenes. Welles said it was his favorite of his stage productions. Regarding its extravagance, critic Robert Garland said it had "everything but the kitchen sink." The next night, Welles brought out a kitchen sink.[132]
In 1946, Welles began two new radio series—The Mercury Summer Theatre of the Air for CBS, andOrson Welles Commentaries for ABC. WhileMercury Summer Theatre featured half-hour adaptations of some classic Mercury radio shows from the 1930s, the first episode was a condensation of hisAround the World stage play, and is the only record of Cole Porter's music for the project. Several original Mercury actors returned for the series, as well as Bernard Herrmann. Welles invested his earnings into his failing stage play.Commentaries was a political vehicle, continuing the themes from hisNew York Post column. Again, Welles lacked a clear focus, until theNAACP brought to his attention the case ofIsaac Woodard. Welles brought significant attention to Woodard's cause.[133]
The last broadcast ofOrson Welles Commentaries on October 6, 1946, marked the end of Welles's own radio shows.[21]: 401
The film that Welles was obliged to make in exchange forHarry Cohn's help in financing the stage productionAround the World wasThe Lady from Shanghai, filmed in 1947 forColumbia Pictures. Welles intended it to be a modest thriller, but the budget skyrocketed after Cohn suggested that Welles's then-estranged wifeRita Hayworth star.
Cohn disliked Welles'srough cut, particularly the confusing plot and lack of close-ups, and was not in sympathy with Welles'sBrechtian use of irony andblack comedy, especially in a farcical courtroom scene. Cohn ordered extensive editing and re-shoots. After heavy editing by the studio, approximately one hour of Welles's first cut was removed, including much of a climactic confrontation scene in an amusement park funhouse. While expressing displeasure at the cuts, Welles was particularly appalled with the score. The film was considered a disaster in America when released, though the closing shootout in a hall of mirrors (the use of mirrors being a recurrent motif of Welles's, starting withKane) has become a touchstone offilm noir. Not long after release, Welles and Hayworth finalized their divorce.
AlthoughThe Lady from Shanghai was acclaimed in Europe, it was not embraced until decades later in the U.S., where it is now regarded as a classic of film noir.[134]
Prior to 1948, Welles convincedRepublic Pictures to let him direct alow-budget version ofMacbeth, featuring highly stylized sets and costumes, and a cast of actors lip-syncing to a pre-recorded soundtrack, one of many innovative cost-cutting techniques Welles deployed in an attempt to make an epic film fromB-movie resources. The script, adapted by Welles, is a violent reworking of Shakespeare's original, freely cutting and pasting lines into new contexts via acollage technique and recastingMacbeth as a clash of pagan and proto-Christian ideologies. Some voodoo trappings of the famousWelles/Houseman Negro Theatre stage adaptation are visible, especially in the film's characterization of theWeird Sisters, who create an effigy of Macbeth as a charm to enchant him. Of all Welles's post-Kane Hollywood productions,Macbeth is stylistically closest toKane in its long takes and deep focus photography.[citation needed]
Republic initially trumpeted the film as an important work but decided it did not care for the Scottish accents and held up general release for a year after early negative press reaction, includingLife's comment that Welles's film "doth foully slaughter Shakespeare."[135] Welles left for Europe, while co-producer and lifelong supporterRichard Wilson reworked the soundtrack. Welles returned and cut 20 minutes from the film at Republic's request and recorded narration to cover gaps. The film was decried as a disaster.Macbeth had influential fans in Europe, especially the French poet and filmmakerJean Cocteau, who hailed the film's "crude, irreverent power" and careful shot design, and described the characters as haunting "the corridors of some dreamlike subway, an abandoned coal mine, and ruined cellars oozing with water."[136]
In Italy he starred asCagliostro in the 1949 filmBlack Magic. His co-star,Akim Tamiroff, impressed Welles so much that Tamiroff would appear in four of Welles's productions during the 1950s and 60s.
The following year, Welles starred as Harry Lime inCarol Reed'sThe Third Man, alongside Cotten, his friend and co-star fromCitizen Kane, with a script byGraham Greene and a memorable score byAnton Karas. In it, Welles makes whatRoger Ebert called "the most famous entrance in the movies, and one of the most famous speeches." Greene credited the speech to Welles.[137] Radio producerHarry Alan Towers would resurrect Lime in the radio seriesThe Adventures of Harry Lime.
Filming was suspended several times as Welles ran out of funds and left for acting jobs, accounted in detail in MacLiammóir's memoirPut Money in Thy Purse. The American release prints had a technically flawed soundtrack, suffering from a dropout of sound at every quiet moment. Welles's daughter, Beatrice Welles-Smith, restoredOthello in 1992 for a re-release. The restoration included reconstructingAngelo Francesco Lavagnino's original score, which was originally inaudible, and adding ambient stereo sound effects, which were not in the original. The restoration went on a successful theatrical run in America.David Thomson writes of Welles'sOthello, "the poetry hangs in the air, like sea mist or incense."Anthony Lane writes that "Some of the action was shot in Venice, and I occasionally wonder what crept into the camera casing; the movie looks blackened and silvery, like an aged mirror, or as if the emulsion of the print were already poised to decay. You can't tell what is or isn't Shakespeare, where his influence begins and ends."[139] The movie premiered at theCannes Film Festival, where it won theGrand Prix (precursor of thePalme d'Or).[140]
Welles in Madrid during filming ofMr. Arkadin in 1954
Welles's next turn as director wasMr. Arkadin (1955), which was produced by his political mentor from the 1940s,Louis Dolivet. It was filmed in France, Germany, Spain and Italy on a limited budget. Based loosely on episodes of the Harry Lime radio show, it stars Welles as a billionaire who hires a man to delve into the secrets of his past. The film starsRobert Arden, who had worked on the Lime series; Welles's third wife,Paola Mori, whose voice was dubbed by actressBillie Whitelaw; and guest starsAkim Tamiroff,Michael Redgrave,Katina Paxinou andMischa Auer. Frustrated by his slow progress in the editing room, producer Dolivet removed Welles from the project and finished it without him. Eventually, five different versions of the film would be released, two in Spanish and three in English. The version that Dolivet completed was retitledConfidential Report. In 2005 Stefan Droessler of theMunich Film Museum oversaw a reconstruction of the surviving film elements.
