I, along with millions of others, think of you as one of the all time greatest creators ever to be, a true icon of the film industry.
Life in Hollywood has always been on first name basis. I realized this practice had evolved to make everyone feel at ease. Given that it is more natural to become uptight and stressed out, no matter what his or her talent or ability may be in front of or behind the camera, with so much money riding on those talents or abilities, first names and joke telling helps everyone relax. When I met you at CBS, working on Playhouse 90 I was so in awe of you, I had to call you “Mr. Welles” – no first name basis. I noticed others referred to you as “Mr. Welles” also. Of all the actors I have met, dated or worked with, you, above all others, I did had the greatest admiration. The masterful aura that surrounded you seemed to require referring to you with the utmost respect. It wasn’t only little unimportant-actress-me, but the whole crew and actors called you Mr. Welles, an unusual occurrence in film or TV. It was not that you demanded it. It was simply that every one had such high regard for you. I recall your magnificent stature and how we all gathered around you, hanging on your every word. Even though you were 6’1” – you seemed much taller as you were just simply “larger than life.”
Your unorthodox individuality in the controlling world of studio executives did not always set well in Hollywood – as, in 1970 when you were to be presented with an honorary Academy Award. You were unable to attend because you were supposed to be on location in Spain. In truth, you were entertaining friends in your home in Hollywood.
Your creativity and innovative genius was perhaps before its time. I assume that today much of the government’s cover-up regarding UFO information is a result of your 1938 radio broadcast “The War of the Worlds” that created chaos and panic across the country. Your first Hollywood contract stirred the industry when you “didn’t want money - but wanted authority.” Your 1940 “Citizen Kane” is one of the all time great classics in the motion picture industry. You were always on the cutting edge of applying innovative and imaginative uses of equipment. What a field day you would have today with all the new digital and computerized effects and equipment.
Anyone as creative and confident as you were was bound to make enemies in the industry permeated with jealousy. Your marriage to Rita Hayworth must have created jealousy, too. What a fiery match that must have been! Studios feared anyone having as much power as you did in your films; as director, writer, and star. You were forever writing or planning film projects. You were unbelievably avant garde and revolutionary is so many ways. Even your makeup convincingly aged you in films like Citizen Cane. You had an undeserved reputation of being a commercial failure, an irresponsible director, and a spendthrift. Throughout the 1950s your scripts went unmade, yet you stayed busy with stage projects in the U.S. and abroad. You produced, wrote, and directed several television pilots that did not sell. Acting throughout your life and your last screen appearance was as yourself in “Jaglom’s,” and “Someone to Love” in 1987. I doubt that anyone narrated the countless feature films, documentaries, and television shows as you did. You were able to make a very good living as a commercial spokesman. With as many talents and ambition as you had, then not to be totally accepted, I can understand why you did not feel you were accepted or appreciated. The fact was, you were just too much for the industry to accept and appreciate. Even though I never met with an ounce of success compared to you, I can identify with having a variety of talents that generally the world cannot accept in one person. It seems that everyone must be pigeon-holed in one job or profession. When I pursued a career as a producer and was able to get a job at an Advertising Agency, I learned that there was little or no creativity. I felt like a glorified errand girl with only a title. Since we were both born under the sign of Taurus, perhaps it produces multitalented people.
Where ever you are creating in the Great Beyond, I hope you get this letter through thought forms and know that you were loved, very respected and appreciated by millions of folks who are still struggling in life. Your work is still honored and will remain very respected. I feel sure it will continue indefinitely and you will always be one of the greatest icons in the film industry!
POSTSCRIPT: I heard Merv Griffin on a talk show describing his last interview with you. He was instructed by you not to talk about the past – it was gone and forgotten. A later stipulation was that Merv ask anything he wanted to ask. He said he did and it was a wonderful revealing interview. Merv then said that you went home and died two hours later. Fascinating!
ORSON WELLES WIVES AND CHILDREN:
Virginia Nicholson – (1934-1940) (divorced) Christopher (b. 1937)
Rita Hayworth – (1943-1948 (divorced) 1 daughter Rebecca Welles
Paola Mori - (1955-1985) Beatrice (b. 1955)
GENERAL INFORMATION:
Orson Welles had a mother who was a beautiful concert pianist, unfortunately, she die when he was only eight years old. His father, a wealthy inventor, took his young son with him, while traveling the world, until he died when Orson was only twelve; he then became the ward of Chicago’s Dr. Maurice Bernstein. Orson was a very gifted child. His talents included the piano and magic. He graduated from the Todd School in Woodstock IL in 1931. In his teens, Orson began acting, writing, and directing for theater. He turned down college offers to go on a sketching tour of Ireland. He also traveled to Morocco and Spain where he fought in a bullring. He made his New York debut in 1934, as Tybalt in Katherine Cornell’s road company. In the same year he married, directed and appeared on radio for the first time. He was the voice for Lamont Cranston, THE SHADOW. He teamed up with John Housman in 1937 to form the Mercury Theatre, which broadcast “The War of the Worlds” that rocked the world! It was intended to be a Halloween prank; however it set in motion panic and mass hysteria. The broadcast consisted of a musical program interrupted with news bulletins, eyewitness accounts that Martian aliens were invading the Earth. The America icon, “Citizen Kane,” in 1941, was considered a commercial failure at that time, losing RKO $150,000. Today film buffs regarded it as the best film ever made. Winning only one Academy Award for Best Screenplay, “Citizen Cane” had nine nominations. He was only twenty-five years old at the time. Orson Welles was one of only five actors to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his first screen appearance. Regardless of his abundant talent, he never got along with studios executives and always had getting his ideas across.
Finally, in 1948, he left Hollywood for Europe. In 1958 he won a prize at the Brussels World’s Fair with the “Touch of Evil.” He received the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award, in 1984 the Directors Guild of America awarded him its highest honor, the D.W. Griffith Award, and in 1988 Orson Welles was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame.
ONLY A FEW OF THE UNBELIVABLE LIST OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Pulp Cinema (2001), AMC Backstory: The Long Hot Summer (2001), A Huey P. Newton Story (2001), Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces (2000), Shylock (1999), The Best of the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts (1998) (TV), The Great Depression (1998), Martian Mania: The True Story of The War of the Worlds (1998), Orson Welles: The One-Man Band (1996), Welles and Hearst (1996), Who Is Henry Jaglom? (1996), The Battle Over Citizen Kane (1996), A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995), The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies (1995), It’s All True (1993) Don Quixote (1992), Orson Welles: What Went Wrong? (1992), Here’s Looking at You, Warner Bros. (1991), Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (1991) (voice) (archive radio broadcast), Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (1991), John Ford (1990), Stars and Stripes (1990), Hollywood Mavericks (1990), Someone to Love (1987), The Transformers: The Movie (1986), Matrix Forever (1989), Orson Welles’ Magic Show (1985), Scene of the Crime (1985), Almonds and Raisins (1984), The Enchanted Journey (1984), In Our Hands (1984), The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh (1984) The Road to Bresson (1984), The American Film Institute Salute to John Huston (1983), Hot Money (1983),
