name	Frank Oz
birth date	May 25, 1944
birth place	Hereford, Herefordshire, England, United Kingdom
birth name	Richard Frank Oznowicz
occupation	Actor, director, puppeteer
years active	1963–present
spouse	Robin Garsen (1979-present) }}

Frank Oz (born Richard Frank Oznowicz; May 25, 1944) is a British-born American film director, actor, voice actor and puppeteer who is known for creating and performing the characters Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear in ''The Muppet Show'', Cookie Monster, Bert and Grover in ''Sesame Street'', and for directing films, including the 1986 ''Little Shop Of Horrors'' remake and ''Dirty Rotten Scoundrels''. He is also the operator and voice of Yoda in the ''Star Wars'' series.

Early life

Oz was born in Hereford, England, the son of Frances and Isidore Oznowicz, both of whom were puppeteers. His parents were refugees from the Holocaust who moved to England after fighting the Nazis with the Dutch Brigades. Oz's Dutch/Polish father was Jewish and his Flemish mother was a lapsed Roman Catholic. Oz moved to Oakland, California, United States, with his parents when he was five years old. He attended Oakland Technical High School and Oakland City College. He worked for a time with the Vagabond Puppets, a production of the Oakland Recreation Department, where Lettie Connell was his mentor.

Career

As a puppeteer

Oz is known for his work as a puppeteer, performing with Jim Henson's Muppets. His characters have included Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam the Eagle on ''The Muppet Show'', and Grover, Cookie Monster and Bert on ''Sesame Street'', among many others.

In addition to performing a variety of characters, Oz has been one of the primary collaborators responsible for the development of the Muppets over the last 30 years. Oz has performed as a Muppeteer in over 75 movies, video releases, and television specials, as well as countless other public appearances, episodes of ''Sesame Street'', and other Jim Henson series. His puppetry work spans from 1963 to the present, though he has retired from the Muppets. His Muppets were taken over by Eric Jacobson, though Oz still performs his characters on occasion. He also worked with the puppets on the movie ''Labyrinth'', starring David Bowie.

Oz is also well known as the performer of Jedi Master Yoda from George Lucas' ''Star Wars'' series. Oz performed the voice and puppet for Yoda in ''The Empire Strikes Back'', ''Return of the Jedi'' and ''The Phantom Menace'', and provided the voice of the computer-generated imagery (CGI) Yoda in ''Attack of the Clones'' and ''Revenge of the Sith''. The conversion to CGI was met with some criticism among fans but Oz himself said that was "exactly what [Lucas] should have done." Oz had a great deal of creative input on the character and was himself responsible for creating the character's trademark syntax (whose nature some professional syntacticians discuss in their spare time). George Lucas was so impressed by Oz's performance as Yoda in ''The Empire Strikes Back'' that he tried to get him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Oz reprised his vocal role as Yoda in Disney's ''Star Tours: The Adventures Continue.

As a director

Inspiration as a film-maker came to Oz upon a viewing of the film ''Touch of Evil'', the director tells Robert K. Elder in an interview for ''The Film That Changed My Life''.

I think it opened up my view of film—that there’s so much more that could be done. Actually, by breaking so many rules, he allowed other people to say, “Hey, I can maybe think of some stuff, too!” He just opened up the possibilities more for me. That’s what he did.

Oz began his behind-the-camera work when he co-directed the fantasy film ''The Dark Crystal'' with long-time collaborator Jim Henson. The film featured the most advanced puppets ever created for a movie. Oz further employed those skills in directing 1984's ''The Muppets Take Manhattan'', as well as sharing a screenwriting credit.

In 1986 he directed his first movie that did not involve Henson, ''Little Shop Of Horrors''. The musical film starred Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene, as well as Vincent Gardenia, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, John Candy, Christopher Guest, and a 15-foot-tall talking plant (voiced by Levi Stubbs) which at times required up to 40 puppeteers to operate. The film allowed Oz to show his ability to work with live actors, and led to opportunities to direct films that did not include puppetry.

Usually helming comedies, Oz went on to direct ''Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'' in 1988, starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine, ''What About Bob?'' in 1991, starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss, and ''HouseSitter'' in 1992 (all of which were scored by Miles Goodman). Later films include ''The Indian in the Cupboard'' (1995), ''In & Out'' (1997), ''Bowfinger'' (1999), ''The Score'' (2001), the 2004 remake of ''The Stepford Wives'', and the original ''Death at a Funeral'' (2007).

As an actor

As an actor, Oz appeared in a bit part as Prison Storeroom Keeper in ''The Blues Brothers'' (1980) movie, directed by John Landis. He also appeared in later Landis movies ''An American Werewolf in London'', ''Spies Like Us'', ''Trading Places'' and ''Innocent Blood''. In 1998, Oz portrayed a warden in ''Blues Brothers 2000''. In 2001 he had a minor part in the Pixar film ''Monsters, Inc.'' as Randall's scare assistant, Fungus. In 2005, he had a minor part in the Columbia film ''Zathura'' as the voice of the Robot.

Other cameos have included playing a surgeon in scenes cut from the theatrical release of ''Superman III'', ''The Muppet Movie'', ''The Great Muppet Caper'', ''The Muppets Take Manhattan'' and several other Jim Henson-related films that did not involve just his puppeteering.

Significant collaborations

With John Landis

Landis has cast Oz in small roles in several of his movies. Oz played a corrections officer in ''Blues Brothers'' and ''Blues Brothers 2000''. He also had roles in ''An American Werewolf in London'', ''Trading Places'', ''Spies Like Us'', and ''Innocent Blood''. Even if he's not appeared in a Landis movie, his name is often spoken in the background. During airport scenes in ''Into the Night'' and ''Coming to America'', there are announcements on the PA system requesting a 'Mr. Frank Oznowicz' to pick up the white courtesy phone. John Landis made a cameo in Oz's film ''The Muppets Take Manhattan''.

With Jim Henson

Oz worked as a puppeteer, performing with Jim Henson's Muppets. They co-directed a film together, ''The Dark Crystal''. Oz wrote and directed the Muppet film ''The Muppets Take Manhattan''. He also worked with the puppets on several of Henson's films (both produced and directed by Henson), including ''Labyrinth'', starring David Bowie.

With Steve Martin

Martin played Orin Scrivello, DDS in ''Little Shop of Horrors'' (1986). Two years later he was a star (along with Michael Caine) in ''Dirty Rotten Scoundrels''. He also starred in ''HouseSitter'' (with Goldie Hawn) and ''Bowfinger'' (in title role).

With Miles Goodman

Goodman scored four films directed by Oz: ''Little Shop of Horrors'', ''Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'', ''What About Bob?'' and ''HouseSitter''.

Filmography

Feature

Directed by Oz:

''The Muppets Take Manhattan'' (1984)

''Little Shop Of Horrors'' (1986)

''Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'' (1988)

''What About Bob?'' (1991)

''HouseSitter'' (1992)

''The Indian in the Cupboard'' (1995)

''In & Out'' (1997)

''Bowfinger'' (1999)

''The Score'' (2001)

''The Stepford Wives'' (2004)

''Death at a Funeral'' (2007)

Co-directed by Oz:

''The Dark Crystal'' (1982)

For TV

''Sesame Street'' (1969–2004, still works occasionally)

''The Muppet Show'' (1976–1981)

''Learning About Numbers'' (1986)

''The Funkhousers'' (2002)

References

External links

Muppet Wiki: Frank Oz

Category:1944 births Category:Film directors from California Category:American puppeteers Category:American voice actors Category:American people of Dutch descent Category:American people of Flemish descent Category:American people of Polish descent Category:American people of Jewish descent Category:Actors from California Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners Category:Emmy Award winners Category:English emigrants to the United States Category:British puppeteers Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:Living people Category:Muppet performers Category:People from Hereford Category:Sesame Street Muppeteers Category:American film actors Category:American television actors

da:Richard Frank Oznowicz de:Frank Oz es:Frank Oz fr:Frank Oz hr:Frank Oz it:Frank Oz he:פרנק אוז nl:Frank Oz ja:フランク・オズ no:Frank Oz pl:Frank Oz pt:Frank Oz ru:Оз, Фрэнк simple:Frank Oz fi:Frank Oz sv:Frank Oz tr:Frank Oz

name	Jim Henson
birth name	James Maury Henson
birth date	September 24, 1936
birth place	Greenville, Mississippi, U.S.
death date	May 16, 1990
death place	New York City, New York, U.S.
nationality	American
education	Northwestern High School
alma mater	University of Maryland, College Park
home town	Leland, Mississippi
occupation	PuppeteerFilm directorTelevision producer
years active	1954–1990
spouse
children	Lisa Henson,Brian Henson,John Henson,Cheryl Henson,Heather Henson
parents	Betty Marcella (nee Brown),Paul Ransom Henson }}

James Maury "Jim" Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as ''Sesame Street'' and ''The Muppet Show'', films such as ''The Muppet Movie'' and ''The Great Muppet Caper'', and creator of advanced puppets for projects like ''Fraggle Rock'', ''The Dark Crystal'', and ''Labyrinth''. He was also an Oscar-nominated film director, Emmy Award-winning television producer, and the founder of The Jim Henson Company, the Jim Henson Foundation, and Jim Henson's Creature Shop. He died of ''Streptococcus pyogenes'' on May 16, 1990.

Henson, who was born in Mississippi, and educated at University of Maryland, College Park, was one of the most widely known puppeteers in history. He created ''Sam and Friends'' as a freshman in College Park. After suffering struggles with programs that he created, he eventually was selected to participate in ''Sesame Street''. During this time, he also participated in the comedy series ''Saturday Night Live''. The success of ''Sesame Street'' spawned ''The Muppet Show'', which featured Muppets created by Henson. He also co-created with Michael Jacobs the television show ''Dinosaurs'' during his final years. In 1992, he posthumously received the Courage of Conscience Award from The Peace Abbey, and on June 16, 2011, he posthumously received the Disney Legends Award.

Early life

Henson was born in Greenville, Mississippi, the younger of two boys. His parents were Betty Marcella (née Brown) and Paul Ransom Henson, an agronomist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He was raised as a Christian Scientist and spent his early childhood in Leland, Mississippi, moving with his family to Hyattsville, Maryland, near Washington, DC, in the late 1940s. He later remembered the arrival of the family's first television as "the biggest event of his adolescence," having been heavily influenced by radio ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and the early television puppets of Burr Tillstrom (on ''Kukla, Fran, and Ollie'') and Bil and Cora Baird.

In 1954, while attending Northwestern High School, he began working for WTOP-TV, creating puppets for a Saturday morning children's show called ''The Junior Morning Show''. After graduating from high school, Henson enrolled at the University of Maryland, College Park, as a studio arts major, thinking he might become a commercial artist. A puppetry class offered in the applied arts department introduced him to the craft and textiles courses in the College of Home Economics, and he graduated in 1960 with a B.S. in home economics. As a freshman, he had been asked to create ''Sam and Friends'', a five-minute puppet show for WRC-TV. The characters on ''Sam and Friends'' were forerunners of Muppets, and the show included a prototype of Henson's most famous character: Kermit the Frog.

In the show, he began experimenting with techniques that would change the way puppetry had been used on television, including using the frame defined by the camera shot to allow the puppeteer to work from off-camera. Believing that television puppets needed to have "life and sensitivity," Henson began making characters from flexible, fabric-covered foam rubber, allowing them to express a wider array of emotions at a time when many puppets were made of carved wood. A marionette's arms are manipulated by strings, but Henson used rods to move his Muppets' arms, allowing greater control of expression. Additionally, Henson wanted the Muppet characters to "speak" more creatively than was possible for previous puppets - which had seemed to have random mouth movements – so he used precise mouth movements to match the dialogue.

When Henson began work on ''Sam and Friends'', he asked fellow University of Maryland freshman Jane Nebel to assist him. The show was a financial success, but after graduating from college, Jim began to have doubts about going into a career as a puppeteer. He wandered off to Europe for several months, where he was inspired by European puppeteers who look on their work as an art form. Upon Henson's return to the United States, he and Jane began dating. They were married in 1959 and had five children, Lisa (b. 1960), Cheryl (b. 1961), Brian (b. 1962), John (b. 1965), and Heather (b. 1970).

Struggles and projects in the 1960s

Despite the success of ''Sam and Friends'', which ran for six years, Henson spent much of the next two decades working in commercials, talk shows, and children's projects before being able to realize his dream of the Muppets as "entertainment for everybody". The popularity of his work on ''Sam and Friends'' in the late fifties led to a series of guest appearances on network talk and variety shows. Henson himself appeared as a guest on many shows, including ''The Ed Sullivan Show''. This greatly increased exposure led to hundreds of commercial appearances by Henson characters throughout the sixties.

Among the most popular of Henson's commercials was a series for the local Wilkins Coffee company in Washington, D.C., in which his Muppets were able to get away with a greater level of slapstick violence than might have been acceptable with human actors. In the first Wilkins ad, a Muppet named Wilkins (with Kermit's voice) is poised behind a cannon seen in profile. Another Muppet named Wontkins (with Rowlf's voice) is in front of its barrel. Wilkins asks, "What do you think of Wilkins Coffee?" and Wontkins responds gruffly, "Never tasted it!" Wilkins fires the cannon and blows Wontkins away, then turns the cannon directly toward the viewer and ends the ad with, "Now, what do ''you'' think of Wilkins?" Henson later explained, "Till then, [advertising] agencies believed that the hard sell was the only way to get their message over on television. We took a very different approach. We tried to sell things by making people laugh." The first seven-second commercial for Wilkins was an immediate hit and was syndicated and reshot by Henson for local coffee companies across the United States; he ultimately produced more than 300 coffee ads. The same setup was used to pitch Kraml Milk in the Chicago, Il., area and Red Diamond coffee.