In 1955, Welles directed two television series for the BBC. The first wasOrson Welles' Sketch Book, six 15-minute shows featuring Welles drawing in a sketchbook to illustrate his reminiscences including the filming ofIt's All True and the Isaac Woodard case. The second wasAround the World with Orson Welles, six travelogues set in locations around Europe (such asVienna, theBasque Country, and England). Welles served as host and interviewer, his commentary including documentary facts and his observations (a technique he would continue to explore in later works).
During Episode 3 ofSketchbook, Welles attacks abuse of police powers around the world. The episode starts with him telling the story ofIsaac Woodard, an African-American veteran during World War II being falsely accused by a bus driver of being drunk and disorderly, who has a policeman remove the man from the bus. Woodard is not arrested right away, but beaten unconscious nearly to death and permanently blinded. Welles assures the audience that he saw to it that justice was served to the policeman though he does not mention what justice was delivered. Welles goes on to give other examples of police being given more power and authority than is necessary. The episode is titled "The Police".
In 1956, Welles completedPortrait of Gina. He left the only copy of it in his room at theHôtel Ritz in Paris. The film cans would remain in a lost-and-found locker at the hotel for decades, where they were discovered in 1986, after his death.
Welles the magician with Lucille Ball inI Love Lucy (October 15, 1956)
In 1956, Welles returned to Hollywood.[142] He began filming a projected pilot forDesilu, owned byLucille Ball and her husbandDesi Arnaz, who had purchased the former RKO studios. The film wasThe Fountain of Youth, based on a story byJohn Collier. Originally deemed not viable as a pilot, the film was not aired until 1958—and won thePeabody Award for excellence.
Welles stayed on at Universal to co-star withCharlton Heston inTouch of Evil, based onWhit Masterson's novelBadge of Evil. Originally hired as an actor, Welles was promoted to director byUniversal Studios at the insistence of Heston.[146]: 154 The film reunited actors and technicians with whom Welles had worked in Hollywood in the 1940s, including cameramanRussell Metty (The Stranger), makeup artist Maurice Seiderman (Citizen Kane), and actors Cotten,Marlene Dietrich andAkim Tamiroff. Filming proceeded smoothly, with Welles finishing on schedule and budget, and the studio bosses praising the daily rushes. Nevertheless, after production, the studio re-edited the film, re-shot scenes, and shot new exposition scenes to clarify the plot.[146]: 175–176 Welles wrote a 58-page memo outlining suggestions and objections, stating that the film was no longer his version—it was the studio's, but as such, he was still prepared to help with it.[146]: 175–176 [147] The movie was shown at the1958 Brussels World's Fair, where it won the grand prize.[148]François Truffaut saw the film in Brussels, and it influenced his debutThe 400 Blows, one of the seminal films of theFrench New Wave.
In 1978, a longer preview version of the film was discovered and released. In 1998,Walter Murch reedited the film according to Welles's specifications in his memo. Murch said "I'm just flabbergasted when I read his memos, thinking that he was writing these ideas forty years ago, because, if I was working on a film now and a director came up with ideas like these, I'd be amazed—pleased but amazed—to realize that someone was thinking that hard about sound—which is all too rare".[149] The film was influential in its use of a handheld camera, notably in the scene in the elevator. Murch says that "I'm sure Godard and Truffaut, who were big fans ofTouch of Evil, learned from that scene how they could achieve exactly what they wanted—at once both a fresh sense of reality and ingenuity."[150]
Throughout the 1960s, filming continued onQuixote on-and-off, as Welles evolved the concept, tone and ending several times. Although he had a complete version shot and edited at least once, he would continue toying with the editing well into the 1980s; he never completed a version he was fully satisfied with and would junk existing footage and shoot new footage. In one case, he had a complete cut ready in which Quixote and Sancho Panza end up going to the Moon, but felt the ending was rendered obsolete by the 1969 Moon landings and burned 10 reels of this version. As the process went on, Welles gradually voiced all the characters and provided narration. In 1992, the directorJesús Franco constructed a film out of the portions ofQuixote left by Welles. Some of the film stock had decayed badly. While the Welles footage was greeted with interest, the post-production by Franco was met with criticism.
In 1961, Welles directedIn the Land of Don Quixote, eight half-hour episodes for the Italian television networkRAI. Similar toAround the World with Orson Welles, they presented travelogues of Spain and included Welles's wife, Paola, and their daughter, Beatrice. Though Welles was fluent in Italian, the network was not interested in him providing narration because of his accent, and the series sat unreleased until 1964, by when the network had added its own Italian narration. Ultimately, versions of the episodes were released with the original musical score Welles had approved, but without the narration.
