Orson Welles

George Orson Welles ( Kenosha , May 6 1915 - Hollywood , October 10 1985 ) was an American actor, film and theater director and screenwriter . He was a very influential filmmaker. Welles became world famous in 1938 by a radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds. Today he is best known as the director of the classic Citizen Kane . Despite the fame of many of his films and the great reputation he enjoys today, most of the films he directed, including Citizen Kane, no great successes in the commercial field.

Contents

 * 1 Biography
 * 1.1 Legendary radio play
 * 1.2 Film career (1940-1948)
 * 1.3 Film career (1948-1975)
 * 1.4 Lesser-known projects
 * 1.5 Trivia
 * 1.6 Private
 * 2 Prices
 * 3 Filmography (selection)
 * 3.1 As a director
 * 3.2 As an actor
 * 4 External links

[Biography edit ]
Orson Welles grew up in Chicago . He was the second son of an inventor and a concert pianist. Welles was a child prodigy: at a young age he seemed to have a gift for piano, magic, poetry, acting, cartoon drawing and painting, and he was familiar with the works of Shakespeare . He lost his parents at a young age: his mother died when he was eight, his father died when he was fifteen years old. Maurice Bernstein, a doctor from Chicago, became his guardian after the death of his father. In 1931 he graduated at a boys' boarding school in Woodstock in the state of Illinois .

Already there, at the Todd School for Boys, he gained experience in acting, where he gave performances of the works of playwrights such as Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe , Ben Johnson and more contemporary writers. After graduation, he refused offers from several universities. Instead, he went to Ireland to play theater there. Welles made ​​his debut in 1931 at the Gate Theatre in Dublin . He was given a key role in Jud Süss and later took on the direction from other pieces. Later, he tried unsuccessfully to get work in London and on Broadway, which he went to Morocco and thenSpain , where he awhile bullfighter has been. Thanks to recommendations of Thornton Wilder and Alexander Woollcott he joined the caravan of Katharine Cornell . In 1934 he made ​​his Broadway debut with Cornell as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet . That year he also married for the first time, with socialite Virginia Nicholson, he filmed his first short film, the four-minute The Hearts of Age in which he and Nicholson were both seen and he began to work for the radio.

Later in the thirties he worked with John Houseman, first at Hosemans Phoenix Theatre Group , later for the Federal Theatre Project . In 1936 she attracted attention with their version of Shakespeare's Macbeth, with only black actors. Welles directed the play. With Houseman he formed in 1937 the Mercury Theatre, where actors like Agnes Moorehead , Joseph Cotten and Everett Sloane were attached. The theater would become known for its original vision of plays, including an adaptation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, set in the Fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini . In the spring of 1938 he took over the company with a short film of 40 minutes, Too Much Johnson, who should be shown along with a play. The play, however, never reached Broadway and the film was never shown in public. The only known print of the document was destroyed in a fire in Welles' villa in the seventies.

Legendary radio play [ edit ]
In 1938, Welles was told the Mercury Theatre on American radio in several radio plays under the name "The Mercury Theatre on the Air." On October 30 of that year, Halloween, they brought a radio play version ofHG Wells' War of the worlds , a science fiction story in which humanity by beings from the planet Mars are attacked. Welles radio play strived to make it as realistic as possible: his radio play seemed an ordinary music on Sunday night, which suddenly more and more disturbing news was interrupted. Some listeners were confused and thought that New Jersey really was attacked by Martians, but that the broadcast caused tremendous panic is by American newspapers fueled myth. [1] Welles, who played the main character and the radio play directed, was instantly famous and this eventually resulted in a contract with RKO -filmmaatschappij.

Film Career (1940-1948) [ edit ]
Welles RKO offered a very favorable contract film, in which he complete artistic freedom was on his films. His first assignment was a film adaptation of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad . This project proved too expensive and too complex to be carried out and never got off the ground. He also wrote the script for two also never made ​​films, The Smiler with the Knife and Mexican Melodrama. In 1940 he was featured as the narrator in the movie The Swiss Family Robinson.

The first film he made ​​for RKO is probably his most famous, Citizen Kane in 1941 . This work is now considered a classic and is number one in several "best films of all time" lists. Welles was responsible for both production and directed, wrote the screenplay and played the title role. The rest of the main roles were filled by members of the Mercury Theatre. Together with cameraman Gregg Toland he tried techniques that rarely or never used in the film. It was for instance one of the first films that made ​​use of deep focus, a technique which has since had many followers. Also, the film was a major influence on the style original story, written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz, where the life of the main character, newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane, always being told by another character from another side. Although the film is now considered one of the best films ever and also got rave reviews at its reception, it was initially a commercial failure, partly due to a boycott of the very powerful media magnate William Randolph Hearst, who recognized themselves in the main character and was not flattered by the way he was shown. Although the film in big cities like New York attracted a large audience, the attendance in provincial towns were low. The film was nominated that year for nine Oscars, including four for Welles. The film won only one, for Best Screenplay, which Welles shared with Mankiewicz.