In 1963, Henson and his wife moved to New York City, where the newly formed Muppets, Inc. would reside for some time. Jane quit muppeteering to raise their children. Henson hired writer Jerry Juhl in 1961 and puppeteer Frank Oz in 1963 to replace her. Henson later credited both writers with developing much of the humor and character of his Muppets. Henson and Oz developed a close friendship and a performing partnership that lasted 27 years; their teamwork is particularly evident in their portrayals of the characters of Bert and Ernie and Kermit and Fozzie Bear.

Henson's sixties talk show appearances culminated when he devised Rowlf, a piano-playing anthropomorphic dog. Rowlf became the first Muppet to make regular appearances on a network show, ''The Jimmy Dean Show''. From 1963 to 1966, Henson began exploring film-making and produced a series of experimental films. His nine-minute ''Time Piece'' was nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for an Oscar for Short Film in 1966. The year 1969 saw the production of the NBC-TV movie ''The Cube'' – another Henson-produced experimental film.

''Sesame Street''

In 1969, Joan Ganz Cooney and the team at the Children's Television Workshop asked Henson to work on ''Sesame Street'', a visionary children's program for public television. Part of the show was set aside for a series of funny, colorful puppet characters living on the titular street. These included Oscar the Grouch, Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster and Big Bird. Henson performed the characters of Ernie, game-show host Guy Smiley, and Kermit, who appeared as a roving television news reporter. It was around this time that a frill was added around Kermit's neck to make him more frog-like. The collar was functional as well: it covered the joint where the Muppet's neck and body met.

At first, Henson's Muppets appeared separately from the realistic segments on the Street, but after a poor test-screening in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the show was revamped to integrate the two, placing much greater emphasis on Henson's work. Though Henson would often downplay his role in ''Sesame Street'''s success, Cooney frequently praised Jim's work and, in 1990, the Public Broadcasting Service called him "the spark that ignited our fledgling broadcast service." The success of ''Sesame Street'' also allowed Henson to stop producing commercials. He later remembered that "it was a pleasure to get out of that world".

In addition to creating and performing Muppet characters, Henson was involved in producing various film and animation insets during the first two seasons. During the first, Henson produced a series of counting films for the numbers 1 through 10, which always ended with a baker (voiced by Henson) falling down the stairs while carrying the featured number of desserts. For seasons two to seven, Henson worked on a variety of inserts for the numbers 2 through 12, in a number of different styles – including film ("Dollhouse", "Number Three Ball Film"), stop-motion ("King of Eight", "Queen of Six"), cut-out animation ("Eleven Cheer"), and computer animation ("Nobody Counts To 10").

Concurrently with the first years of ''Sesame Street'', Henson directed ''Tales From Muppetland'', a short series of TV movie specials – in the form of comedic tellings of classic fairy tales – aimed at a young audience and hosted by Kermit the Frog. The series included ''Hey, Cinderella!'', ''The Frog Prince'', and ''The Muppet Musicians of Bremen''.

Expansion of audience

Concerned that the company was becoming typecast as a purveyor of solely children's entertainment, Henson, Frank Oz, and his team targeted an adult audience with a series of sketches on the first season of the groundbreaking comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). Eleven "Dregs and Vestiges" sketches, set mostly in the Land of Gorch, aired between October 1975 and January 1976, with four additional appearances in March, April, May, and September. Henson recalled that "I saw what [creator Lorne Michaels] was going for and I really liked it and wanted to be a part of it, but somehow what we were trying to do and what his writers could write for it never gelled." The ''SNL'' writers never got comfortable writing for the characters, and frequently disparaged Henson's creations; one, Michael O'Donoghue, memorably quipped, "I won't write for felt."

Around the time of his characters' final appearances on ''SNL'', Henson began developing two projects featuring the Muppets: a Broadway show and a weekly television series. In 1976 the series was initially rejected by the American networks who believed that Muppets would only appeal to a child audience. Henson was finally able to convince British impresario Lew Grade to finance the show, which would be shot in the United Kingdom and syndicated worldwide. That same year, he abandoned work on his Broadway show and moved his creative team to England, where ''The Muppet Show'' began filming. ''The Muppet Show'' featured Kermit as host, and a variety of other memorable characters, notably Miss Piggy, Gonzo the Great, and Fozzie Bear. Kermit's role on ''The Muppet Show'' was often compared by his co-workers to Henson's role in Muppet Productions: a shy, gentle boss with "a whim of steel" who "[ran] things as firmly as it is possible to run an explosion in a mattress factory." Caroll Spinney, the puppeteer of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, remembered that Henson "would never say he didn't like something. He would just go 'Hmm.' That was famous. And if he liked it, he would say, 'Lovely!' " Henson himself recognized Kermit as an alter-ego, though he thought that Kermit was bolder than his creator; he once said of Kermit, "He can say things I hold back."

Jim Henson was the performer for several well known characters, including Kermit the Frog, Rowlf the Dog, Dr. Teeth, The Swedish Chef, Waldorf, Link Hogthrob, and the Muppet Newsman.

Transition to the big screen

Three years after the start of ''The Muppet Show'', the Muppets appeared in their first theatrical feature film, 1979's ''The Muppet Movie''. The film was both a critical and financial success; it made US$65.2 million domestically and (at the time) was the 61st highest-grossing film ever made.

A song from the film, "The Rainbow Connection", sung by Henson as Kermit, hit #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1981, a Henson-directed sequel, ''The Great Muppet Caper'', followed, and Henson decided to end the still-popular ''Muppet Show'' to concentrate on making films. From time to time, the Muppet characters continued to appear in made-for-TV-movies and television specials.

In addition to his own puppetry projects, Henson also aided others in their work. In 1979, he was asked by the producers of the ''Star Wars'' film ''The Empire Strikes Back'' to aid make-up artist Stuart Freeborn in the creation and articulation of enigmatic Jedi Master Yoda. Henson suggested to ''Star Wars'' creator George Lucas that he use Frank Oz as the puppeteer and voice of Yoda. Oz voiced Yoda in ''Empire'' and each of the five subsequent ''Star Wars'' films, and the naturalistic, lifelike Yoda became one of the most popular characters in the ''Star Wars'' films. Lucas even lobbied unsuccessfully to have Oz nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award.

In 1982, Henson founded the Jim Henson Foundation to promote and develop the art of puppetry in the United States. Around that time, he also began creating darker and more realistic fantasy films that did not feature the Muppets and displayed "a growing, brooding interest in mortality." With 1982's ''The Dark Crystal'', which he co-directed with Frank Oz and also co-wrote, Henson said he was "trying to go toward a sense of realism—toward a reality of creatures that are actually alive [where] it's not so much a symbol of the thing, but you're trying to [present] the thing itself." To provide a visual style distinct from the Muppets, the puppets in ''The Dark Crystal'' were based on conceptual artwork by Brian Froud.

''Crystal'' was a financial and critical success, and, a year later, the Muppet-starring ''The Muppets Take Manhattan'' (directed by Frank Oz) did fair box-office business, grossing $25.5 million domestically and ranking as one of the top 40 films of 1984. However, 1986's ''Labyrinth'', a ''Crystal''-like fantasy that Henson directed by himself, was considered (in part due to its cost) a commercial disappointment. Despite some positive reviews (''The New York Times'' called it "a fabulous film"), the commercial failure of ''Labyrinth'' demoralized Henson to the point that son Brian Henson remembered the time of its release as being "the closest I've seen him to turning in on himself and getting quite depressed." The film later became a cult classic. Henson and his wife also separated the same year, although they remained close for the rest of his life. Jane later said that Jim was so involved with his work that he had very little time to spend with her or their children. All five of his children began working with Muppets at an early age, partly because, Cheryl Henson remembered, "One of the best ways of being around him was to work with him".

Later career

Though he was still engaged in creating children's programming, such as the successful eighties shows ''Fraggle Rock'' and the animated ''Muppet Babies'', Henson continued to explore darker, mature themes with the folk tale and mythology oriented show ''The Storyteller'' (1988). ''The Storyteller'' won an Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program but was canceled after nine episodes. The next year, Henson returned to television with ''The Jim Henson Hour'', which mixed lighthearted Muppet fare with riskier material. The show was critically well-received and won Henson another Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Variety or Music Program, but was canceled after 13 episodes due to low ratings. Henson blamed its failure on NBC's constant rescheduling.

In late 1989, Henson entered into negotiations to sell his company to The Walt Disney Company for almost $150 million, hoping that, with Disney handling business matters he would "be able to spend a lot more of my time on the creative side of things." By 1990, he had completed production on a television special, ''The Muppets at Walt Disney World'', and a Disney World (Later Disney's California Adventure as well) attraction, ''Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D'', and was developing film ideas and a television series titled ''Muppet High''.

''Natural History Project'' and ''Dinosaurs''

In the late 1980s, Henson worked with illustrator/designer William Stout on a feature film starring animatronic dinosaurs with the working title of ''The Natural History Project''. In 1991, news stories written around the premiere of the Jim Henson Company-produced ''Dinosaurs'' sitcom highlighted the show's connection to Henson. "Jim Henson dreamed up the show's basic concept about three years ago," said a ''New York Times'' article in April 1991. "'He wanted it to be a sitcom with a pretty standard structure, with the biggest differences being that it's a family of dinosaurs and their society has this strange toxic life style,' said [his son] Brian Henson. But until ''The Simpsons'' took off, said Alex Rockwell, a vice president of the Henson organization, 'people thought it was a crazy idea.'" A ''New Yorker'' article said that Henson continued to work on a dinosaur project (presumably the ''Dinosaurs'' concept) until the "last months of his life."

Illness and death

During production of his later projects, Henson began to experience flu-like symptoms. On May 4, 1990, Henson made an appearance on ''The Arsenio Hall Show'', one of his last television appearances. At the time, he mentioned to his publicist that he was tired and had a sore throat, but felt that it would go away.

On May 12, 1990, Henson traveled to Ahoskie, North Carolina, with his daughter Cheryl to visit his father and stepmother. The next day, feeling tired and ill, he consulted a physician in North Carolina, who could find no evidence of pneumonia by physical examination and prescribed no treatment except aspirin. Henson returned to New York on an earlier flight and cancelled a Muppet recording session scheduled for May 14.

Henson's wife Jane, from whom he was separated, came to visit and sat with him talking throughout the evening. At 2 A.M. on May 15, Henson was having trouble breathing and began coughing up blood. He suggested to his wife that he might be dying, but did not want to bother going to the hospital. She later told ''People Magazine'' that it was likely due to his desire not to be a bother to people.

Two hours later, Henson finally agreed to go to New York Hospital. By the time he was admitted at 4:58 A.M., he could no longer breathe on his own and had abscesses in his lungs. He was placed on a mechanical ventilator to help him breathe, but his condition deteriorated rapidly into septic shock despite aggressive treatment with multiple antibiotics. 20 hours and 23 minutes after he was admitted, Henson died on the morning of May 16, 1990 at the age of 53.

The official cause of death was first reported as ''Streptococcus pneumonia'', a bacterial infection. Bacterial pneumonia is usually caused by ''Streptococcus pneumoniae'', an alpha-hemolytic species of ''Streptococcus''. Henson's cause of death, however, was organ failure resulting from ''Streptococcus pyogenes'', a severe Group A streptococcal infection. ''S. pyogenes'' is the bacterial species that causes strep throat, scarlet fever, and rheumatic fever. It can also cause other infections.

On May 21, a public memorial service was held in New York City at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Another one was held on July 2 at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. As per Henson's wishes, no one in attendance wore black, and a Dixieland jazz band finished the service by performing "When The Saints Go Marching In". Harry Belafonte sang "Turn the World Around," a song he had debuted on ''The Muppet Show'', as each member of the congregation waved, with a puppeteer's rod, an individual, brightly-colored foam butterfly. Later, Big Bird (performed by Caroll Spinney) walked out onto the stage and sang Kermit the Frog's signature song, "Bein' Green". Henson was cremated at Ferncliff Cemetery. His ashes were scattered in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at his ranch.

In the final minutes of the two-and-a-half hour service, six of the core Muppet performers sang, in their characters' voices, a medley of Jim Henson's favorite songs, culminating in a performance of "Just One Person" that began with Richard Hunt singing alone, as Scooter. "As each verse progressed," Henson employee Chris Barry recalled, "each Muppeteer joined in with their own Muppets until the stage was filled with all the Muppet performers and their beloved characters." The funeral was later described by LIFE as "an epic and almost unbearably moving event." The image of a growing number of performers singing "Just One Person" was recreated for the 1990 television special ''The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson'' and inspired screenwriter Richard Curtis, who attended the London service, to write the growing-orchestra wedding scene of his 2003 film ''Love Actually''.

Henson's sudden death resulted in an outpouring of public and professional affection. There have since been numerous tributes and dedications in his memory. Henson’s companies, which are now run by his children, continue to produce films and television shows.

Business legacy

The Jim Henson Company and the Jim Henson Foundation continued after his death, producing new series and specials. Jim Henson's Creature Shop, founded by Henson, also continues to build creatures for a large number of other films and series (e.g. the science fiction production ''Farscape'', the film adaptation of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', and the movie ''MirrorMask'') and is considered one of the most advanced and well respected creators of film creatures. His son Brian and daughter Lisa are currently the co-chairs and co-CEOs of the company; his daughter Cheryl is the president of the foundation. Steve Whitmire, a veteran member of the Muppet puppeteering crew, has assumed the roles of Kermit the Frog and Ernie, the most famous characters formerly played by Jim Henson.

On February 17, 2004, it was announced that the Muppets (excluding the ''Sesame Street'' characters, which are separately owned by Sesame Workshop) and the ''Bear in the Big Blue House'' properties had been sold by Henson's heirs to The Walt Disney Company.