In 1962, Welles directed his adaptation ofThe Trial, based onthe novel byFranz Kafka and produced by Michael andAlexander Salkind. The cast includedJeanne Moreau,Romy Schneider,Paola Mori,Akim Tamiroff andAnthony Perkins as Josef K. While filming exteriors inZagreb, Welles was informed that the Salkinds had run out of money, meaning there could be no set construction. No stranger to shooting on found locations, Welles soon filmed the interiors in theGare d'Orsay, then an abandoned station in Paris. Welles thought the location possessed a "Jules Verne modernism" and a melancholy sense of "waiting", both suitable for Kafka. To remain in the spirit of Kafka, Welles set up the cutting room with the editor, Frederick Muller (as Fritz Muller), in the old unused, cold, depressing, station master office. The film failed at the box-office.Peter Bogdanovich observed that Welles found it riotously funny. Welles told a BBC interviewer that it was his best film.[151] While filmingThe Trial Welles metOja Kodar, who became his partner and collaborator for the last 20 years of his life.[21]: 428
Welles played a film director inLa ricotta (1963),Pier Paolo Pasolini's segment of theRo.Go.Pa.G. movie, although his renowned voice was dubbed by writerGiorgio Bassani.[21]: 516 He continued taking what work he could find acting, narrating or hosting other people's work, and began filmingChimes at Midnight, which was completed in 1965.
Filmed in Spain,Chimes at Midnight was based on Welles's play,Five Kings, in which he drew material from six Shakespeare plays to tell the story ofSir John Falstaff (Welles) and his relationship withPrince Hal (Keith Baxter). The cast includesJohn Gielgud,Jeanne Moreau,Fernando Rey andMargaret Rutherford; the film's narration, spoken byRalph Richardson, is taken from the chroniclerRaphael Holinshed.[46]: 249 Welles held the film in high regard: "It's my favorite picture, yes. If I wanted to get into heaven on the basis of one movie, that's the one I would offer up."[91]: 203 Anthony Lane writes that "what Welles means to conjure up is not just historical continuity—the very best of Sir John—but a sense that the Complete Works of Shakespeare constitute, as it were, one vast poem, from which his devoted and audacious interpreters are free to quote... the picture both honors Shakespeare and spurns the industry, academic and theatrical, that has encrusted him over time."[152]
In 1966, Welles directed a film for French television, an adaptation ofThe Immortal Story, byKaren Blixen. Released in 1968, it stars Jeanne Moreau,Roger Coggio andNorman Eshley. The film had a successful run in French theaters. At this time Welles met Oja Kodar again, and gave her a letter he had written to her and been keeping for four years; they would not be parted again. They immediately began a collaboration both personal and professional. The first of these was an adaptation of Blixen'sThe Heroine, meant to be a companion piece toThe Immortal Story and starring Kodar. Unfortunately, funding disappeared after one day's shooting. After completing this film, he appeared in a cameo asCardinal Wolsey inFred Zinnemann's adaptation ofA Man for All Seasons—a role for which he won acclaim.[citation needed]
In 1967, Welles began directingThe Deep, based on the novelDead Calm byCharles Williams and filmed off the shore ofYugoslavia. The cast included Moreau, Kodar andLaurence Harvey. Personally financed by Welles and Kodar, they could not obtain the funds to complete the project, and it was abandoned a few years later after the death of Harvey. The surviving footage was eventually edited and released by the Filmmuseum München. In 1968 Welles began filming a TV special for CBS under the titleOrson's Bag, combining travelogue, comedy skits and a condensation of Shakespeare'sThe Merchant of Venice with Welles asShylock. In 1969 Welles asked editor Frederick Muller to work with him re-editing the material and they set up cutting rooms at the Safa Palatino Studios in Rome. Funding for the show sent by CBS to Welles in Switzerland was seized by the IRS. Without funding, the show was not completed. The survivingfilm clips portions were eventually released by the Filmmuseum München.
In 1969, Welles authorized the use of his name for a cinema inCambridge, Massachusetts. TheOrson Welles Cinema remained in operation until 1986, with Welles making a personal appearance there in 1977. Also in 1969, he played a supporting role inJohn Huston'sThe Kremlin Letter. Drawn by the offers he received to work in television and films, and upset by a tabloid scandal reporting his affair with Kodar, Welles abandoned the editing ofDon Quixote and moved back to America in 1970.
Welles returned to Hollywood, where he continued to self-finance his film and television projects. While offers to act, narrate and host continued, Welles found himself in demand on talk shows. In 1967, he playedLe Chiffre in theJames Bond spoofCasino Royale. Due to a feud between Welles and co-starPeter Sellers, the two refused to be on set with each other, meaning their scenes had to be shot separately with body stand-ins.[153] Welles made appearances forDick Cavett,Johnny Carson,Dean Martin,Jackie Gleason andMerv Griffin. Welles's focus during his final years wasThe Other Side of the Wind, a project that was filmed intermittently between 1970–76. Co-written by Welles and Oja Kodar, it is the story of an aging film director (John Huston) looking for funds to complete his final film. The cast includesPeter Bogdanovich,Susan Strasberg,Norman Foster,Edmond O'Brien,Cameron Mitchell andDennis Hopper. Financed by Iranian backers, ownership fell into a legal quagmire after theShah of Iran was deposed. The legal disputes kept the film in its unfinished state until 2017 and it was finally released in 2018..[154]
In 1971, Welles directed a short adaptation ofMoby-Dick, a one-man performance on a bare stage, reminiscent of his 1955 stage productionMoby Dick – Rehearsed. Never completed, it was released by the Filmmuseum München. He appeared inTen Days' Wonder, co-starring withAnthony Perkins and directed byClaude Chabrol, based on a detective novel byEllery Queen. That same year, theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave him anAcademy Honorary Award "for superlative artistry and versatility in the creation of motion pictures." Welles pretended to be out of town and sent Huston to claim it, thanking the Academy on film. In his speech, Huston criticized the Academy for presenting the award while refusing to support Welles's projects. In 1972, Welles acted as on-screen narrator for the documentary version ofAlvin Toffler's 1970 bookFuture Shock. Working again for a British producer, Welles playedLong John Silver in directorJohn Hough'sTreasure Island (1972), an adaptation ofRobert Louis Stevenson'snovel, which had been the second story broadcast byThe Mercury Theatre on the Air in 1938. This was the last time he played the lead role in a major film. Welles contributed to the script, although his writing credit was attributed to the pseudonym 'O. W. Jeeves'. In some versions of the film Welles's original recorded dialog was redubbed byRobert Rietty.
