Orson Welles

George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) is generally considered one of Hollywood's greatest directors, as well as a fine actor, broadcaster and screenwriter. His first feature film, Citizen Kane (1941), is universally acknowledged as an important step in the history of cinema and widely cited by critics as among the best films ever made.

Television

A lesser known, but still important, aspect of Welles' career was his work in television. The Orson Welles Sketchbook (1955) was created for the BBC and featured Welles telling stories and drawing pictures to illustrate them. The director also created Around the World with Orson Welles (1955) for the BBC. In this series he gleefully experimented with a film-essay format, foreshadowing the later F for Fake (1974). The Fountain of Youth (1958) was made for American TV and in it Welles offers some possibilities for expanding the medium's vocabulary. The Immortal Story (1968) was filmed for French television and stars not only Welles himself, but also Jeanne Moreau, one of the most loved actresses of the French New Wave cinema; based on a short story by Isak Dinesen, it is a spare and somber meditation on old age, isolation, and the inability to create. One of his most playful efforts was Portrait of Gina (1958), in which the director/narrator wanders through Italy, finally arriving at Gina Lollobrigida's home at the end of the film. Welles continued to work in TV through the 60s, 70s and 80s, but little of the work he directed from this period was ever broadcast. A version of The Merchant of Venice (1969) was not completed because a reel was stolen and never recovered. Clips from unfinished TV projects appear in the documentary Orson Welles: The One-Man Band (1995), a fascinating but bittersweet look at many of the director's varied efforts,

Related Topics:
The Orson Welles Sketchbook - F for Fake - Jeanne Moreau - New Wave - Isak Dinesen

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