The Jim Henson Company retains the Creature Shop, as well as the rest of its film and television library including ''Fraggle Rock'', ''Farscape'', ''The Dark Crystal'', and ''Labyrinth''.

In 2010, it was announced that the first major biography of Henson, sanctioned by the family and the Jim Henson Legacy, was under way.

Tributes

Henson is honored both as himself and as Kermit the Frog on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Only two other people have received this honor: Mel Blanc, the voice actor of Bugs Bunny and Woody Woodpecker, and Walt Disney, the voice actor of Mickey Mouse.

The theater at his alma mater, Northwestern High School, in Hyattsville, MD, is named in his honor.

''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze'' and ''The Muppet Christmas Carol'' are both dedicated to him.

Stephen Lynch produced a song titled "Jim Henson's Dead", in which he pays homage to many of the characters from ''The Muppet Show'' and ''Sesame Street''.

Apple Computer's "Think Different" advertising campaign featured Henson.

Henson featured in ''The American Adventure'' in Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort.

Philip Roth often quotes Jim Henson in his Sabbath's Theater as the "great regret" for Mickey Sabbath.

The Jim Henson Museum, located in his hometown of Leland, Mississippi, features an assortment of original Muppet characters, official certificates from the Mississippi Legislature honoring Henson and his characters, and a statue of Kermit in the middle of the stream behind the museum.

The 1990 television special ''The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson'' allowed the Muppets themselves to pay tribute to Henson. The special featured interviews with Steven Spielberg and others.

Tom Smith's Henson tribute song, "A Boy and His Frog," won the Pegasus Award for Best Filk Song in 1991.

Henson was featured in Boyz II Men's 1991 video, "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday".

Episode 2880 of ''Sesame Street'' (which aired on November 15, 1991) was dedicated in his memory, with a memorial card following the closing credits.

The classes of 1994, 1998, and 1999 at the University of Maryland, College Park, Henson's alma mater, commissioned a life-size statue of Henson and Kermit the Frog, which was dedicated on September 24, 2003, Henson's 67th birthday. The statue cost $217,000, and is displayed outside Maryland's student union. In 2006, Maryland introduced 50 statues of their school mascot, Testudo the Terrapin, with various designs chosen by different sponsoring groups. Among them was Kertle, a statue by Washington DC artist Elizabeth Baldwin designed to look like Kermit the Frog.

On the evening of October 25, 2000, Comedy Central had a banner sign that said: Jim Henson [1936-1990].

In 2003, Jim Henson was honored at the annual Norsk Høstfest in Minot, North Dakota.

Oury Atlan, Thibaut Berland, and Damien Ferri wrote, directed, and animated a 3D tribute to Henson entitled ''Over Time'' that was shown as part of the 2005 Electronic Theater at SIGGRAPH.

Vintage footage of Henson was featured in an American Express credit card commercial in 2008.

The Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, United States, has acquired more than 700 puppets created by Henson and his studio, including some of the earliest Muppets. Many of these are displayed in the museum exhibit ''Jim Henson: Puppeteer''. In September 2008, the Center opened ''Jim Henson: Wonders From His Workshop'', highlighting creations from ''Fraggle Rock'', ''Labyrinth'', and other later works.

On September 24, 2011, Henson's hometown of Leland will rename one of their bridges "The Rainbow Connection" to honor Henson and his work.

Further reading

References

External links

The Jim Henson Legacy

Art Directors Club biography and portrait

Jim Henson at Find A Grave

Some Wilkins Coffee ads

The Jim Henson Works at the University of Maryland: 70+ digital videos available to students, scholars and visitors at the University of Maryland (College Park, MD)

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name	Orson Welles
birth date	May 06, 1915
birth place
death date	October 10, 1985
death place
death cause	Heart attack
alma mater	Todd School for Boys
occupation	Actor, director, writer, producer, voice actor
years active	1931–85
spouse	Virginia Nicholson (1934–40)Rita Hayworth (1943–48)Paola Mori (1955–85)
height	6'1"
partner	Dolores del Río (1938–41)Oja Kodar (1966–85)
parents	Richard Hodgdon Head Welles,Beatrice Ives
awards	1941 Best Writing (Original Screenplay) for ''Citizen Kane'' 1970 Academy Honorary Award
influences	John Ford, William Shakespeare, Fritz Lang, Joseph Conrad
influenced	Tim Burton, Christopher Nolan, John Carpenter, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese }}

George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 October 10, 1985), best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio. Noted for his innovative dramatic productions as well as his distinctive voice and personality, Welles is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished dramatic artists of the twentieth century, especially for his significant and influential early work—despite his notoriously contentious relationship with Hollywood. His distinctive directorial style featured layered, nonlinear narrative forms, innovative uses of lighting such as chiaroscuro, unique camera angles, sound techniques borrowed from radio, deep focus shots, and long takes. Welles's long career in film is noted for his struggle for artistic control in the face of pressure from studios. Many of his films were heavily edited and others left unreleased. He has been praised as a major creative force and as "the ultimate auteur."

After directing a number of high-profile theatrical productions in his early twenties, including an innovative adaptation of ''Macbeth'' and ''The Cradle Will Rock'', Welles found national and international fame as the director and narrator of a 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel ''The War of the Worlds'' performed for the radio drama anthology series ''Mercury Theatre on the Air''. It was reported to have caused widespread panic when listeners thought that an invasion by extraterrestrial beings was occurring. Although these reports of panic were mostly false and overstated, they rocketed Welles to instant notoriety.

''Citizen Kane'' (1941), his first film with RKO, in which he starred in the role of Charles Foster Kane, is often considered the greatest film ever made. Several of his other films, including ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' (1942), ''The Lady from Shanghai'' (1947), ''Touch of Evil'' (1958), ''Chimes at Midnight'' (1965), and ''F for Fake'' (1974), are also widely considered to be masterpieces.

In 2002, he was voted the greatest film director of all time in two separate British Film Institute polls among directors and critics, and a wide survey of critical consensus, best-of lists, and historical retrospectives calls him the most acclaimed director of all time. Well known for his baritone voice, Welles was also an extremely well regarded actor and was voted number 16 in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars list of the greatest American film actors of all time. He was also a celebrated Shakespearean stage actor and an accomplished magician, starring in troop variety shows in the war years.

Early life

Welles was born May 6, 1915, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, son of Richard Hodgdon Head Welles (1873, Missouri – December 28, 1930, Chicago, Illinois) and Beatrice Ives (1882 or 1883, Springfield, Illinois – May 10, 1924, Chicago, Illinois). His family was raised Roman Catholic. Despite his parents' affluence, Welles encountered many hardships in childhood. In 1919, his parents separated and moved to Chicago. His father, who had made a fortune as the inventor of a popular bicycle lamp, became an alcoholic and stopped working. Welles's mother, a concert pianist, played during lectures by Dudley Crafts Watson at the Chicago Art Institute to support her son and herself (the oldest Welles boy, "Dickie", had been institutionalized at an early age because he had learning difficulties). Beatrice died of jaundice in 1924 in a Chicago hospital a few days after Welles's ninth birthday. After his mother's death, Welles ceased pursuing his interest in music. He was taken in by Dudley Crafts Watson and lived with the family at Watson's family home, "Trillium Dell", on Marshman Avenue in Highland Park, Illinois. At the age of ten, Orson with Watson's third daughter, Marjorie (of the same age), ran away from home. They were found a week later, singing and dancing for money on a street corner in Milwaukee. His father died when Orson was 15 during the summer after Orson's graduation from Todd School for Boys, an independent school in Woodstock, Illinois. Maurice Bernstein, a physician from Chicago, became his guardian.

At Todd School, Welles came under the influence of Roger Hill, a teacher who later became Todd's headmaster. Hill provided Welles with an ''ad hoc'' educational environment that proved invaluable to his creative experience, allowing Welles to concentrate on subjects that interested him. Welles performed and staged his first theatrical experiments and productions there. Following graduation from Todd, Welles was awarded a scholarship to Harvard University. Rather than enrolling, he chose to travel. Later, he briefly studied for a time at the Art Institute of Chicago. He returned a number of times to Woodstock to direct his alma mater's student productions.

Early career (1931–1934)

After his father's death, Welles traveled to Europe with the aid of a small inheritance. Welles later reported that while on a walking and painting trip through Ireland, he strode into the Gate Theatre in Dublin and claimed he was a Broadway star. The manager of Gate, Hilton Edwards, later said he didn't believe him but was impressed by his brashness and some impassioned quality in his audition. Welles made his stage debut at the Gate in 1931, appearing in ''Jew Suss'' as the Duke. He acted to great acclaim, which reached the United States. He performed smaller supporting roles as well. On returning to the United States he found his fame ephemeral and turned to a writing project at Todd School that would become the immensely successful ''Everybody's Shakespeare'' and subsequently, ''The Mercury Shakespeare''. Welles traveled to North Africa while working on thousands of illustrations for the ''Everybody's Shakespeare'' series of educational books, a series that remained in print for decades.

An introduction by Thornton Wilder led Welles to the New York stage. In 1933, he toured in three off-Broadway productions with Katharine Cornell's company, including two roles in ''Romeo and Juliet''. Restless and impatient when the planned Broadway opening of ''Romeo and Juliet'' was canceled, Welles staged a drama festival of his own with the Todd School, inviting Micheál Mac Liammóir and Hilton Edwards from Dublin's Gate Theatre to appear, along with New York stage luminaries. It was a roaring success. The subsequent revival of Cornell's ''Romeo and Juliet'' brought Welles to the notice of John Houseman, who was casting for an unusual lead actor for the lead role in the Federal Theatre Project.

By 1935 Welles was supplementing his earnings in the theater as a radio actor in Manhattan, working with many of the actors who would later form the core of his Mercury Theatre. He married Chicago actress Virginia Nicholson in 1934 and that year he shot an eight-minute silent short film, ''The Hearts of Age'' with her. The couple had one daughter, Christopher. She made her only film appearance in 1948, taking the role of Macduff's son in Welles's film ''Macbeth'' and later became known as Chris Welles Feder, an author of educational materials for children.

Theatre and radio (1936–1940)

Federal Theatre Project

''Macbeth''

In 1936, the Federal Theatre Project (part of Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration) put unemployed theater performers and employees to work. Welles was hired by John Houseman and assigned to direct a play for the Federal Theatre Project's Negro Theater Unit. He offered them ''Macbeth'', in a production that became known as the ''Voodoo Macbeth'', because Welles set it in the Haitian court of King Henri Christophe, with voodoo witch doctors for the three Weird Sisters. Jack Carter played Macbeth. The incidental music was composed by Virgil Thomson. The play was received rapturously and later toured the nation. When the lead actor, Maurice Ellis, fell ill on tour, Welles quickly boarded an airplane to fly to the location and stepped into the part playing the role in blackface. At the age of twenty, Welles was hailed as a prodigy. A few minutes of the Welles production of Macbeth was recorded on film in a 1937 documentary called ''We Work Again''.

Collaboration with Aaron Copland

The young actor/director was chosen by the American composer Aaron Copland in 1937 to direct what is one of Copland's least known works, the opera ''The Second Hurricane'' composed for high school students of The Henry Street Settlement Music School in New York. Among the few adult performers in the production was actor Joseph Cotten, Welles's longtime friend and collaborator, who was paid $10 for his performance.

''The Cradle Will Rock''

After the success of ''Macbeth'', Welles mounted the absurd farce ''Horse Eats Hat'', an adaptation by Welles and Edwin Denby of Eugène Labiche's play, ''Un Chapeau de Paille d'Italie''. He consolidated his "White Hope" reputation with ''Dr. Faustus'', which used light as a prime unifying scenic element in a nearly blacked-out stage.

In 1937, he rehearsed Marc Blitzstein's highly political operetta, ''The Cradle Will Rock''. Because of severe federal cutbacks in the Works Progress projects, the show's premiere at the Maxine Elliott Theatre was canceled. The theater was locked and guarded to prevent any of the government-purchased materials being used for a commercial production of the work. In a last-minute move, Welles announced to waiting ticket-holders that the show was being transferred to the Venice, about twenty blocks away. Some cast, as well as some crew and audience, walked the distance on foot. The union musicians refused to perform in a commercial theater for lower non-union government wages. The actors' union stated that the production belonged to the Federal Theater Project and could not be performed outside that context without permission. Lacking the participation of the union members, ''The Cradle Will Rock'' began with Blitzstein introducing the show and playing the piano accompaniment on stage with some cast members performing their parts from the audience. This impromptu performance was well received by its audience. It afterward played at the Venice for two weeks in the same informal way.

Mercury Theatre

Resigning from the Federal Theatre, Welles and Houseman formed the Mercury Theatre, of which Welles became executive producer and whose repertory company eventually included actors such as Agnes Moorehead, Joseph Cotten, Dolores del Río, Ray Collins, George Coulouris, Frank Readick, Everett Sloane, Eustace Wyatt and Erskine Sanford, all of whom would continue to work for Welles for years. The first Mercury Theatre production was a melodramatic and heavily edited version of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Julius Caesar,'' set in a contemporary frame of fascist Italy. Cinna the Poet dies at the hands not of a mob but of a secret police force. According to Norman Lloyd, who played Cinna the Poet, "it stopped the show." The applause lasted more than ten minutes and the production was widely acclaimed.