In 1973, Welles completedF for Fake, a personal essay film about art forgerElmyr de Hory and biographerClifford Irving. Based on an existing documentary byFrançois Reichenbach, it included new material with Oja Kodar, Joseph Cotten,Paul Stewart andWilliam Alland. An excerpt of Welles's 1930sWar of the Worlds broadcast was recreated for this film; however, none of the dialogue heard in the film actually matches what was originally broadcast. Welles filmed a five-minute trailer, rejected in the U.S., that featured shots of a topless Kodar. Welles hosted a British syndicated anthology series,Orson Welles Great Mysteries, during the 1973–74 television season. His introductions to the 26 half-hour episodes were shot in July 1973 by Gary Graver.[21]: 443 1974 saw Welles lending his voice toAnd Then There Were None produced by his former associate, Harry Alan Towers and starring an international cast that includedOliver Reed,Elke Sommer andHerbert Lom. In 1975, Welles narrated the documentaryBugs Bunny: Superstar, focusing onWarner Bros. cartoons from the 1940s. TheAmerican Film Institute presented Welles with its third Lifetime Achievement Award. At the ceremony, Welles screened scenes from the nearly finishedThe Other Side of the Wind.
In 1976,Paramount Television purchased the rights for the entirecorpus ofNero Wolfe stories for Welles.[f][158][159][160] Welles had once wanted to make a series of Nero Wolfe movies, but authorRex Stout—who was leery of Hollywood adaptations after two disappointing 1930s films—turned him down.[159] Paramount planned to begin with anABC-TV movie and hoped to persuade Welles to continue the role in a miniseries.[158]Frank D. Gilroy was signed to write the television script and direct the TV movie on the assurance that Welles would star, but by April 1977 Welles had bowed out.[161] In 1980 theAssociated Press reported "the distinct possibility" that Welles would star in aNero Wolfe TV series forNBC television.[162] Again, Welles left the project due to creative differences with Paramount.William Conrad was cast in the role.[163][164]: 87–88
In 1979, Welles completed his documentaryFilming Othello, featuring Michael MacLiammoir and Hilton Edwards. Made for West German television, it was also released in theaters. Welles completed his self-produced pilot forThe Orson Welles Show, featuring interviews withBurt Reynolds,Jim Henson andFrank Oz and guest-starringthe Muppets andAngie Dickinson. Unable to find network interest, the pilot was never broadcast. Welles appeared in the biopicThe Secret of Nikola Tesla, and made a cameo inThe Muppet Movie. Beginning in the late 1970s, Welles participated in a series of famous television advertisements. For two years he was on-camera spokesman for thePaul Masson Vineyards,[g] and sales grew by one third during the time Welles intoned what became a popular catchphrase: "We will sell no wine before its time."[166] Years later, thecommercials regained notoriety when a bootleg recording of out-takes was distributed, showing an apparentlyinebriated Welles on set.[167] He was the voice behind the long-runningCarlsberg "Probably the best lager in the world" campaign,[168] promoted Domecq sherry on British television[169] and provided narration on adverts forFindus, though they have been overshadowed by ablooper reel of voice recordings, known as theFrozen Peas reel. He did commercials for the Preview Subscription Television Service seen on stations around the country.
In 1981, Welles hosted the documentaryThe Man Who Saw Tomorrow, aboutNostradamus. In 1982, the BBC broadcastThe Orson Welles Story in theArena series. Interviewed by Leslie Megahey, Welles examined his past in detail, and people from his professional past were interviewed. It was reissued in 1990 asWith Orson Welles: Stories of a Life in Film. Welles provided narration for a 1982 documentary on American public television,[170] the tracks "Defender" fromManowar's 1987 albumFighting the World and "Dark Avenger" on their 1982 album,Battle Hymns. He recorded the concert introduction for the live performances of Manowar that says, "Ladies and gentlemen, from the United States of America, all hail Manowar." Manowar have used this introduction for all their concerts since. During the 1980s, Welles worked on such film projects asThe Dreamers, based on two stories byIsak Dinesen and starring Oja Kodar, andOrson Welles' Magic Show, which reused material from his failed TV pilot. Another project wasFilming the Trial, the second in a proposed series of documentaries examining his feature films. While much was shot, none was completed. All were eventually released by the Filmmuseum München.