His second film for RKO was The Magnificent Ambersons in 1942 . During the shooting of the film, however, came in huge time and money emergency. Welles arranged the final assembly with editor Robert Wisefrom South America, where he's documentary It's All True was the record. The resulting film lasted for 148 minutes. After sneak previews of the film gave disappointing responses RKO seized power over the film and edited the film again a 88-minute version, without Welles know their wishes. Here are some key scenes were killed. In August 1942 the film was released, in which he and the comedy Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost actress Lupe Velez was shown. The film was an expensive flop for RKO, heavily criticized by the critics and ignored by the general public. On his return from Brazil were fired Welles and his team. Only years later, The Magnificent Ambersons recognized as a (maimed) masterpiece. It's All True, he could never complete (the film was only in 1993 released) and another of his films, the spy thriller Journey Into Fear (1943) turned out to be mounted without his knowledge. This film, which he had produced and together with Joseph Cotten wrote the script, he left, forced by time constraints, orchestrated by Norman Foster .

Welles never got the full artistic freedom over his films and a lack of commercial success he received few offers as a director, so he was a few years no film directing. In other areas he had more luck: in 1943 he married his second wife, the great movie star Rita Hayworth and the following year he had an important role as Rochester in the film adaptation of Jane Eyre . Film producer Sam Spiegel gave him in 1946 the opportunity to direct a movie, The Stranger. The movie was very little, but was the most commercially successful film of Welles.

For Columbia he directed The Lady from Shanghai, with himself and his then-wife Rita Hayworth in the lead roles. Filming began in the fall of 1946 under chaotic circumstances, including in the pursuit of Errol Flynnoff the coast of Acapulco . During filming, Welles rewrote the script several times. It marked the end of the marriage to Hayworth, which filed for divorce after filming was completed in 1947 . Because of several problems with the assembly of the film was not until the middle of 1948 released without much publicity. Also, this film was a flop. Ignored by the major film studios he had for his next project, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, move to Republic Pictures, a film that mainly known for his B- Westerns and serials . The film was plagued by a very low budget, which resulted in among other poor and sets a poor soundtrack.

Film Career (1948-1975) [ edit ]
In 1948 Welles moved to Europe, where film producers were prepared to give him a chance. Originally, he started acting here only. As an actor, Welles was among others to see if criminal Harry Lime in the Britishfilm noir The Third Man (1949), based on the book by Graham Greene and directed by Carol Reed . This film was a worldwide commercial success and is now considered a classic. In 1951 Welles would again play the role in the British radio series The Lives of Harry Lime, based on his character in the film. After the end of the series he performed in another radio series, hosted by The Black Museum. With the money he earned on the radio and in films by other directors could his own film projects (partly) finance. The first film of Welles from his time in Europe is a film version of Shakespeare's Othello . The shooting of the film began in 1949 in Morocco, but the film was only in 1952 and was finally completed only in 1955 released in the United States. In 1954-1955 he took Mr. Arkadin, of which he was a part of the script based on a few episodes of The Lives of Harry Lime. In 1955 he started with the filming of Don Quixote by Cervantes, but this project he never completed. In 1956 he married actress Paola Mori .

In the late fifties he returned temporarily to the United States to play there in a Broadway version of King Lear . Here he took include Touch of Evil (1958) on. Originally, he would only play one of the lead roles, but at the suggestion of teammate Charlton Heston was he by Universal asked to direct the film. This thriller about corrupt detectives around the US-Mexico border was fairly well received by American critics, but was only released in a few cinemas and was not profitable. In Europe, however, the film was a success, both critically and commercially and was including a major prize at the Brussels World Fair .

After several roles in American movies, he returned in 1959 to Europe. Here he ventured into the film adaptation of Franz Kafka's classic book The Trial . It appeared in 1962 as The Trial . During the shooting of the film he met Croatian actress Oja Kodar, with whom he had a relationship. This film was followed by Chimes at Midnight 1966, in which he several scenes from Shakespeare plays with each covenant. The film was judged differently by critics. For French television, he took on The Immortal Story. His last completed film was F for Fake in 1975. The Other Side of the Wind, an autobiographical film by John Huston in the lead, was never completed. In April 2007, Peter Bogdanovich, director and close friend of Welles, announced that he would complete the film yet and wanted to release in 2008.