In the second year of the Mercury Theater, Welles shifted his interests to radio as an actor, director and producer. He played Hamlet for CBS on The Columbia Workshop, while adapting and directing the play. In July 1937, the Mutual Network gave him a seven-week series to adapt ''Les Misérables,'' which he did with great success. That September, Mutual chose Welles to play Lamont Cranston, aka ''The Shadow,'' anonymously and in the summer of 1938 CBS gave him (and the Mercury Theatre) a weekly hour-long show to broadcast radio plays based on classic literary works. The show was titled ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air,'' with original music by Bernard Herrmann, who would continue working with Welles on radio and in films for years.

''The War of the Worlds'' broadcast

Their October 30, 1938 radio adaptation of ''The War of the Worlds'' by H. G. Wells brought Welles instant fame. The combination of the news bulletin form of the performance with the between-breaks dial spinning habits of listeners from the rival and far more popular ''Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy program,'' was later reported in the media to have created widespread confusion among listeners who failed to hear the introduction, although the extent of this confusion has recently come into question. Panic was reported to have spread (after citation from rumors) among many listeners who believed the news reports of a Martian invasion. The myth of the result created by the combination was reported as fact around the world and disparagingly mentioned by Adolf Hitler in a public speech a few months later. The 1970s "docu-drama" ''The Night That Panicked America'' was based on events centering around the production of, and events that resulted from, the program.

Welles's growing fame soon drew Hollywood offers, lures which the independent-minded Welles resisted at first. ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air,'' which had been a "sustaining show" (without sponsorship) was picked up by Campbell Soup and renamed ''The Campbell Playhouse.''

On October 28, 1940, Welles met H.G. Wells in San Antonio, Texas; a local radio station KTSA recorded the conversation, which was likely the only meeting between the two.

Hollywood (1939–1948)

RKO Radio Pictures president George Schaefer eventually offered Welles what generally is considered the greatest contract ever offered to an untried director: complete artistic control. RKO signed Welles in a two-picture deal; including script, cast, crew, and most importantly, final cut, although Welles had a budget limit for his projects. With this contract in hand, Welles (and nearly the entire Mercury Theatre troupe) moved to Hollywood. He commuted weekly to New York to maintain his commitment to ''The Campbell Playhouse''.

Welles toyed with various ideas for his first project for RKO Radio Pictures, settling on an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's ''Heart of Darkness'', which he worked on in great detail. He planned to film the action with a subjective camera (a technique later used in the Robert Montgomery film ''Lady in the Lake''). When a budget was drawn up, RKO's enthusiasm cooled because it was greater than the previously agreed limit. RKO also declined to approve another Welles project, ''The Smiler With the Knife'', based on the Cecil Day-Lewis novel, ostensibly because RKO executives lacked faith in Lucille Ball's ability to carry the film as the leading lady.

In a sign of things to come, Welles left ''The Campbell Playhouse'' in 1940 due to creative differences with the sponsor. The show continued without him, produced by John Houseman. In perhaps another sign of things to come, Welles's first experience on a Hollywood film was narrator for RKO's 1940 production of ''The Swiss Family Robinson''.

''Citizen Kane''

Production

RKO, having rejected Welles's first two movie proposals, agreed on the third offer, ''Citizen Kane,'' for which Welles co-wrote, produced, directed, and performed the lead role.

Welles found a suitable film project in an idea he conceived with screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, (who was then writing radio plays for ''The Campbell Playhouse''). Initially entitled ''The American'', it eventually became Welles's first feature film (also his most famous and honored role), ''Citizen Kane'' (1941).

Mankiewicz based his original notion on an ''exposé'' of the life of William Randolph Hearst, whom he knew socially but came to hate, having once been great friends with Hearst's mistress, Marion Davies. Mankiewicz had been banished from her company because of his perpetual drunkenness. Mankiewicz, a notorious gossip, exacted revenge with his unflattering depiction of Davies in ''Citizen Kane'' for which Welles bore most of the criticisms. Welles also had a connection with Davies through his first wife.

Kane's megalomania was modeled loosely on Robert McCormick, Howard Hughes, and Joseph Pulitzer as Welles wanted to create a broad, complex character, intending to show him in the same scenes from several points of view. The use of multiple narrative perspectives in Conrad's ''Heart of Darkness'' influenced the treatment.

Supplying Mankiewicz with 300 pages of notes, Welles urged him to write the first draft of a screenplay under John Houseman, who was posted to ensure Mankiewicz stayed sober. On Welles's instruction, Houseman wrote the opening narration as a pastiche of ''The March of Time'' newsreels. Orson Welles explained to Peter Bogdanovich about the writers working separately by saying, "I left him on his own finally, because we'd started to waste too much time haggling. So, after mutual agreements on storyline and character, Mank went off with Houseman and did his version, while I stayed in Hollywood and wrote mine." Taking these drafts, Welles drastically condensed and rearranged them, then added scenes of his own. The industry accused Welles of underplaying Mankiewicz's contribution to the script, but Welles countered the attacks by saying, "At the end, naturally, I was the one making the picture, after all—who had to make the decisions. I used what I wanted of Mank's and, rightly or wrongly, kept what I liked of my own."

Charles Foster Kane is based loosely on parts of Hearst's life. Nonetheless, autobiographical allusions to Welles were worked in, most noticeably in the treatment of Kane's childhood and particularly, regarding his guardianship. Welles then added features from other famous American lives to create a general and mysterious personality, rather than the narrow journalistic portrait intended by Mankiewicz, whose first drafts included scandalous claims about the death of the film director Thomas Ince.

Once the script was completed, Welles attracted some of Hollywood's best technicians, including cinematographer Gregg Toland, who walked into Welles's office and announced he wanted to work on the picture. Welles later described Toland as "the fastest cameraman who ever lived." For the cast, Welles primarily used actors from his Mercury Theatre. He invited suggestions from everyone but only if they were directed through him. Filming ''Citizen Kane'' took ten weeks.

Reaction

Mankiewicz handed a copy of the final shooting script to his friend, Charles Lederer, husband of Welles's ex-wife, Virginia Nicholson, as well as the nephew of Hearst's mistress, Marion Davies. Gossip columnist Hedda Hopper saw a small ad in a newspaper for a preview screening of ''Citizen Kane'' and went. Hopper, realizing immediately that the film was based on features of Hearst's life, reported this back to him and he threatened to give "Hollywood, Private Lives" if that was what it wanted. Thus began the struggle over the attempted suppression of ''Citizen Kane''.

Hearst's media outlets boycotted the film. They exerted enormous pressure on the Hollywood film community by threatening to expose fifteen years of suppressed scandals and the fact that most of the studio bosses were Jewish. At one point, the heads of the major studios jointly offered RKO the cost of the film in exchange for the negative and all existing prints, fully intending to burn them. RKO declined and the film was given a limited release. Hearst intimidated theater chains by threatening to ban advertising for any of their other films in any of his papers if they showed ''Citizen Kane''.

The film was well-received critically, with Bosley Crowther, film critic for the ''New York Times'' calling it "close to being the most sensational film ever made in Hollywood". By the time it reached the general public, though, the publicity had waned. It garnered nine Academy Award nominations (Orson nominated as a producer, director, writer, and actor), but won only for Best Original Screenplay, shared by Mankiewicz and Welles. Although it was largely ignored at the Academy Awards, ''Citizen Kane'' now is hailed as one of the greatest films ever made. Andrew Sarris called it "the work that influenced the cinema more profoundly than any American film since ''The Birth of a Nation''."

The delay in its release and its uneven distribution contributed to its average result at the box office, making back its budget and marketing, but RKO lost any chance of a major profit. The fact that ''Citizen Kane'' ignored many Hollywood conventions also meant that the film confused and angered the 1940s cinema public. Exhibitor response was scathing; most theater owners complained bitterly about the adverse audience reaction and the many walkouts. Only a few saw fit to acknowledge Welles's artistic technique. RKO shelved the film and did not re-release it until 1956.

During the 1950s, the film came to be seen by young French film critics such as François Truffaut as exemplifying the "auteur theory", in which the director is the "author" of a film. Truffaut, Godard and others inspired by Welles's example made their own films, giving birth to the Nouvelle Vague. In the 1960s ''Citizen Kane'' became popular on college campuses as a film-study exercise and as an entertainment subject. Its frequent revivals on television, home video, and DVD have enhanced its "classic" status and ultimately it recouped its costs. The film still is considered by most film critics and historians to be one of the greatest motion pictures in cinema history.

''The Magnificent Ambersons''

Welles's second film for RKO was ''The Magnificent Ambersons'', adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Booth Tarkington. George Schaefer hoped to make money with this film, since he lost money with ''Citizen Kane''. ''Ambersons'' already had been adapted for ''The Campbell Playhouse'' by Welles for the stage, and he then wrote the screen adaptation. Toland was not available, so Stanley Cortez was named cinematographer. The meticulous Cortez, however, was slow and the film lagged behind schedule and over budget. Prior to production, Welles's contract was renegotiated, revoking his right to control the final cut.

At RKO's request, simultaneously, Welles worked on an adaptation of Eric Ambler's spy thriller, ''Journey into Fear'', which he co-wrote with Joseph Cotten. In addition to acting in the film, Welles was also producer. Direction was credited solely to Norman Foster. Welles later stated that they were in such a rush that the director of each scene was determined by whoever was closest to the camera.

CBS then offered Welles a new radio series called ''The Orson Welles Show''. It was a half-hour variety show of short stories, comedy skits, poetry, and musical numbers. Joining the original Mercury Theatre cast for the show, was Cliff Edwards, the voice of Jiminy Cricket, "on loan from Walt Disney". The variety format was unpopular with listeners and Welles soon was forced to limit the content of the show simply to telling a one half-hour story for the entirety of each episode.

''It's All True''

To further complicate matters during the production of ''Ambersons'' and ''Journey into Fear'', Welles was approached by Nelson Rockefeller and Jock Whitney to produce a documentary film about South America. This was at the behest of the federal government's Good Neighbor policy, a wartime propaganda effort designed to prevent Latin America from allying with the Axis powers. Welles saw his involvement as a form of national service, since his physical condition excused him from direct military service.

Expected to film the Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Welles rushed to finish the editing on ''Ambersons'' and his acting scenes in ''Journey into Fear''. Ending his CBS radio show, he lashed together a rough cut of ''Ambersons'' with Robert Wise, who had edited ''Citizen Kane'', and left for Brazil. Wise was to join him in Rio to complete the film, but never arrived. A provisional final cut arranged via phone call, telegram, and shortwave radio was previewed without Welles's approval in Pomona in a double bill, to a mostly negative audience response, particularly to the character of Aunt Fanny played by Agnes Moorehead. Whereas Schaefer argued that Welles be allowed to complete his own version of the film, and that an archival copy be kept with the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, RKO disagreed. With Welles in South America, there was no practical means of having him edit the film.

As a result of the difficult financial circumstances that RKO found itself in across the period 1940–42, major changes occurred at the studio in 1942 Floyd Odlum took over control of RKO and began changing its direction. Rockefeller, the most significant backer of the Brazil project, left the RKO board of directors. Around the same time, the principal sponsor of Welles at RKO, studio president George Schaefer, resigned. The changes throughout RKO caused reevaluations of many projects. RKO took control of ''Ambersons'', formed a committee, which was ordered to edit the film into what the studio considered a commercial format. They removed fifty minutes of Welles's footage, re-shot sequences, rearranged the scene order, and added a happy ending. Koerner released the shortened film on the bottom of a double-bill with the Lupe Vélez comedy, ''Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost''. ''Ambersons'' was an expensive flop for RKO, although it received four Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Agnes Moorehead.

Welles's South American documentary, entitled ''It's All True'', budgeted at one million dollars with half of its budget coming from the U.S. Government upon completion, grew in ambition and budget while Welles was in South America. While the film originally was to be a documentary on Carnaval, Welles added a new story which recreated the journey of the ''jangadeiros'', four poor fishermen who had made a journey on their open raft to petition Brazilian President Vargas about their working conditions. The four had become national folk heroes; Welles first read of their journey in ''TIME''. Their leader, Jacare, died during a filming mishap. RKO, in limited contact with Welles, attempted to rein in the production. Most of the crew and budget were withdrawn from the film. In addition, the Mercury staff was removed from the studio in the U.S.

Welles requested resources to finish the film. He was given a limited amount of black-and-white stock and a silent camera. He completed the sequence, but RKO refused to support any further production on the film. Surviving footage was released in 1993, including a rough reconstruction of the "Four Men on a Raft" segment. Meanwhile, RKO asserted in public that Welles had gone to Brazil without a screenplay and that he had squandered a million dollars. Their official company slogan for the next year was, "Showmanship in place of Genius" – which was taken as a slight against Welles.

Director for hire (1943–1946)

On returning to Hollywood, Welles found no studios interested in hiring him as a film director after the twin disasters of ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' and ''It's All True''. Welles next worked on radio. CBS offered him two weekly series, ''Hello Americans'', based on the research he'd done in Brazil, and ''Ceiling Unlimited'', sponsored by Lockheed, a wartime salute to advances in aviation. Both featured several members of his original Mercury Theatre troupe. Within a few months, ''Hello Americans'' was canceled and Welles was replaced as host of ''Ceiling Unlimited'' by Joseph Cotten. Welles guest-starred on a great variety of shows, notably guest-hosting Jack Benny shows for a month in 1943. He took an increasingly active role in American and international politics and used journalism to communicate his forceful ideas widely.

In 1943, Welles married Rita Hayworth. They had one child, Rebecca Welles, and divorced five years later in 1948. In between, Welles found work as an actor in other directors' films. He starred in the 1944 film adaptation of ''Jane Eyre'', trading credit as associate producer for top billing over Joan Fontaine. He also had a cameo in the 1944 wartime salute ''Follow the Boys'', in which he performed his ''Mercury Wonder Show'' magic act and "sawed" Marlene Dietrich in half after Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn refused to allow Hayworth to perform.