In the mid-1980s,Henry Jaglom taped lunch conversations with Welles at Los Angeles's Ma Maison, and in New York. Recordings were edited byPeter Biskind and published in the 2013 bookMy Lunches With Orson.[171]
In 1984, Welles narrated the short-lived television seriesScene of the Crime. During the early years ofMagnum, P.I., Welles was the voice of the unseen character Robin Masters, a writer andplayboy. Welles's death forced this character to be written out of the series. In an oblique homage to Welles, theMagnum, P.I. producers ambiguously concluded that story arc by having a character accuse another of having hired an actor to portray Robin Masters.[172] He also released a music single, titled "I Know What It Is to Be Young (But You Don't Know What It Is to Be Old)", which he recorded under Italian labelCompagnia Generale del Disco. The song was performed with theNick Perito Orchestra and theRay Charles Singers and produced byJerry Abbott.[173]
The last film roles before Welles's death included voice work in the animated filmsEnchanted Journey (1984) andThe Transformers: The Movie (1986), in which he provided the voice for the planet-eating supervillainUnicron. His last film appearance was inHenry Jaglom's 1987 independent filmSomeone to Love, released two years after his death but produced before his voice-over inTransformers: The Movie. His last television appearance was onMoonlighting. He recorded an introduction to an episode entitled "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice", which was partially filmed in black and white. The episode aired five days after his death and was dedicated to his memory.
Welles and Virginia Nicolson Welles with their daughter Christopher Marlowe Welles (1938)
Welles and Chicago-born actress and socialite Virginia Nicolson were married on November 14, 1934.[21]: 332 "Regardless of his later comments, the two were very much in love," wrote biographer Patrick McGilligan, "and she was his salvation."[174][h] The couple separated in December 1939[24]: 226 and divorced in February 1940.[175][176] A few months later, on May 18, 1940, Virginia marriedMarion Davies's nephewCharles Lederer.
After bearing with Welles's romances in New York, Virginia had learned that Welles had fallen in love with Mexican actressDolores del Río.[24]: 227 Infatuated with her since adolescence, Welles met del Río at Darryl Zanuck's ranch[26]: 206 soon after he moved to Hollywood in 1939.[24]: 227 [26]: 168 Their relationship was kept secret until 1941, when del Río filed for divorce from her second husband. They openly appeared together in New York while Welles was directing the Mercury stage productionNative Son.[26]: 212 They acted together in the movieJourney into Fear (1943). Their relationship came to an end due, among other things, to Welles's infidelities. Del Río returned to Mexico in 1943, shortly before Welles marriedRita Hayworth.[177]
Welles andDolores del Río (1941)Daughter Rebecca Welles and Rita Hayworth (December 23, 1946)
Welles married Hayworth on September 7, 1943.[26]: 278 They were divorced on November 10, 1947.[107]: 142 During his last interview, recorded forThe Merv Griffin Show on the evening before his death, Welles called Hayworth "one of the dearest and sweetest women that ever lived ... and we were a long time together—I was lucky enough to have been with her longer than any of the other men in her life."[178]
Paola Mori and Welles, days before their marriage (May 1955)
In 1955, Welles married actressPaola Mori, an Italian aristocrat who starred as Raina Arkadin in his filmMr. Arkadin. The couple began an affair, and were married at her parents' insistence.[30]: 168 They were wed in London on May 8, 1955,[21]: 417, 419 and never divorced.
Croatian-born artist and actressOja Kodar became Welles's longtime companion and mistress both personally and professionally from 1966 onward. They lived together for some of the last 20 years of his life.[30]: 255–258
Welles had three daughters from his marriages: Christopher Welles Feder (born 1938, with Virginia Nicolson);[i][26]: 148 Rebecca Welles Manning (1944–2004,[179] with Rita Hayworth); andBeatrice Welles (born 1955, with Paola Mori).[21]: 419
Welles has been thought to have had a son, British directorMichael Lindsay-Hogg (born 1940), with Irish actressGeraldine Fitzgerald, then the wife ofSir Edward Lindsay-Hogg, 4th baronet.[42][180] When Lindsay-Hogg was 16, his mother reluctantly divulged pervasive rumors that his father was Welles, and she denied them—but in such detail that he doubted her veracity.[181][182]: 15 Fitzgerald evaded the subject for the rest of her life. Lindsay-Hogg knew Welles, worked with him in the theatre and met him at intervals throughout Welles's life.[180] After learning that Welles's oldest daughter, Chris, his childhood playmate, had long suspected that he was her brother,[183] Lindsay-Hogg initiated a DNA test that proved inconclusive. In his 2011 autobiography, Lindsay-Hogg reported that his questions were resolved by his mother's close friendGloria Vanderbilt, who wrote that Fitzgerald had told her that Welles was his father.[182]: 265–267 A 2015 Welles biography byPatrick McGilligan, however, reports the impossibility of Welles's paternity: Fitzgerald left the U.S. for Ireland in May 1939, and her son was conceived before her return in late October, whereas Welles did not travel overseas during that period.[15]: 602
After the death of Rebecca Welles Manning, a man named Marc McKerrow was revealed to be her son—and therefore a direct descendant of Welles and Hayworth—after he requested his adoption records unsealed. While McKerrow and Rebecca were never able to meet due to her cancer, they were in touch before her death, and he attended her funeral. McKerrow's reactions to the revelation and his meeting with Kodar are documented in the 2008Prodigal Sons, produced and directed by his sisterKimberly Reed.[184] In 2010, McKerrow, 44, died in his sleep. His death was related to injuries he received in a car accident when younger.[185][186]
