Orson Welles, Hollywood Genius

Orson Welles was many things; actor, radio and television performer and above all, a great film director. He was in many ways ahead of his time and he got little appreciation from his contemporaries. He has often been hailed as a genius but he seemed to spend a great part of his life in squandering his gifts on projects which were unfinished or ill-prepared or just underfunded.

Welles possessed a formidably strong personality and often went his own stubborn way which did not endear him to the Hollywood studio bosses, who, after initially granting his every wish, eventually turned against him, deciding he was not worth the effort. His influence on film makers and film making has been immense but he has only been really appreciated as a true cinematic visionary from the mid 1950's onwards. Of all his major works, his first, 'Citizen Kane', made when he was just 25 years old, has had most resonance, and it is still hailed today, as a masterwork.

Biography

He was born George Orson Welles on May 6th, 1915, into an affluent family, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He had a natural gift for music and painting and was recognised as a prodigy when very young. Both his parents had died by his mid teens and he was placed in the care of Dr Maurice Bernstein a physician in Chicago.

After graduating from the Todd school in Woodstock, Illinois, he tried becoming an actor, first in Ireland, then in England, and finally, successfully, in New York where he made his debut in 1934 as Tybalt in 'Romeo and Juliet'. His sharp, enquiring mind discovered the medium of radio and his deep gravelly voice proved natural for the medium. With the actor John Houseman he formed the Mercury Theater Group in 1937 and they started to make a name for themselves with productions such as a version of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, set in 20th Century fascist Italy and the so-called 'voodoo' version of 'Macbeth', which featured an all-black cast. Their fame multiplied in 1938 with their broadcast in documentary style of HG Welles's 'The War of the Worlds' which was so realistic that many listeners panicked, thinking they were listening to the description of an actual invasion from Mars.

Welles was now becoming very well known and it was only a matter of time before Hollywood came calling. This they did in 1939 when RKO offered him an incredible contract to direct two movies and to have complete artistic control over the output. This would have been considered generous for an established director but for a 25 year old novice it was amazing and a sign of the reputation he had built up for himself. The result was 'Citizen Kane' in 1941.

Welles starred in the movie as Kane himself, he directed it and co-wrote it with Herman J. Mankiewicz. One can only gaze in awe at this mighty, almost superhuman effort and the film is now regarded as one of the best movies ever made and certainly the best debut movie. However, on release it was not a success, mainly because of the opposition from the William Randolph Hearst organisation who did not like the way that Hearst and Marion Davies were portrayed. RKO withdrew the film and did not re-release it until 1956 when it assumed its rightful place as an artistic masterpiece.

'The Magnificent Ambersons' was Wellles's second film for RKO and again the movie was not well received by the moviegoing public although it received four Academy nominations including Best Picture. The studio reneged on its contract, and to Welles's immense frustration, began to interfere, shooting new footage and re-editing against Welles's wishes. The ensuing dispute between director and studio was a harbinger of things to come. As with 'Kane' the movie has with the passage of time, come to be regarded as a masterpiece.

In early 1942 whilst his directorial star was still in the ascendant, Welles was asked by the US government to create a propoganda documentary film about South America. The film's budget and overall scope were expanded by Welles who, once in South America, was infuriatingly difficult to contact. RKO refused to support any further production on the film and withdrew their crew. It was the final straw for the studio who claimed that Welles had wasted one million dollars on the project.

When he returned to America Welles found the studios now eying him with suspicion and movie offers stopped coming in. He was able to get work on radio but two series with CBS were both abandoned quickly and the Welles pattern of not completing projects was well and truly set. the same thing happened with a radio series sponsored by Mobil Oil, started in 1944 but abandoned within a year.

Welles continued to be in demand as an actor and he received good reviews for his appearances in 'Journey Into Fear' in 1942, 'Jane Eyre' in 1944, and 'Tomorrow Is Forever' in 1946. He was then given two more movies to direct, "The Stranger," in 1946 with Loretta Young and Edward G. Robinson, and then in 1948, "The Lady From Shanghai" with his new wife, Rita Hayworth.

In 1948, bowing to the inevitable, Welles moved in exile to Europe where he began what was to be a lifelong pattern of acting in other directors' films in order to raise finance for his own projects. In 1949 he starred as Harry Lime in the smash hit, 'The Third Man', one of his most notable roles as an actor.

Welles continued to direct, and perform in some memorable movies.'The Tragedy of Othello: the Moor of Venice' in 1952, 'Mr. Arkadin' in 1955, and 'Le Proces' in 1962, and outstanding were 'Chimes at Midnight' in 1965 and 'F for Fake' in 1974.

Welles settled into a pattern of making guest appearances on both sides of the Atlantic on Chat shows and TV shows like 'I Love Lucy'. In 1953 when he made a brief return to America to star in 'King Lear' live on CBS TV, all his earnings went to the IRS to pay back taxes.

During the remainder of his life Welles spent much time on uncompleted projects. In 1958 he began his adaptation of the de Cervantes novel, Don Quixote, and was still working on it in 1985 but never completed it. It is a sad irony on the director who tilted at windmills. In the 1970's he spent 6 years on the spoof Hollywood movie 'The Other Side of the Wind' but again never finished it.

In 1971 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made an honorary award to him "For superlative artistry and versatility in the creation of motion pictures" but Welles did not attend the ceremony due to what he saw as a hypocritical attitude from the board.

During the last years of his life Welles became a familiar figure on talk shows for Dick Cavett, Johnny Carson, and Merv Griffin and made many TV advertisements for frozen food and lager. It was a depressing career end for the creator of 'Citizen Kane'.

Welles died from a heart attack on October 10, 1985, just a short time after giving an interview on The Merv Griffin Show. His ashes are buried on the land of his bullfighter friend, Antonio Ordóñez in Ronda, Spain.

SUMMARY Jean-Luc Godard remarked of Welles's influence: "Everyone will always owe him everything."

He was a unique, remarkable man who achieved much but who did not achieve enough. He made 'Citizen Kane' and 'The Magnificent Ambersons', two of the greatest movies ever made, when he was only in his mid twenties and he has been criticised for not fully launching himself from such a promising start. It is true that he appears in retrospect to have wasted much time and opportunity and caused the Hollywood money men to ostracize him, but he achieved much, even amidst the waste. Apart from the two movies mentioned which he made with studio backing, he directed other masterpieces on a shoestring budget, such as 'Chimes at Midnight' in 1965, and 'F for Fake' in 1974.

We should ignore the wasted years and instead glory in what Orson Welles achieved. There is no point in bemoaning the fact that he never again reached the heights of 'Citizen Kane', we should rejoice in the fact that he reached those heights at all.