In 1944, Welles was offered a new radio show, broadcast only in California, ''Orson Welles' Almanac''. It was another half-hour variety show, with Mobil Oil as sponsor. After the success of his stand-in hosting on ''The Jack Benny Show'', the focus was primarily on comedy. His hosting on the Jack Benny show included several self-deprecating jokes and story lines about his being a "genius" and overriding any ideas advanced by other cast members. The trade papers were not eager to accept Welles as a comedian, and Welles often complained on-air about the poor quality of the scripts. When Welles started his ''Mercury Wonder Show'' a few months later, traveling to armed forces camps and performing magic tricks and doing comedy, the radio show was broadcast live from the camps and the material took on a decidedly wartime flavor. Of his original Mercury actors, only Agnes Moorehead remained working with him. The series was cancelled by year's end due to poor ratings.

While he found no studio willing to hire him as a film director, Welles's popularity as an actor continued. Pabst Blue Ribbon gave Welles their radio series ''This Is My Best'' to direct, but after one month he was fired for creative differences. He started writing a political column for the ''New York Post'', again called ''Orson Welles's Almanac''. While the paper wanted Welles to write about Hollywood gossip, Welles explored serious political issues. His activism for world peace took considerable amounts of his time. The ''Post'' column eventually failed in syndication because of contradictory expectations and was dropped by the ''Post''.

Post-war work (1946–1948)

''The Stranger''

In 1946, International Pictures released Welles's film ''The Stranger'', starring Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, and Welles. Sam Spiegel produced the film, which follows the hunt for a Nazi war criminal living under an alias in America. While Anthony Veiller was credited with the screenplay, it had been rewritten by Welles and John Huston. Disputes occurred during the editing process between Spiegel and Welles. The film became a box office success and it helped his standing with the studios.

In the summer of 1946, Welles directed a musical stage version of ''Around the World in Eighty Days'', with a comedic and ironic rewriting of the Jules Verne novel by Welles, incidental music and songs by Cole Porter, and production by Mike Todd, who would later produce the successful film version with David Niven. When Todd pulled out from the lavish and expensive production, Welles alone supported the finances. When he ran out of money at one point, he convinced Columbia president Harry Cohn to send him enough to continue the show, and in exchange, Welles promised to write, produce, direct, and star in a film for Cohn for no further fee. The stage show soon failed, due to poor box-office, with Welles unable to claim the losses on his taxes. The complicated financial arrangements concerning the show, its losses, and Welles's arrangement with Cohn, resulted in a tax dispute with the IRS.

At the same time in 1946 he began two new radio series, ''The Mercury Summer Theatre'' for CBS and ''Orson Welles Commentaries'' for ABC. While ''Summer Theatre'' featured half-hour adaptations of some of the classic Mercury radio shows from the 1930s, the first episode was a condensation of his ''Around the World'' stage play, and remains the only record of Cole Porter's music for the project. Several original Mercury actors returned for the series, as well as Bernard Herrmann. It only was scheduled for the summer months, and Welles invested his earnings into his failing stage play. ''Commentaries'' was a political vehicle for him, continuing the themes from his New York Post column. Again, Welles lacked a clear focus, until the NAACP brought to his attention the case of Isaac Woodard. Welles brought significant attention to Woodard's cause. Soon Welles was being hanged in effigy in the South and theaters refused to show ''The Stranger'' in several southern states.

''The Lady from Shanghai''

The film Welles was obliged to make for Cohn helping him complete ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' ended up being ''The Lady from Shanghai'', filmed in 1947 for Columbia Pictures. Intended to be a modest thriller, the budget skyrocketed after Cohn suggested that Welles's then-estranged second wife Rita Hayworth co-star. Cohn disliked Welles's rough-cut, particularly the confusing plot and lack of close-ups, and was not in sympathy with Welles's Brechtian use of irony and black comedy, especially in a farcical courtroom scene. Cohn ordered extensive editing and re-shoots. After heavy editing by the studio, approximately one hour of Welles's first cut had been removed, including much of a climactic confrontation scene in an amusement park funhouse. While expressing displeasure at the cuts, Welles was appalled particularly at the musical score. The film was considered a disaster in America at the time of release, though the closing shootout in a hall of mirrors has since become one of the touchstones of film noir. Not long after release, Welles and Hayworth finalized their divorce. Although ''The Lady From Shanghai'' was acclaimed in Europe, it was not embraced in the U.S. for several decades. Influential modern critics including David Kehr have subsequently declared it a masterpiece, with Kehr calling it "the weirdest great movie ever made." A similar situation occurred when Welles suggested to Charlie Chaplin that he star in a film directed by Welles based on the life of the French serial killer, Henri Désiré Landru. Instead, Chaplin adapted the idea for his own film, ''Monsieur Verdoux'', with Welles officially credited for the idea.

''Macbeth''

In 1948, Welles convinced Republic Pictures to let him direct a low-budget version of ''Macbeth'', which featured extremely stylized sets and costumes, and a cast of actors lip-syncing to a prerecorded soundtrack, one of many innovative cost-cutting techniques Welles deployed in an attempt to make an epic film from B-movie resources. The script, adapted by Welles, is a violent reworking of the Shakespearean original, freely cutting and pasting lines into new contexts via a collage technique, and recasting ''Macbeth'' as a clash of pagan and proto-Christian ideologies. Some of the voodoo trappings of the famous Welles/Houseman Negro Theatre stage adaptation are also visible, especially in the film's characterization of the Weird Sisters, who create an effigy of Macbeth as a charm to enchant him. Of all Welles's post-''Kane'' Hollywood productions, ''Macbeth'' is closest to ''Citizen Kane'' in its use of long takes and deep focus photography. Shots of the increasingly isolated Scottish king looming in the foreground while other characters address him from deep in the background overtly reference ''Kane''.

Republic initially trumpeted the film as an important work but decided it did not care for the Scottish accents on the soundtrack and held up general release for almost a year after early negative press reaction, which included ''Life'''s comment that Welles's film "doth foully slaughter Shakespeare." Welles left for Europe, while his co-producer and life-long supporter Richard Wilson reworked the soundtrack. Welles ultimately returned and cut twenty minutes from the film at Republic's request and recorded narration to cover the gaps. The film was decried as another disaster. ''Macbeth'' had its share of influential fans in Europe, especially the French poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau, who hailed the film's "crude, irreverent power" and careful shot design, and described the characters as haunting "the corridors of some dreamlike subway, an abandoned coal mine, and ruined cellars oozing with water." In the late 1970s, a fully restored version of ''Macbeth'' was released that followed Welles's original vision, and all prints of the truncated continuity have gradually been withdrawn from circulation, turning Welles's compulsory recut, which has the distinction of being created by the director himself, into something of a lost work.

Welles in Europe (1948–1956)

Welles left Hollywood for Europe in late 1947, enigmatically saying that he had chosen "freedom." In Italy he starred as Cagliostro in the 1948 film ''Black Magic''. His co-star, Akim Tamiroff, impressed Welles so much that Tamiroff would appear in four of Welles's own productions during the 1950s and 1960s.

''The Third Man''

The following year, Welles starred as Harry Lime in Carol Reed's ''The Third Man'', alongside Joseph Cotten, his good friend and co-star from ''Citizen Kane'', with a script by Graham Greene and a memorable zither score by Anton Karas. The film was an international smash hit, but unfortunately Welles had turned down a percentage of the gross in exchange for a lump-sum advance. A few years later British radio producer Harry Alan Towers would resurrect the Lime character for radio in the series ''The Lives of Harry Lime''. The 1951 series included new recordings by Karas, was very successful, and ran for 52 weeks. Welles claimed to write a handful of episodes—a claim disputed by Towers, who maintains they were written by Ernest Borneman—which later would serve as the basis for the screenplay by Welles, ''Mr. Arkadin'' (1955).

Welles also appeared as Cesare Borgia in the 1949 Italian film ''Prince of Foxes'', with Tyrone Power and Mercury Theatre alumnus Everett Sloane, and as the Mongol warrior Bayan in the 1950 film version of the novel ''The Black Rose'' (again with Tyrone Power).

''Othello''

During this time, Welles was channeling his money from acting jobs into a self-financed film version of Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. From 1949 to 1951, Welles worked on ''Othello'', filming on location in Europe and Morocco. The film featured Welles's old friends, Micheál Mac Liammóir as Iago and Hilton Edwards as Desdemona's father Brabantio. Suzanne Cloutier starred as Desdemona and Campbell Playhouse alumnus Robert Coote appeared as Iago's associate Roderigo.

in the 1952 film ''Othello''.]]

Filming was suspended several times as Welles ran out of funds and left to find other acting jobs, accounted in detail in MacLiammóir's published memoir ''Put Money in Thy Purse''. When it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival it won the Palme d'Or, but was not given a general release in the United States until 1955 (by which time Welles had re-cut the first reel and re-dubbed most of the film, removing Cloutier's voice entirely), and it played only in New York and Los Angeles. The American release prints had a technically flawed soundtrack, suffering from a complete drop-out of sound at every quiet moment. It was one of these flawed prints that was restored by Welles's daughter, Beatrice Welles-Smith in 1992 for a wide re-release. The restoration included reconstructing Angelo Francesco Lavagnino's original musical score (which was inaudible) and adding ambient stereo sound effects (which weren't in the original film). The subject of great controversy among film scholars, the restoration went on to a successful theatrical run in America. A print of the U.S. version was released on laser-disc in 1995 and soon withdrawn after a legal challenge by Beatrice Welles-Smith. The original Cannes version has survived, but is not available commercially.

In 1952 Welles continued finding work in England, after the success of the ''Harry Lime'' radio show. Harry Alan Towers offered Welles another series, ''The Black Museum'', with Welles as host and narrator, and this would also run 52 weeks. Director Herbert Wilcox offered him the part of the murdered victim in ''Trent's Last Case'', based on the novel by E. C. Bentley. In 1953 the BBC hired Welles to read an hour of selections from Walt Whitman's epic poem ''Song of Myself''. Towers hired Welles again, to play Professor Moriarty in the radio series, ''The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'', starring John Gielgud, and Ralph Richardson.

Late in 1953, Welles returned to America to star in a live CBS ''Omnibus'' television presentation of Shakespeare's ''King Lear''. The cast included MacLiammóir and the British actor, Alan Badel. While Welles received good notices, he was guarded by IRS agents, prohibited to leave his hotel room when not at the studio, prevented from making any purchases, and the entire sum (less expenses) he earned went to his tax bill. Welles returned to England after the broadcast.

In 1954, director George More O'Ferrall offered Welles the title role in the 'Lord Mountdrago' segment of ''Three Cases of Murder'', co-starring Badel. Herbert Wilcox cast him as the antagonist in ''Trouble in the Glen'' opposite Margaret Lockwood, Forrest Tucker, and Victor McLaglen. Old friend John Huston cast him as Father Mapple in his 1956 film adaptation of Herman Melville's ''Moby-Dick'', starring Gregory Peck.

''Mr. Arkadin''

Welles's next turn as director was the film ''Mr. Arkadin'' (1955), which was produced by his political mentor from the 1940s, Louis Dolivet. It was filmed in France, Germany, Spain and Italy on a very limited budget. Based loosely on several episodes of the Harry Lime radio show, it stars Welles as a billionaire who hires a man to delve into the secrets of his past. The film stars Robert Arden, who had worked on the Harry Lime series; Welles's third wife, Paola Mori, whose voice was dubbed by actress Billie Whitelaw; and guest stars Akim Tamiroff, Michael Redgrave, Katina Paxinou and Mischa Auer. Frustrated by his slow progress in the editing room, producer Dolivet removed Welles from the project and finished the film without him. Eventually five different versions of the film would be released, two in Spanish and three in English. The version that Dolivet completed was retitled ''Confidential Report''. In 2005 Stefan Droessler of the Munich Filmmuseum oversaw a reconstruction of the surviving film elements. Included in a DVD box set (''The Complete Mr. Arkadin'') released by The Criterion Collection, it is considered by Welles scholar and director Peter Bogdanovich to be the best version of Welles's original intentions for the film.

In 1955 Welles also directed two television series for the BBC. The first was ''The Orson Welles Sketchbook'', a series of six 15-minute shows featuring Welles drawing in a sketchbook to illustrate his reminiscences for the camera (including such topics as the filming of ''It's All True'' and the Isaac Woodard case), and the second was ''Around the World with Orson Welles'', a series of six travelogues set in different locations around Europe (such as Venice, the Basque Country between France and Spain, and England). Welles served as host and interviewer, his commentary including documentary facts and his own personal observations (a technique he would continue to explore). A seventh episode of this series, based on the Gaston Dominici case, was suppressed at the time by the French government, but was reconstructed after Welles's death and released to video in 1999.

In 1956 Welles completed ''Portrait of Gina'', posthumously aired on German television under the title ''Viva Italia'', a 30-minute personal essay on Gina Lollobrigida and the general subject of Italian sex symbols. Dissatisfied with the results—Welles recalled he had worked on it a lot and the result looked like it—he left the only print behind at the Ritz Hotel in Paris. The film cans would remain in a lost-and-found locker at the hotel for several decades, where they were discovered after Welles's death.

Return to Hollywood (1956–1959)

In 1956, Welles returned to Hollywood, guesting on radio shows (notably as narrator of ''Tomorrow'', a nuclear holocaust drama produced by the Federal Civil Defense Administration). He guest starred on television shows, including ''I Love Lucy,'' and began filming a projected pilot for Desilu, owned by Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz, who had recently purchased the former RKO studios. The film was ''The Fountain of Youth'', based on a story by John Collier. Originally deemed not viable as a pilot, the film wasn't aired until 1958. It won the Peabody Award for excellence. Welles's next feature film role was in ''Man in the Shadow'' for Universal Pictures in 1957, starring Jeff Chandler. Around this time period, however, Welles began to suffer from weight problems that would eventually cause a deterioration in his health.