In the 1940s, Welles had a brief relationship withMaila Nurmi. According to the biographyGlamour Ghoul: The Passions and Pain of the Real Vampira, Maila Nurmi, she became pregnant; since Welles was then married to Hayworth, Nurmi gave the child up for adoption.[187] However, the child mentioned in the book was born in 1944. Nurmi revealed in an interview weeks before her death in 2008 that she met Welles in a New York casting office in spring 1946.[188]
Despite anurban legend promoted by Welles,[j][k] he is not related toAbraham Lincoln's wartime Secretary of the Navy,Gideon Welles. The myth dates back to the first newspaper feature ever written about Welles—"Cartoonist, Actor, Poet and only 10"—in the February 19, 1926, issue ofThe Capital Times. The article falsely states he was descended from "Gideon Welles, who was a member of President Lincoln's cabinet".[13]: 47–48 [87]: 311 As presented by Charles Higham in a genealogical chart that introduces his 1985 biography of Welles, Welles's father was Richard Head Welles (born Wells), son of Richard Jones Wells, son of Henry Hill Wells (who had an uncle named GideonWells), son ofWilliam Hill Wells, son of Richard Wells (1734–1801).[13]
Peter Noble's 1956 biography describes Welles as "a magnificent figure of a man, over six feet tall, handsome, with flashing eyes and a gloriously resonant speaking-voice".[191]: 19 Welles said that a voice specialist once told him he was born to be aheldentenor, a heroic tenor, but that when he was young and working at theGate Theatre in Dublin, he forced his voice down into abass-baritone.[25]: 144
Even as a baby, Welles was prone to illness, includingdiphtheria,measles,whooping cough, andmalaria. From infancy he suffered fromasthma, sinus headaches, and backache[24]: 8 later found to result from congenital spinal anomalies.Flat feet caused him foot and ankle trouble throughout his life.[192]: 560 "As he grew older", Brady wrote, "his ill health was exacerbated by the late hours he was allowed to keep [and] an early penchant for alcohol and tobacco".[24]: 8
In 1928, aged 13, Welles was already six feet tall (1.83 meters) and weighed over 180 pounds (82 kg).[13]: 50 His passport recorded his height as six feet three inches (191 cm), with brown hair and green eyes.[30]: 229 "Crash diets, [pharmaceutical] drugs, and corsets had slimmed him for his early film roles", wrote biographer Barton Whaley. "Then always back to gargantuan consumption of high-caloric food and booze. By summer 1949, when he was 34, his weight had crept up to a stout 230 pounds (100 kg). In 1953, he ballooned from 250 to 275 pounds (113 to 125 kilograms). After 1960, he remained permanently obese."[193]: 329
When Peter Bogdanovich once asked him about his religion, Welles gruffly replied that it was none of his business, then misinformed him that he was raisedCatholic.[21]: xxx [193]: 12 Although the Welles family was no longer devout, it was fourth-generationEpiscopalian and before that,Quaker andPuritan.[193]: 12 In 1982, when interviewerMerv Griffin asked about his religious beliefs, Welles replied, "I try to be a Christian. I don't pray really, because I don't want to bore God."[24]: 576
Near the end of his life, Welles was dining atMa Maison, his favorite restaurant in Los Angeles, when proprietor Patrick Terrail conveyed an invitation from the head of theGreek Orthodox Church, who asked Welles to be his guest of honor at divine liturgy atSaint Sophia Cathedral. Welles replied, "Please tell him I really appreciate that offer, but I am anatheist."[194]: 104–105
"Orson never joked or teased about the religious beliefs of others", wrote biographer Barton Whaley. "He accepted it as a cultural artifact, suitable for the births, deaths, and marriages of strangers and even some friends—but without emotional or intellectual meaning for himself."[193]: 12
In a 1983 conversation with his friend Roger Hill, Welles recalled: "During a White House dinner, when I was campaigning for Roosevelt, in a toast, with considerable tongue in cheek, he said, 'Orson, you and I are the two greatest actors alive today.' In private that evening, and on several other occasions, he urged me to run for a Senate seat in either California or Wisconsin. He wasn't alone."[25]: 115 In the 1980s, Welles expressed admiration for Roosevelt but described his presidency as "asemidictatorship".[196]
During a 1970 appearance onThe Dick Cavett Show, Welles claimed to have met Hitler while hiking in Austria with a teacher who was a "buddingNazi". He said that Hitler made no impression on him and that he could not remember anything of him from the encounter. He said that he had no personality at all: "He was invisible. There was nothing there until there were 5,000 people yelling sieg heil."[197]
In 1946, Welles took to the airwaves in a series of radio broadcasts demanding justice for a decorated black veteran,Isaac Woodard, who had been beaten and blinded by white police officers. Welles devoted his July 28, 1946, program to reading Woodard's affidavit and vowing to bring the officer responsible to justice. He continued his crusade over subsequent Sunday afternoon broadcasts on ABC Radio. "TheNAACP felt that these broadcasts did more than anything else to prompt the Justice Department to act on the case," the Museum of Broadcasting stated in its 1988 retrospectiveOrson Welles on the Air: The Radio Years.[198]
For several years, he wrote a newspaper column on political issues and considered running for the U.S. Senate in 1946, representing his home state of Wisconsin—a seat ultimately won byJoseph McCarthy.[195]
Welles's political activities were reported on pages 155–157 ofRed Channels, theanti-Communist publication that, in part, fueled the already flourishingHollywood Blacklist.[199] He was in Europe during the height of theRed Scare, thereby adding another reason for the Hollywood establishment to ostracize him.[200]
In 1970, Welles narrated (but did not write) a satirical political record on the rise of PresidentRichard Nixon titledThe Begatting of the President.[201] In the late 1970s, Welles referred toJosip Broz Tito as "the greatest man in the world today" on Yugoslav television.[202]
Welles spoke before a crowd of 700,000 at anuclear disarmament rally in Central Park on June 12, 1982, and attacked the policies of Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party.[203]