Less well-known projects [ edit ]
Welles was shown in the last ten years of his life regularly in television programs, commercials and movies. He also lent his voice to cartoons. His last film role, the voice of the villain Unicron was in The Transformers: The Movie .

In 1982 Welles stunned the world by working with the newly formed heavy metal band Manowar record some songs. His distinctive deep voice was used in the song "Dark Avenger" and "Defender" (original 1982 maxi single, remastered in 1986 on the album Fighting the World). Still Welles' voice be heard as announcer of the band at concerts: "Ladies and gentlemen, from the United States of America, all hail: Manowar!"

And he spoke in the voice of Robin Masters in the series Magnum, PI . The ultimate intention was that Welles towards the end of the series would be revealed as the man behind Robin Masters. Welles, however, died before the end of the series, so it never became known who was Robin Masters.

[Trivia edit ]

 * Orson Welles also appears as a fantasy character (played by an actor who looks a lot like him) in the on true events in New Zealand based film Heavenly Creatures by Peter Jackson (1994).

[Private edit ]
Welles was married three times and has a daughter from each marriage. He was married to Virginia Nicholson from 1934 to 1940 (daughter children's writer Chris Welles Feder, born 1938), with Rita Hayworth from 1943 to 1948 (daughter Rebecca Welles Manning, 1944-2004) and Paola Mori from 1955 until his death in 1985 ( daughter Beatrice Welles, 1955).

Welles had suffered for years with obesity . In 1985 he died at the age of 70 to a heart attack . The same day, died actor Yul Brynner . Its axis is placed at the estate of a friend in Ronda , Spain .

[Prices edit ]
From the seventies Welles was honored several times with awards for his entire body of work and his contributions to the film. So he got in 1971 an honorary Oscar in 1975 and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute (AFI), the third one which is awarded by the institute. In 1984 he received from the Directors Guild of America top prize, the DW Griffith Award.
 * Academy Awards :
 * 1942
 * Best Film - Citizen Kane (nomination)
 * Best Director - Citizen Kane (nomination)
 * Best Actor - Citizen Kane (nomination)
 * Best Original Screenplay - Citizen Kane (won)
 * 1943
 * Best Film - The Magnificent Ambersons (nomination)
 * 1971
 * Ereoscar (for extraordinary artistry and versatility in the creation of films)
 * Venice Film Festival
 * 1947
 * Golden Lion - The Stranger (nomination)
 * 1970
 * Golden Lion Career Price (won)
 * Cannes Film Festival
 * 1952
 * Golden Palm - Othello (won)
 * 1959
 * Best Actor - Compulsion (won)
 * 1966
 * Golden Palm - Chimes at Midnight (nomination)
 * Technical price - Chimes at Midnight (won)
 * Special prize in honor of the 20th anniversary - Chimes at Midnight (won)
 * BAFTA 's
 * 1968
 * Best Foreign Actor - Chimes at Midnight (nomination)
 * International Berlin Film Festival
 * 1968
 * Golden Bear - The Immortal Story (nomination)
 * Golden Globes
 * 1982
 * Best supporting actor - Butterfly (nomination)
 * Golden Raspberry Awards
 * 1983
 * Worst supporting actor - Butterfly (nomination)

As a director [ edit ]

 * 1941 : Citizen Kane
 * 1942 : The Magnificent Ambersons
 * 1943 : Journey into Fear
 * 1946 : The Stranger
 * 1947 : The Lady from Shanghai
 * 1948 : Macbeth
 * 1952 : Othello
 * 1955 : Mr. Arkadin
 * 1958 : Touch of Evil
 * 1962 : The Trial
 * 1967 : Chimes at Midnight
 * 1968 : The Immortal Story
 * 1974 : F for Fake

As an actor [ edit ]

 * 1941 : Citizen Kane
 * 1943 : Journey Into Fear
 * 1944 : Jane Eyre
 * 1946 : The Stranger
 * 1946 : Tomorrow Is Forever
 * 1947 : The Lady from Shanghai
 * 1948 : Macbeth
 * 1949 : The Third Man
 * 1949 : Prince of Foxes
 * 1950 : The Black Rose
 * 1952 : Othello
 * 1955 : Mr. Arkadin
 * 1956 : Moby Dick
 * 1958 : Touch of Evil
 * 1958 : The Long, Hot Summer
 * 1959 : Compulsion
 * 1966 : A Man for All Seasons
 * 1967 : Casino Royale
 * 1967 : Chimes at Midnight
 * 1968 : The Immortal Story
 * 1969 : Bitka after Neretvi
 * 1970 : Waterloo
 * 1971 : Malpertuis
 * 1976 : Voyage of the Damned
 * 1979 : The Muppet Movie
 * 1986 : The Transformers: The Movie