''Touch of Evil''

Welles stayed on at Universal to direct (and co-star with) Charlton Heston in the 1958 film ''Touch of Evil'', based on Whit Masterson's novel ''Badge of Evil'' (Welles, who wrote the screenplay for the film, claimed never to have read the book). Originally only hired as an actor, Welles was promoted to director by Universal Studios at the insistence of Charlton Heston. Reuniting many actors and technicians with whom he'd worked in Hollywood in the 1940s (including cameraman Russell Metty (''The Stranger''), make-up artist Maurice Siederman (''Citizen Kane''), and actors Joseph Cotten, Marlene Dietrich, and Akim Tamiroff), filming proceeded smoothly, with Welles finishing on schedule and on budget, and the studio bosses praising the daily rushes. After the end of production, the studio re-edited the film, re-shot scenes, and shot new exposition scenes to clarify the plot. Welles wrote a 58-page memo outlining suggestions and objections. The studio followed a few of the ideas, but cut another 30 minutes from the film and released it. The film was widely praised across Europe, awarded the top prize at the Brussels World's Fair.

In 1978, the long preview version of the film was rediscovered and released. In 1998, editor Walter Murch and producer Rick Schmidlin, consulting the original memo, used a workprint version to attempt to create a version of the film as close as possible to that outlined in the memo. This is at best a compromise that should not be mistaken for Welles's original intent. Welles stated in that memo that the film was no longer his version—it was the studio's, but as such, he was still prepared to help them with it.

As Universal reworked ''Touch of Evil'', Welles began filming his adaptation of Miguel de Cervantes' novel ''Don Quixote'' in Mexico, starring Mischa Auer as Quixote and Akim Tamiroff as Sancho Panza. While filming would continue in fits and starts for several years, Welles would never complete the project.

Welles continued acting, notably in ''The Long, Hot Summer'' (1958) and ''Compulsion'' (1959), but soon returned to Europe.

Return to Europe (1959–1970)

He continued shooting ''Don Quixote'' in Spain, but replaced Mischa Auer with Francisco Reiguera, and resumed acting jobs. In Italy in 1959, Welles directed his own scenes as King Saul in Richard Pottier's film ''David and Goliath''. In Hong Kong he co-starred with Curt Jürgens in Lewis Gilbert's film ''Ferry to Hong Kong''. In 1960, in Paris he co-starred in Richard Fleischer's film Crack in the Mirror. In Yugoslavia he starred in Richard Thorpe's film ''The Tartars''.

By this time he had ceased filming ''Quixote''. Though he would continue toying with the editing well into the 1970s, he never completed the film. As the process went on, Welles gradually voiced all of the characters himself and provided narration. In 1992, the director Jesús Franco constructed a film out of the portions of ''Quixote'' left behind by Welles. Some of the film stock had decayed badly. While the Welles footage was greeted with interest, the post-production by Franco was met with harsh criticism.

In 1961 Welles directed ''In the Land of Don Quixote'', a series of eight half-hour episodes for the Italian television network RAI. Similar to the ''Around the World with Orson Welles'' series, they presented travelogues of Spain and included Welles's wife, Paola, and their daughter, Beatrice. Though Welles was fluent in Italian, the network was not interested in him providing Italian narration because of his accent, and the series sat unreleased until 1964, by which time the network had added Italian narration of its own. Ultimately, versions of the episodes were released with the original musical score Welles had approved, but without the narration.

''The Trial''

In 1962 Welles directed his adaptation of ''The Trial'', based on the novel by Franz Kafka and produced by Alexander Salkind and Michael Salkind. The cast included Anthony Perkins as Josef K, Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider, Paola Mori and Akim Tamiroff. While filming exteriors in Zagreb, Welles was informed that the Salkinds had run out of money, meaning that there could be no set construction. No stranger to shooting on found locations, Welles soon filmed the interiors in the Gare d'Orsay, at that time an abandoned railway station in Paris. Welles thought the location possessed a "Jules Verne modernism" and a melancholy sense of "waiting", both suitable for Kafka. The film failed at the box-office. Peter Bogdanovich would later observe that Welles found the film riotously funny. During the filming, Welles met Oja Kodar, who would later become his muse, star and mistress for the last twenty years of his life. Welles also stated in an interview with the BBC that it was his best film.

Welles played a film director in ''La Ricotta'' (1963)—Pier Paolo Pasolini's segment of the ''Ro.Go.Pa.G.'' movie, although his renowned voice was dubbed by Italian writer Giorgio Bassani. He continued taking what work he could find acting, narrating or hosting other people's work, and began filming ''Chimes at Midnight'', which was completed in 1966. Filmed in Spain, it was a condensation of five Shakespeare plays, telling the story of Falstaff and his relationship with Prince Hal. The cast included Keith Baxter, John Gielgud, Jeanne Moreau, Fernando Rey and Margaret Rutherford, with narration by Ralph Richardson. Music was again by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino. Jess Franco served as second unit director.

''Chimes at Midnight''

''Chimes at Midnight'' was based on Welles's play ''Five Kings'' which condensed five of Shakespeare's plays into one show in order to focus on the story of Falstaff. Welles produced the show in New York in 1939 but the opening night, where part 1 was acted, was a disaster and part 2 was never put on. He revamped the show and revisited it in 1960 at the Gate Theatre in Dublin. But again, it was not successful. However, this later production was used as the base for the movie. The script contained text from five plays: primarily ''Henry IV, Part 1'' and ''Henry IV, Part 2'', but also ''Richard II'', ''Henry V'', and ''The Merry Wives of Windsor''. Keith Baxter played Prince Hal, and internationally respected Shakespearean interpreter, John Gielgud, played the King, Henry IV. The film's narration, spoken by Ralph Richardson, is taken from the chronicler Raphael Holinshed. According to Jeanne Moreau, Welles delayed filming for two weeks due to stage fright. Welles held this film in high regard and considered it, along with ''The Trial'', his best work. As he remarked in 1982, "If I wanted to get into heaven on the basis of one movie, that's the one I'd offer up."

In 1966, Welles directed a film for French television, an adaptation of ''The Immortal Story'', by Karen Blixen. Released in 1968, it stars Jeanne Moreau, Roger Coggio and Norman Eshley. The film had a successful run in French theaters. At this time Welles met Kodar again, and gave her a letter he had written to her and had been keeping for four years; they would not be parted again. They immediately began a collaboration both personal and professional. The first of these was an adaptation of Blixen's ''The Heroine'', meant to be a companion piece to ''The Immortal Story'' and starring Kodar. Unfortunately, funding disappeared after one day's shooting. After completing this film, he appeared in a brief cameo as Cardinal Wolsey in Fred Zinnemann's adaptation of ''A Man for All Seasons''—a role for which he won considerable acclaim.

In 1967 Welles began directing ''The Deep'', based on the novel ''Dead Calm'' by Charles Williams and filmed off the shore of Yugoslavia. The cast included Jeanne Moreau, Laurence Harvey and Kodar. Personally financed by Welles and Kodar, they could not obtain the funds to complete the project, and it was abandoned a few years later after the death of Harvey. The surviving footage was eventually edited and released by the Filmmuseum München. In 1968 Welles began filming a TV special for CBS under the title ''Orson's Bag'', combining travelogue, comedy skits and a condensation of Shakespeare's play ''The Merchant of Venice'' with Welles as Shylock. Funding for the show sent by CBS to Welles in Switzerland was seized by the IRS. Without funding, the show was not completed. The surviving film clips portions were eventually released by the Filmmuseum München.

In 1969, Welles authorized the use of his name for a cinema in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Orson Welles Cinema remained in operation until 1986, with Welles making a personal appearance there in 1977. Also in 1969 he played a supporting role in John Huston's ''The Kremlin Letter''. Drawn by the numerous offers he received to work in television and films, and upset by a tabloid scandal reporting his affair with Kodar, Welles abandoned the editing of ''Don Quixote'' and moved back to America in 1970.

Final years (1970–1985)

Welles returned to Hollywood, where he continued to self-finance his own film and television projects. While offers to act, narrate and host continued, Welles also found himself in great demand on talk shows, and made frequent appearances for Dick Cavett, Johnny Carson, Dean Martin, and Merv Griffin. Welles's primary focus in this period was filming ''The Other Side of the Wind'', a project that took six years to film but has remained unfinished and unreleased. An early role was portraying Louis XVIII of France in ''Waterloo'' (1970). Welles also narrated the beginning and ending scenes of the Bud Yorkin historical comedy ''Start the Revolution Without Me'' (1970), which starred Gene Wilder, Donald Sutherland, and Hugh Griffith, among others. In 1971 Welles directed a short adaptation of ''Moby-Dick'', a one-man performance on a bare stage, reminiscent of his stage production ''Moby Dick Rehearsed'' from the 1950s. Never completed, it was eventually released by the Filmmuseum München. He also appeared in ''La Décade prodigieuse'', co-starring with Anthony Perkins and directed by Claude Chabrol, based on a detective novel by Ellery Queen. That same year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave him an honorary award "For superlative artistry and versatility in the creation of motion pictures". Welles pretended to be out of town and sent John Huston to claim the award. Huston criticized the Academy for awarding Welles while they refused to give him any work.

In 1972, Welles acted as on-screen narrator for the film documentary version of Alvin Toffler's 1970 book ''Future Shock''. Working again for a British producer, Welles played Long John Silver in director John Hough's ''Treasure Island'' (1972), an adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel, which had been the second story broadcast by ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' in 1938. Welles also contributed to the script, his writing credit was attributed to the pseudonym 'O. W. Jeeves'. Welles original recorded dialog was re dubbed by Robert Rietty.

In 1973, Welles completed ''F for Fake'', a personal essay film about art forger Elmyr de Hory and the biographer Clifford Irving. Based on an existing documentary by François Reichenbach, it included new material with Oja Kodar, Joseph Cotten, Paul Stewart and William Alland. An excerpt of Welles's 1930s ''War of the Worlds'' broadcast was recreated for this film, however none of the dialogue heard in the film actually matches what was originally broadcast. Welles filmed a five minute trailer, rejected in the US, that featured several shots of a topless Kodar.

Welles hosted and narrated a syndicated anthology series, ''Orson Welles's Great Mysteries,'' over the 1973–1974 television season. It did not last beyond that season; however, the program could be perceived as a television revival of the Mercury Theatre whose executive producer Welles had been in the 1930s and 1940s.

In 1975, Welles narrated the documentary ''Bugs Bunny: Superstar'', focusing on Warner Bros. cartoons from the 1940s. Also in 1975, the American Film Institute presented Welles with its third Lifetime Achievement Award (the first two going to director John Ford and actor James Cagney). At the ceremony, Welles screened two scenes from the nearly finished ''The Other Side of the Wind''. Filming had begun in 1972 and by 1976, Welles had almost completed the film. Financed by Iranian backers, ownership of the film fell into a legal quagmire after the Shah of Iran was deposed. Written by Welles, the story told of a destructive old film director looking for funds to complete his final film. It starred John Huston and the cast included Peter Bogdanovich, Susan Strasberg, Norman Foster, Edmond O'Brien, Cameron Mitchell, and Dennis Hopper. While there have been several reports of all the legal disputes concerning ownership of the film being settled, enough disputes still exist to prevent its release. The Showtime cable network has promised support for the project should the various entanglements associated with it be resolved.

In 1976, Paramount Television purchased the rights for the entire set of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe stories for Orson Welles. Welles had once wanted to make a series of Nero Wolfe movies, but Rex Stout — who declined Hollywood adaptations during his lifetime after two disappointing 1930s films — turned him down. Paramount planned to begin with an ABC-TV movie and hoped to persuade Welles to continue the role in a mini-series. Frank D. Gilroy was signed to write the television script and direct the TV movie on the assurance that Welles would star, but by April 1977 Welles had bowed out. In 1980 the Associated Press reported "the distinct possibility" that Welles would star in a Nero Wolfe TV series for NBC television. Again, Welles bowed out of the project due to creative differences and William Conrad was cast in the role.

In 1979 Welles completed his documentary ''Filming Othello'', which featured Michael MacLiammoir and Hilton Edwards. Made for West German television, it was also released in theaters. That same year, Welles completed his self-produced pilot for ''The Orson Welles Show'' television series, featuring interviews with Burt Reynolds, Jim Henson and Frank Oz and guest-starring The Muppets and Angie Dickinson. Unable to find network interest, the pilot was never broadcast. In 1979 Welles also appeared in the biopic ''The Secret of Nikola Tesla'', and a cameo in ''The Muppet Movie'' as Lew Lord.

Beginning in the late 1970s, Welles participated in a series of famous television commercial advertisements. For two years he was on-camera spokesman for the Paul Masson Vineyards, and sales grew by one third during the time Welles intoned what became a popular catchphrase: "We will sell no wine before its time." He was also the voice behind the long-running Carlsberg "Probably the best lager in the world" campaign and promoted Domecq sherry on British television.

In 1981, Welles hosted the documentary ''The Man Who Saw Tomorrow'', about Renaissance-era prophet Nostradamus. In 1982 the BBC broadcast ''The Orson Welles Story'' in the ''Arena'' series. Interviewed by Leslie Megahey, Welles examined his past in great detail, and several people from his professional past were interviewed as well. It was reissued in 1990 as ''With Orson Welles: Stories of a Life in Film''. Welles provided narration for the tracks "Defender" from Manowar's album Fighting the World and "Dark Avenger" on Manowar's 1982 album, ''Battle Hymns''. His name was misspelled on the latter album, as he was credited as "Orson Wells".