On the evening of October 9, 1985, Welles recorded his final interview on the syndicated TV programThe Merv Griffin Show, appearing with biographer Barbara Leaming. "Both Welles and Leaming talked of Welles's life, and the segment was a nostalgic interlude," wrote biographer Frank Brady.[24]: 590–591 Welles returned to his house in Hollywood and worked into the early hours typing stage directions forthe project he and Gary Graver were planning to shoot at UCLA the following day. Welles died on the morning of October 10, following aheart attack.[21]: 453 He was found by his chauffeur at around 10 a.m.[87]: 295–297
He wascremated by prior agreement with the executor of his estate,Greg Garrison,[24]: 592 whose advice about making lucrative TV appearances in the 1970s made it possible for Welles to pay off a portion of the taxes he owed theIRS.[24]: 549–550 A private funeral was attended by Paola Mori and Welles's three daughters—the first time they had been together. Only close friends were invited: Garrison, Graver, Roger Hill[87]: 298 and Prince Alessandro Tasca di Cuto.[30]: 1–9
Joseph Cotten later wrote, "He did not want a funeral; he wanted to be buried quietly in a little place in Spain." Cotten declined to attend the memorial program; instead, he sent a short message, ending with the last two lines of aShakespeare sonnet that Welles had sent him on his most recent birthday:[53]: 216
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, All losses are restored and sorrows end.[53]: 217
David Thomson credits Welles with "the creation of a visual style that is simultaneously baroque and precise, overwhelmingly emotional, and unerringly founded in reality."[206]Peter Bogdanovich, who was directed by Welles inThe Other Side of the Wind, wrote:
being directed by Welles was like breathing pure oxygen all day long. He was so totally in control that he never had to prove a point out of any kind. I never saw him get angry or impatient, or raise his voice in any way but hilarity... Sometimes Orson was holding the camera himself, but wherever the camera was, he had put it there, and all the lights were placed exactly where he said they were to be put. There wasn't anything seen or heard in any scene that wasn't there because Orson wanted it that way, but he was never dictatorial.[207]: viii
Welles was a lifelong lover of Shakespeare, and Bogdanovich writes thatChimes at Midnight, in which Welles playsJohn Falstaff, is "arguably his best film, and his own personal favorite";[207]: xiv Joseph McBride andJonathan Rosenbaum have called it Welles's masterpiece, andVincent Canby wrote "it may be the greatest Shakespearean film ever made."[208]
After Welles went to South America to film the documentaryIt's All True, RKO cut more than forty minutes fromAmbersons and added a happier ending, against his wishes. The missing footage has been called a "holy grail" of cinema.[209] Welles wrote a 58-page memo to Universal about the editing ofTouch of Evil, which they disregarded.[147] In 1998,Walter Murch reedited the film according to Welles's specifications.[210]
Known for hisbaritone voice,[211] Welles performed extensively across theatre, radio, and film. He was a lifelongmagician, presentingtroop variety shows in the war years.
Voice actorMaurice LaMarche is known for his Welles impression, heard inEd Wood (in which he dubbed the dialog of Vincent D'Onofrio); the 1994–95 primetime animated series,The Critic; a 2006episode ofThe Simpsons; and a 2011episode ofFuturama for which LaMarche won anEmmy Award. The voice he created for the character Brain from the animated seriesAnimaniacs andPinky and the Brain was largely influenced by Welles.[215]
In 1999 Welles appeared on a U.S. postage stamp in a scene fromCitizen Kane. TheUnited States Postal Service was petitioned to honor Welles with a stamp in 2015, the 100th anniversary of his birth, but the effort did not succeed.[220]
The 1999HBO docudrama,RKO 281, tells the story of the making ofCitizen Kane, starringLiev Schreiber as Welles.
Tim Robbins's 1999 filmCradle Will Rock chronicles the process and events surrounding Welles and John Houseman's production of the 1937 musical by Marc Blitzstein. Welles is played by actorAngus MacFadyen.
^Richard H. Welles had changed the spelling of his surname by the time of the 1900 Federal Census, when he was living atRudolphsheim, the 1888 Kenosha mansion built by his mother Mary Head Wells and her second husband, Frederick Gottfredsen.
^Sources vary regarding Beatrice Ives Welles's birth year; her grave marker reads 1881, not 1883.[16] For more information see thetalk page.
^An alternative story of the source of his first and middle names was told byGeorge Ade, who met Welles's parents on aWest Indies cruise toward the end of 1914. Ade was traveling with a friend, Orson Wells (no relation), and the two of them sat at the same table as Mr. and Mrs. Richard Welles. Mrs. Welles was pregnant at the time, and when they said goodbye, she told them that she had enjoyed their company so much that if the child were a boy, she intended to name him after them: George Orson.[17]
^Years later, the two men successively marriedRita Hayworth.
^"Harvard reportedly offered a scholarship to its famous '47 Workshop' in playwriting", wrote biographer Patrick McGilligan.[15]: 184 The course of study and training was created byGeorge Pierce Baker in connection with the dramatics course known as English 47.[33]
^Pre-production materials forNero Wolfe (1976) are contained in the Orson Welles – Oja Kodar Papers at the University of Michigan.[157]
^Paul Masson's spokesman since 1979, Welles parted company with Paul Masson in 1981, and in 1982 he was replaced byJohn Gielgud.[165]
^Virginia Welles is a sympathetically written key character in one of Welles's last important pieces of writing, the unproduced screenplay about the 1937 staging ofThe Cradle Will Rock that he completed a year before his death.[15]: 384
^"On March 27, 1938," biographer Barbara Leaming wrote, "Orson's close friends received a most peculiar telegram: 'Christopher, she is born.' It was no joke"[26]: 148 Her full name was given to beChristopher Marlowe in a January 1940 magazine profile of Welles byLucille Fletcher.
