Orson Welles
George Orson Wells (May 6, 1915 - October 10, 1985) is commonly considered one of Hollywood's greatest directors.
An arrogant man who showed little tact in dealing with film studios, Welles had trouble financing his films after Citizen Kane. Studios often wrested control of the films from him, making drastic cuts or changing endings: Welles' original ending to The Magnificent Ambersons has been lost, apparently permanently. "Touch of Evil" was also butchered by the studio but has since been "restored" to something liek what Welles intended.
Welles starred in many of his films and wrote the scripts, often using the talents of the Mercury Theatre company.
He is also renowned for the scare created earlier in his career as a radio drama producer, by the Mercury Theater of the Air's October 30, 1938 radio production of The War of the Worlds. Welles's adaptation of H. G. Wells's classic novel simulated a news broadcast, cutting into a routine dance music program, describing the landing of Martian spacecraft in Grovers Mill, New Jersey. The broadcast was realistic enough to frighten many in the audience into believing that an actual Martian invasion was in progress.
Welles had a bizarre childhood. His parents applied enormous pressure on his older brother Dickie to become a great and famous person. Dickie Welles was terribly unsuited to this role, and became a homeless drunk. Orson inherited the role of wonder boy, and seemed magically adept at it, though his personal relationships surely suffered because of it.
He became enormously fat as an older man, and appeared to demean himself with cheesy commercial endorsements.
During his career he won one Oscar, and was nominated for a further four. In 1971 the Academy gave him an Honorary award "For superlative artistry and versatility in the creation of motion pictures".
His works as an actor/director include:
- Citizen Kane - won Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay; nominated for best actor, best picture and best director.
- The Magnificent Ambersons - nominated for Oscar for best picture
- Macbeth
- Touch of Evil
- The Lady from Shanghai
- The Trial
- Othello
- The Stranger
Welles also acted in