During the 1980s, Welles worked on such film projects as ''The Dreamers'', based on two stories by Isak Dinesen and starring Oja Kodar, and ''The Orson Welles Magic Show'', which reused material from his failed TV pilot. Another project he worked on was ''Filming The Trial'', the second in a proposed series of documentaries examining his feature films. While much was shot for these projects, none of them was completed. All of them were eventually released by the Filmmuseum München.

In 1984, Welles narrated the short-lived television series ''Scene of the Crime''. During the early years of ''Magnum, P.I.'', Welles was the voice of the unseen character Robin Masters, a famous writer and playboy. Welles's death forced this minor character to largely be written out of the series. In an oblique homage to Welles, the ''Magnum, P.I.'' producers ambiguously concluded that story arc by having one character accuse another of having hired an actor to portray Robin Masters.

The last film roles before Welles's death included voice work in the animated films ''The Enchanted Journey'' (1984) and ''The Transformers: The Movie'' (1986), in which he played the planet-eating robot Unicron. His last film appearance was in Henry Jaglom's 1987 independent film ''Someone to Love'', released after his death but produced before his voice-over in ''Transformers: The Movie''. His last television appearance was on the television show ''Moonlighting''. He recorded an introduction to an episode entitled "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice", which was partially filmed in black and white. The episode aired five days after his death and was dedicated to his memory.

Personal life

Relationships and family

In 1934, Welles eloped with Chicago-born actress and socialite Virginia Nicolson. They divorced in 1940 after Welles's affair with Vera Zorina was vaguely mentioned in Walter Winchell's column.

Since 1932, Welles had fallen in love with Mexican actress, Dolores del Río. They lived a torrid romance between 1938 and 1942, though he was ten years her junior. They collaborated together in the movie ''Journey into Fear'' but the affair ended soon afterward.

Welles married Rita Hayworth in 1943. The couple became estranged during the making of ''The Lady from Shanghai''. After five years, Rita filed for divorce, her reason to the press being, "I can't take his genius any more." During his last interview and only two hours before his death, Welles answered Merv Griffin's suggestive comment "But one of your wives—oh, I have envied you so many years for Rita Hayworth", by calling her "one of the dearest and sweetest women that ever lived" and saying that he was "lucky enough to have been with her longer than any of the other men in her life."

In 1955 Welles married Italian actress Paola Mori (Countess Paola Di Girifalco). Estranged for decades, the couple were never divorced. Croatian-born actress Oja Kodar became Welles's longtime companion both personally and professionally from 1966 on. They lived together for the last twenty-four years of his life. A year after Orson's death, Paola and Oja finally agreed on the settling of his will. On the way to their meeting to sign the papers, however, Paola was killed in a car accident.

Welles had three children: author Christopher Welles, or Chris Welles Feder (born in 1938, with Virginia Nicolson), Rebecca Welles Manning (born December 17, 1944 – died October 14, 2004, with Rita Hayworth) and Beatrice Welles (born in 1955, with Paola Mori).

Some of Welles's claimed familial ties have not held up under scrutiny. Despite the persistent urban legend, promoted by Welles himself, he was not the great-grandson of Abraham Lincoln's wartime Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles. Perhaps the genesis of the myth dates to a 1970 interview on ''The Dick Cavett Show'' during which Welles remarks about his venerable great-grandfather Gideon Welles. Orson Welles's father was Richard Head Welles, son of his paternal grandfather Richard Jones Welles; Gideon Welles had no son by that name. His sons were Hubert (1833–1862), John Arthur (1845–1883), Thomas G. (1846–1892), and Edgar Thaddeus Welles (1843–1914).

Physical characteristics

According to a 1941 physical exam taken when he was 26, Welles was tall and weighed . His eyes were brown. Other sources cite that he was tall, but the slates from costume tests made during the 1940s show him as . Welles gained a significant amount of weight in his 40s, eventually rendering him morbidly obese, at one point weighing nearly four hundred pounds (181.4 kg). His obesity was severe to the point that it restricted his ability to travel, aggravated other health conditions, including his asthma, and even required him to go on a diet in order to play the famously portly Sir John Falstaff. Some have attributed his over-eating and drinking to depression over his marginalization by the Hollywood system.

Religious beliefs

In April 1982, Merv Griffin interviewed Welles and asked about his religious beliefs. Welles replied, "I try to be a Christian, I don't pray really, because I don't want to bore God." After the success of his 1941 film ''Citizen Kane'', Welles announced that his next film would be about the life of Jesus, and that he would play the lead role. However, Welles never got around to making the film. He narrated the Christian documentary ''The Late, Great Planet Earth'' as well as the 1961 Biblical film about the life of Christ, ''King of Kings''.

Politics

Welles was politically active from the beginning of his career. He remained a man of the left throughout his life, and always defined his political orientation as "progressive". He was a strong supporter of Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal, and often spoke out on radio in support of progressive politics. In particular, he was an early and outspoken critic of American racism and the practice of segregation. He campaigned heavily for Roosevelt in the 1944 election. For several years, he wrote a newspaper column on political issues and briefly toyed with running for office. In 1970, Welles narrated (but did not write) a satirical political record on the administration of President Richard Nixon entitled ''The Begatting of the President''.

In the 2006 book, ''Whatever Happened to Orson Welles?'', writer Joseph McBride made several controversial claims about Welles. Though Welles said otherwise during his lifetime, McBride claimed Welles left America in the late 1940s to escape McCarthyism and the Hollywood blacklist. McBride also claimed, in spite of the sexual content of Welles's contemporary work (''F for Fake'' and the unfinished ''Other Side of the Wind''), that Welles was extremely puritanical about sex based on his comment to Peter Bogdanovich that ''The Last Picture Show'' was "a dirty movie".

Welles once told ''Cahiers du cinéma'' about sex in film, "In my opinion, there are two things that can absolutely not be carried to the screen: the realistic presentation of the sexual act and praying to God."

Death

On October 10, 1985, Welles did his final interview on ''The Merv Griffin Show''. He died two hours later of a heart attack at his home in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, the same day as his ''Battle of Neretva'' co-star Yul Brynner. Welles's ashes were buried on the property of a long time friend, retired bullfighter Antonio Ordóñez, in Ronda, Spain.

Unfinished projects

Welles's reliance on self-production meant that many of his later projects were filmed piecemeal or were not completed. Welles financed his later projects through his own fundraising activities. He often also took on other work to obtain money to fund his own films.

''Don Quixote''

In the mid-1950s, Welles began work on ''Don Quixote'', initially a commission from CBS television. Welles expanded the film to feature length, developing the screenplay to take Quixote and Sancho Panza into the modern age. Filming stopped with the death of Francisco Reiguera, the actor playing Quixote, in 1969. Orson Welles continued editing the film into the early 1970s. At the time of his death, the film remained largely a collection of footage in various states of editing. The project and more importantly Welles's conception of the project changed radically over time. A version of the film was created from available fragments in 1992 and released to a very negative reception.

''The Merchant of Venice''

In 1969 Welles was given another TV commission to film a condensed adaptation of ''The Merchant of Venice''. Although Welles had actually completed the film by 1970 the finished negative was later mysteriously stolen from his Rome production office.

''The Other Side of the Wind''

In 1970 Welles began shooting ''The Other Side of the Wind''. The film relates the efforts of a film director (played by John Huston) to complete his last Hollywood picture and is largely set at a lavish party. By 1972 the filming was reported by Welles as being "96% complete", though it is likely that Welles had only edited about 40 minutes of the film by 1979. In that year, legal complications over the ownership of the film forced the negative into a Paris vault where it remained until 2004, when Peter Bogdanovich (who also acted in the film) announced his intention to complete the production. As of 2009, legal complications over the Welles estate have kept the film from being finished or released. Some footage is included in the documentary ''Working with Orson Welles'' (1993).

Other unfinished projects

''Heart of Darkness'': Welles's projected first film in 1940, planned in extreme detail and with some test shots filmed. (The footage is now lost.) It was planned to be entirely shot in long takes from the point of view of the narrator, Marlow, who would be played by Welles, seeing his own reflection in the window as his boat sailed down river. The project was abandoned because it could not be delivered on budget, and ''Citizen Kane'' was made instead. ''Mr. American'': Early 1940 drafts of ''Citizen Kane'' were based far more overtly on the life of Howard Hughes than on William Randolph Hearst, and would have made for a substantially different picture.

''It's All True'': Welles did not originally want to direct this 1942 documentary on South America, but after its abandonment by RKO, he spent much of the 1940s attempting to buy the negative of his material from RKO, so that he could edit and release it in some form. The footage remained unseen in vaults for decades, and was assumed lost. Over 50 years later, some (but not all) of the surviving material saw release in the 1993 documentary ''It's All True: Based on an Unfinished Film by Orson Welles''.

''Monsieur Verdoux'': In 1944, Welles wrote the first-draft script of this film, which he also intended to direct. Charlie Chaplin initially agreed to star in it, but later changed his mind, citing never having been directed by someone else in a feature before. Chaplin bought the film rights and made the film himself in 1947, with some changes (Welles said the gallows scenes were written by Chaplin, but that much of the film was unchanged from his own script). The final film credits Chaplin with the script, "based on an idea by Orson Welles".

''Cyrano de Bergerac'': Welles spent around nine months c. 1947-8 co-writing the screenplay for this along with Ben Hecht, a project Welles was assigned to direct for Alexander Korda. He began scouting for locations in Europe whilst filming ''Black Magic'', but Korda was short of money, so sold the rights to Columbia pictures, who eventually dismissed Welles from the project, and then sold the rights on to United Artists, who in turn made a film version in 1950, which was not based on Welles's script. ''Around the World in 80 Days'': After Welles's elaborate musical stageshow of this Jules Verne novel, encompassing 38 different sets, he began shooting some test footage in Morocco for a film version in 1947. The footage was never edited, funding never came through, and Welles abandoned the project. Nine years later, the stage show's producer Mike Todd made his own award-winning film version of the book. ''Moby Dick Rehearsed'': a film version of Welles's 1955 London meta-play, starring Gordon Jackson, Christopher Lee, Patrick McGoohan, and with Welles as Ahab. Using bare, minimalist sets, Welles alternated between a cast of nineteenth-century actors rehearsing a production of ''Moby Dick'', with scenes from ''Moby Dick'' itself. Kenneth Williams, a cast member who was apprehensive about the entire project, recorded in his autobiography that Welles's dim, atmospheric stage lighting made some of the footage so dark as to be unwatchable. The entire play was filmed, but is now presumed lost. The recording was made during one weekend at the Hackney Empire theatre. ''Histoires extraordinaires'': The producers of this 1968 anthology film, based on short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, announced in June 1967 that Welles would direct one segment based on both "Masque of the Red Death" and "The Cask of Amontillado" for the omnibus film. Welles withdrew in September 1967 and was replaced. The script, written in English by Welles and Oja Kodar, is in the Filmmuseum Munchen collection. ''One-Man Band'': This Monty Python-esque spoof in which Welles plays all but one of the characters (including two characters in drag), was made around 1968-9. Welles intended this completed sketch to be one of several items in a television special on London. Other items filmed for this special – all included in the "One Man Band" documentary by his partner Oja Kodar – comprised a sketch on Winston Churchill (played in silhouette by Welles), a sketch on peers in a stately home, a feature on London gentlemen's clubs, and a sketch featuring Welles being mocked by his snide Savile Row tailor (played by Charles Gray).

''Treasure Island'': Welles wrote two screenplays for this in the 1960s, and was eager to seek financial backing to direct it. Eventually, his own screenplay (under the pseudonym of O.W. Jeeves) was further rewritten, and formed the basis of the 1972 film version directed by John Hough, in which Welles played Long John Silver.

''The Deep'': An adaptation of Charles Williams' ''Dead Calm''. The picture was entirely set on two boats and shot mostly in close-ups, and was filmed off the coasts of Yugoslavia and the Bahamas, between 1966 and 1969, with all but one scene completed. Originally planned as commercially viable thriller, to show that Welles could make a popular, successful film. It was put on hold in 1970 when Welles worried that critics would not respond favourably to this film as his theatrical follow-up to the much-lauded ''Chimes at Midnight'', and Welles focused instead on ''F for Fake''. It was abandoned altogether in 1973 due to the death of its star Laurence Harvey. The Munich Film Museum holds a restored copy, with title cards filling out the missing scene. ''Saint Jack''. In 1978 Welles was lined up by his long-time protégé Peter Bogdanovich (who was then acting as Welles's ''de facto'' agent) to direct this adaptation of the 1973 Paul Theroux novel about an American pimp in Singapore. Hugh Hefner and Bogdnovich's then-partner Cybill Shepherd were both attached to the project as producers, with Hefner providing finance through his Playboy productions. However, both Hefner and Shepherd became convinced that Bogdanovich himself would be a more commercially viable director than Welles, and insisted that Bogdanovich take over. Since Bogdanovich was also in need of work after a series of box office flops, he agreed. When the film was finally made in 1979 by Bogdanovich and Hefner (but without Welles or Shepherd's participation), Welles felt betrayed and according to Bogdanovich the two "drifted apart a bit". ''Filming The Trial'': After the success of his 1978 film ''Filming Othello'' made for West German television, and mostly consisting of a monologue to the camera, Welles began shooting scenes for this follow-up film, but never completed it. What Welles did film was an 80 minute question-and-answer session in 1981 with film students asking about the film. The footage was kept by Welles's cinematographer Gary Graver, who donated it to the Munich Film Museum, which then pieced it together with Welles's trailer for the film, into an 83 minute film which is occasionally screened at film festivals.

''The Big Brass Ring'': A script of this project was eventually adapted and filmed by George Hickenlooper in 1999 as a play-within-a-film, about Orson Welles's production of the play. Welles's complete screenplay was one of his last projects, written in 1985.