^While bantering withLucille Ball on a 1944 broadcast ofThe Orson Welles Almanac before an audience of U.S. Navy service members, Welles says: "My great-granduncle was Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy in Lincoln's cabinet." (Lucille Ball AFRS broadcast, May 3, 1944, 2:42.)[189]
^Welles repeats the claim in a 1970 appearance on the Dick Cavett Show.[190]
^A photograph of the grave site appears opposite the title page ofOrson Welles on Shakespeare: The W.P.A. and Mercury Theatre Playscripts, edited byRichard France. France notes the inscription on the plaque: "Ronda. Al Maestro de Maestros."[56]: ii
^The gravesite is not accessible to the public but can be seen in Kristian Petri's 2005 documentary,Brunnen (The Well),[87]: 298–299 which is about Welles's time in Spain.
^Welles, Orson; Hill, Roger."Everybody's Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice".oldfloridabookshop.com.Archived from the original on July 7, 2024. RetrievedJuly 7, 2024.Published by the press at Todd School, a residential school for boys, attended by Orson Welles in his youth. Black and white illustrations throughout. 28, 64 pp. [92 total] 6 1/4 x 10 3/4 inches First Edition.
^"evidence of the decadence and corrupt condition of democracy" –Hand, Richard J. (2006).Terror on the Air!: Horror Radio in America, 1931–1952. Jefferson, North Carolina: Macfarlane & Company. p. 7.ISBN978-0-7864-2367-5.
^"Learn Out Loud". Learn Out Loud.Archived from the original on February 11, 2009. RetrievedMarch 30, 2010.
^abcdCarringer, Robert L. (1993).The Magnificent Ambersons: A Reconstruction. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.ISBN0-520-07857-8.
^"Journey into Fear". The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures.Archived from the original on November 2, 2014. RetrievedAugust 23, 2014.
^abcdefghijklBenamou, Catherine L.,It's All True: Orson Welles's Pan-American Odyssey. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007ISBN978-0-520-24247-0
^abcBenamou, Catherine, "It's All True". Barnard, Tim, and Peter Rist (eds.),South American Cinema: A Critical Filmography, 1915–1994. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1996; Austin:University of Texas Press, 1998ISBN978-0-292-70871-6
^Barnett, Vincent L. "Cutting Koerners: Floyd Odlum, the Atlas Corporation and the Dismissal of Orson Welles from RKO".Film History: An International Journal, Volume 22, Number 2, 2010, pp. 182–198.
^abcEstrin, Mark W., and Orson Welles.Orson Welles: Interviews. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2002.ISBN1-57806-209-8
^"More on War Bond Selling".Broadcasting, August 31, 1942, p. 50.
^Barnouw, Erik (ed.),Radio Drama in Action: 25 Plays of a Changing World. New York:Farrar & Rinehart, 1945. Written by Orson Welles in collaboration with Robert Meltzer andNorris Houghton, the radio playColumbus Day appears on pp. 4–13.
^Hickerson, Jay,The Ultimate History of Network Radio Programming and Guide to All Circulating Shows. Hamden, Connecticut, second edition December 1992, p. 303.
^Dunning, John,On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1998ISBN978-0-19-507678-3 hardcover; revised edition ofTune In Yesterday (1976)
^ab"This Is My Best". RadioGOLDINdex.Archived from the original on April 3, 2015. RetrievedSeptember 21, 2014.
^"Presidential Coverage Wins High Praise".Broadcasting April 23, 1945, page 68.
^"Radio Handles Tragic News with Dignity".Broadcasting, April 16, 1945, page 18.
^"Local Interest Coverage Aim of Independents at Conference".Broadcasting, April 2, 1945, page 20.
^Display advertisement, "What America's Youngest News Network Is Doing About the Greatest News Story of Our Time". American Broadcasting Company, Inc., The Blue Network.Broadcasting, April 30, 1945, pp. 22–23
^Wilson, Kristi M.; Crowder-Taraborrelli, Tomás F., eds. (January 4, 2012).Film and Genocide. Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press. p. 11.ISBN978-0-299-28564-7.
^abBarker, Jennifer L. (2012). "Documenting the Holocaust in Orson Welles'sThe Stranger". In Wilson, Kristi M.; Crowder-Taraborrelli, Tomás F. (eds.).Film and Genocide. Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 55–58.ISBN978-0-299-28564-7.
^Thomson, David (1996).Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 268.ISBN978-0-679-41834-4.
^abLochte, Dick (January 30, 1977). "TV finally tunes in Nero Wolfe".Los Angeles Times.
^Smith, Liz (March 14, 1977). "People".The Baltimore Sun.Paramount bought the entire set of Nero Wolfe stories for Orson Welles, who is enjoying a renaissance of popularity in Hollywood and the world.
^Jaffe, Michael (December 2001). "A Labor of Love: The Nero Wolfe Television Series". In Kaye, Marvin (ed.).The Nero Wolfe Files. Maryland:Wildside Press (published 2005). pp. 86–91.ISBN978-0-8095-4494-3.
^"People in the News". Associated Press. October 26, 1982.
^Salmans, Sandra (May 3, 1981). "Many Stars Are Playing Pitchmen – with No Regrets".The New York Times.
^"A Dream Called Public Television", 1982-01-09, Oregon Public Broadcasting, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed March 8, 2024,http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-153-03qv9v9k
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
