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Orson Welles
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A recognized prodigy at age 10, world famous by age 23, Orson Welles was a triple magician of theater, radio, and film—and by age 25 a promising figure in American politics. President Franklin Roosevelt encouraged him to try a run for the Senate; newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst branded him a pariah. But by the time he turned 30, Orson Welles’ professional success ended irreversibly; from then until the day he died, he endured ridicule and reproach over what many judged his “failure.” Few knew how feverishly he had persisted as an independent filmmaker. Now, decades after his death, “new” work keeps emerging, and his reputation as an undefeated genius and creator only grows.
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Orson Welles (1915-1985) was an American actor, director, writer, and producer. He makes a cameo appearance in The Muppet Movie as Lew Lord, the head of World Wide Studios. In 1979, Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and various Muppets appeared as guests on the pilot episode for a talk show hosted by Welles.
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Orson Welles's pioneering, influential cinema was imaginative, ambitious and technically daring. His baroque cinematic style created a dense moral universe in which every action had tangled—and usually tragic—human repercussions. Before his dramatic arrival in Hollywood, Welles had carved a considerable reputation in theater and radio. At 18 he was a successful actor at the experimental Gate Theatre in Ireland; at 19, he made his Broadway debut as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet. A series of collaborations with director/producer John Houseman led to their participation in the New York Federal Theatre Project. Their first great success was Welles's staging of an all-black "voodoo" Macbeth, which demonstrated Welles's penchant for stretching existing forms beyond established limits.
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Orson Welles' twisting cinematic masterpiece of style and suspense features Welles as a corrupt cane-wielding official in a seedy Mexican border town at odds with a newly married narcotics cop (Charlton Heston). Embroiled in the murder mystery are Janet Leigh, Akim Tamiroff, Joseph Cotten, Marlene Dietrich and Joseph Calleia. Reissued in theaters in 1998, this restored edition of the masterful film noir features the editing and musical alterations the director/star suggested in a 58-page memo to the studio. 111 min. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital mono; Subtitles: French, Spanish; Welles' memo; biographies; theatrical trailer.
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Orson Welles was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the second son of Richard Head Welles, then a manufacturer of vehicle lamps, and Beatrice Ives, a concert pianist and suffragette. During Welles' boyhood, he encountered many hardships. In 1919, his parents separated and moved to Chicago. His father then became an alcoholic and stopped working. Welles' mother died of jaundice on May 10, 1924 in a Chicago hospital, four days after Welles' ninth birthday. After his mother's death, Welles would no longer pursue his interest in music.
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Actor, writer, producer, and director Orson Welles is widely recognized as one of the most significant figures in 20th-century dramatic arts. His 1938 radio broadcast of H. G.Wells’s The War of the Worlds and his film Citizen Kane (1941), often cited as the most innovative film ever made, are only two of the works that have helped make him an almost legendary figure. Welles acted and directed on stage, radio, film, and television, made numerous recordings, and authored plays, film scripts, and a newspaper column. As a political activist, he devoted considerable energy to the 1944 presidential campaign in support of Franklin Roosevelt. His work is of deep interest to students and scholars in a broad variety of disciplines, both here and abroad.
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Orson Welles