''King Lear'': At the time of his death, Welles was in talks with a French production company to direct a film version of the Shakespeare play, in which he would also play the title role.

An adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's novel ''Ada'' for which Welles flew to Paris to discuss the project personally with the Russian author.

Legacy

The 1996 documentary ''The Battle Over Citizen Kane'' chronicles the battle between Welles and Hearst. A 1999 HBO docudrama, ''RKO 281'', tells the story of the making of ''Citizen Kane'', starring Liev Schreiber as Orson Welles.

Tim Robbins's 1999 film ''Cradle Will Rock'' chronicles the process and events surrounding Welles and John Houseman's production of the 1937 musical by Marc Blitzstein. In it, Welles is played by actor Angus MacFadyen.

Playwright and actor Austin Pendleton wrote the play ''Orson's Shadow'' about Welles and his collaboration with Laurence Olivier. It deals with the time that Welles directed Laurence Olivier in a production of Eugène Ionesco's play ''Rhinoceros''. According to this play, Welles privately disliked Olivier's film adaptations of Shakespeare's works (which were far more successful than Welles's), at one point stating that Olivier's film of ''Hamlet'' "looked like a Joan Crawford movie". Welles struggled with getting Olivier to play not merely someone lower-class (as he did in ''The Entertainer'') but getting Olivier to play someone utterly non-descript.

Author Kim Newman has featured Orson Welles as a character in several stories from his Anno Dracula series.

In the Tim Burton-directed biopic ''Ed Wood'' (1994), Welles (played by Vincent D'Onofrio and dubbed by Maurice LaMarche) makes a brief "cameo appearance", giving advice to director Edward D. Wood, Jr. who idolises Welles. Inspired, Wood proceeds to finish his film ''Plan 9 from Outer Space'', sometimes called one of the worst films of all time. Though ''Ed Wood'' is based on Wood's life, in reality the scene is entirely fictional: Wood never met Orson Welles. D'Onofrio would again portray Welles in the 2005 30-minute film ''Five Minutes Mr. Welles'' concerning Welles's role in the film ''The Third Man''.

Although the character Brain from the animated series ''Animaniacs'' and ''Pinky and the Brain'' was not initially modeled after Welles, Maurice LaMarche was shown a picture of Brain and tasked with finding a voice for the character. LaMarche immediately thought of Welles and decided to do his Welles impersonation. LaMarche also played Welles in ''The Critic'' (where his "later work", ads for such products as 'Mrs. Pell's Fishsticks', is referenced) and in the ''Futurama'' episode "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences", in which he performs a ''WOTW''-like play.

One of the recurring celebrity characters on the influential Canadian sketch comedy TV show ''Second City Television'' (SCTV) was John Candy's impersonation of Welles. ON SCTV, Candy-as-Welles appeared in an embarrassing array of commercials, talk shows, and other low-budget productions. It's unknown whether or not Welles ever saw Candy's impersonation.

''Me and Orson Welles'', released in November 2009, stars Zac Efron as a teenager who convinces Welles (Christian McKay) to cast him in Welles's 1937 production of ''Julius Caesar'', based on Robert Kaplow's novel.

The final segment of ''The Simpsons'' "Treehouse of Horror XVII" features a parody of Welles's 1938 War Of The Worlds radio broadcast in which, having been fooled once, the people of Springfield refuse to believe that an actual alien invasion is taking place. Welles was again voiced by Maurice LaMarche in the episode.

Filmography

Awards

The American Film Institute ranked ''Citizen Kane'' as the greatest American movie. These other Welles films were nominated for their list: ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' (1942, director/producer/screenwriter); ''The Third Man'' (1949, actor); ''Touch of Evil'' (1958, actor/director/screenwriter); and ''A Man for All Seasons'' (1966, actor).

''Citizen Kane'' was nominated for numerous prizes at the 1941 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor in a Leading Role. The only Oscar won, however, was Best Original Screenplay, which Welles shared with Herman J. Mankiewicz. Welles later gave his statuette to cinematographer Gary Garver as payment for services rendered. Also, the film ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' was nominated for Best Picture, a year later.

''The Stranger'' was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1947. Welles himself was awarded a Career Golden Lion in 1970.

In 1952, Welles's ''Othello'' won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Welles was nominated for Best Foreign Actor in a Leading Role at the 1968 BAFTA Awards for his performance in ''Chimes at Midnight''.

Welles was given the first Career Golden Lion award in the Venice Film Festival in 1970.

In 1970, Welles won an Honorary Academy Award for "superlative and distinguished service in the making of motion pictures." In light of his poor treatment by the Academy and by the American film industry in general, Welles did not attend the ceremony. In 1970, he was awarded the French Légion d'honneur, the highest civilian decoration in France. Welles was also a distinguished Foreign Member of the Académie française, succeeded by Peter Ustinov.

Welles was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Film Institute in 1975.

In 1978, Welles was presented with the Los Angeles Film Critics Career Achievement Award.

n 1979, Welles was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.

In 1982, Welles was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture at the Golden Globe Awards for his role in ''Butterfly'', and won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Recording for his role on ''Donovan's Brain''.

Welles was awarded a Fellowship of the British Film Institute in 1983.

In 1984, Welles was given the D. W. Griffith Award of the Directors Guild of America.

In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Welles as the 16th Greatest Male Star of All Time.

When asked to describe Welles's influence, Jean-Luc Godard remarked: "Everyone will always owe him everything." (Ciment, 42)

A highly divergent genus of Hawaiian spiders "Orsonwelles" is named in his honor (Hormiga et al. 2003)

He won three Grammy Awards, each win in the category of Best Spoken Word Recording: in 1976, for "Great American Documents" (shared with Helen Hayes, Henry Fonda and James Earl Jones; in 1978, for the original motion picture soundtrack to ''Citizen Kane''; and in 1981, for a recording of ''Donovan's Brain''.

In 2008 a statue of Welles sculpted by Oja Kodar was erected in the town of Split, Croatia.

References

Bibliography

Anderegg, Michael: ''Orson Welles, Shakespeare and Popular Culture'', New York: Columbia University Press, 1999

Bazin, Andre: ''Orson Welles'', Harper and Row, 1978

Benamou, Catherine L.: ''It's All True: Orson Welles's Pan-American Odyssey'', Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007

Beja, Morris, ed.: ''Perspectives on Orson Welles'', G. K. Hall, 1995

Berg, Chuck and Erskine, Tom, ed.: ''The Encyclopedia of Orson Welles'', Checkmark Books, 2003

Bessy, Maurice: ''Orson Welles: An investigation into his films and philosophy'', Crown, 1971

Bogdanovich, Peter and Welles, Orson ''This Is Orson Welles'', HarperPerennial 1992, ISBN 0-06-092439-X

Brady, Frank: ''Citizen Welles'', New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1989

Callow, Simon: ''The Road to Xanadu''. London: Jonathan Cape, 1995.

Callow, Simon: ''Hello Americans''. London: Jonathan Cape, 2006.

Carringer, Robert: ''The Making of Citizen Kane'', Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985

Carringer, Robert: ''The Magnificent Ambersons: a Reconstruction'', Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993

Ciment, Michel: "Les Enfants Terribles" in ''American Film'', December 1984

Comito, Terry, ed.: ''Touch of Evil'', Rutgers, 1985

Conrad, Peter: ''Orson Welles: The Stories of His Life'', London: Faber and Faber, 2003

Cowie, Peter: ''The Cinema of Orson Welles'', Da Capo Press, 1973.

D'Angela, Toni (ed.), ''Nelle terre di Orson Welles'', Alessandria: Edizioni Falsopiano 2004.

Davies, Anthony: ''Filming Shakespeare's Plays'', Cambridge University Press, 1988

Drazin, Charles: ''In Search of the Third Man'', Limelight, 2000

Estrin, Mark: ''Orson Welles Interviews'', University Press of Mississippi, 2002

Feder, Chris Welles: ''In My Father's Shadow: a Daughter Remembers Orson Welles'', Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2009

France, Richard, ed.: ''Orson Welles on Shakespeare'', London: Routledge, 2001

France, Richard: "The Theatre of Orson Welles", Bucknell University Press, 1977

Garis, Robert: "The Films of Orson Welles", Cambridge University Press, 2004

Gosling, John: "Waging the War of the Worlds", McFarland & Company, Inc, 2009

Gottesman, Ronald, ed.: ''Focus on Citizen Kane'', Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1971

Gottesman, Ronald, ed.: ''Focus on Orson Welles'', Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1976

Greene, Graham: ''The Third Man'', London: Faber and Faber, 1991

Heyer, Paul: ''The Medium and the Magician: Orson Welles, the Radio Years'', Totowa: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005

Heylin, Clinton. ''Despite the System: Orson Welles Versus the Hollywood Studios'', Chicago Review Press, 2005

Higham, Charles: ''The Films of Orson Welles'', Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970

Higham, Charles: "Orson Welles: The Rise and Fall of an American Genius", New York: St. Martin's Press, 1985

Hormiga, G., M.A. Arnedo & R.G. Gillespie, 2003, "Speciation on a Conveyor Belt: Sequential Colonization of the Hawaiian Islands by "Orsonwelles" spiders (Araneae: Linyphiidae)., Syst. Biol. 52, 89–109.

Howard, James: "The Complete Films of Orson Welles", Citadel Press, 1991

Ishaghpour, Youssef: ''Orson Welles, cinéaste, une caméra visible'', éditions de la différence, 2001

Jorgens, Jack J.: ''Shakespeare on Film'', Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1977

Leaming, Barbara: ''Orson Welles'', New York: Viking, 1985

Lyons, Bridget Gellert, ed.: ''Chimes at Midnight'', Rutgers, 1988

Mac Liammóir, Micháel. ''Put Money in Thy Purse: The Filming of Orson Welles's Othello'', Virgin, 1994

McBride, Joseph: ''Orson Welles'', Harcourt Brace, 1977

McBride, Joseph: ''Orson Welles'', Da Capo Press, 1996.

Mulvey, Laura: ''Citizen Kane'', London: BFI, 1992

Naremore, James. ''The Magic World of Orson Welles'', Southern Methodist University Press, 1989.

Naremore, James, ed.: ''Orson Welles's Citizen Kane: a Casebook'', Oxford University Press, 2004

Noble, Peter: ''The Fabulous Orson Welles'', London: Hutchinson and Co., 1956

Perkins, V. F.: ''The Magnificent Ambersons'', London: BFI, 1999

Rosenbaum, Jonathan: "Orson Welles's Essay Films and Documentary Fictions", in ''Placing Movies'', Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995

Rosenbaum, Jonathan: "The Battle Over Orson Welles", in ''Essential Cinema'', Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004

Rosenbaum, Jonathan: "Orson Welles as Ideological Challenge" in ''Movie Wars'', A Capella Books, 2000

Rosenbaum, Jonathan: ''Discovering Orson Welles'', Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007

''Shakespeare Bulletin'', Volume 23, Number 1, Spring 2005: Special Welles issue.

Simon, William G., ed.: "Special Welles issue", in: ''Persistence of Vision: the Journal of the Film Faculty of the City University of New York''; Number 7, 1988

Simonson, Robert. "Orson's Shadow Talkback Series Continues May 4 with Welles's Daughter." May 3, 2005

Taylor, John Russell: ''Orson Welles: a Celebration'', Pavilion, 1986

Taylor, John Russell: ''Orson Welles'', Pavilion, 1998

Walsh, John Evangelist: ''Walking Shadows: Orson Welles, William Randolph Hearst and Citizen Kane'', Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004

Walters, Ben: ''Welles'', London: Haus Publishing, 2004 ISBN 978-1-904341-80-2

Welles, Orson: ''Les Bravades'', Workman, 1996

Welles, Orson and Bogdanovich, Peter: ''This is Orson Welles'', Da Capo Press, 1998.

Welles, Orson: ''Mr. Arkadin'', London: HarperCollins, 2006

Welles, Orson: ''The Big Brass Ring'', Black Spring Press, 1991

Welles, Orson: ''The Cradle Will Rock'', Santa Teresa Press, 1994

Welles, Orson: "The Other Side of the Wind", in: ''Cahiers du cinéma''/ Festival International du Film de Locarno, 2005

White, Rob: ''The Third Man'', London: BFI, 2003

Wood, Bret: ''Orson Welles: a Bio-Bibliography'', Greenwood Blue, 1990

External links

Wellesnet

Special about Orson Welles, ''La furia umana'', n°4, 2010, with pieces by James Naremore, Jonathan Rosenbaum,

Toni D'Angela, Richard Hell, Denis Lévy, Chris Fujiwara and others, lafuriaumana.it

''Orson Welles – The One Man Band'' (1995)

''Senses of Cinema'' Great Directors Critical Database: Orson Welles

Orson Welles bibliography

Orsonwelles.co.uk

Mercury Theatre on the Air

The Unseen Welles

Guide to the Orson Welles Materials: Lily Library, Indiana University

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name	Kevin Clash
birth date	September 17, 1960
birth place	Turners Station, Baltimore County, Maryland, United States
occupation	Puppeteer, voice actor
school	Dundalk High School }}

Kevin Jeffrey Clash (born September 17, 1960) is an American voice actor and puppeteer whose characters include Elmo, Baby Sinclair, Clifford, Splinter and Hoots the Owl. He currently serves as ''Sesame Street'' Muppet Captain and co-executive producer.

In the fall of 2006, Clash released an autobiography titled ''My Life as a Furry Red Monster: What Being Elmo Has Taught Me About Life, Love and Laughing Out Loud''.

Television appearances

His first television work was for the then-CBS affiliate in Baltimore, WMAR, on a show called "Caboose". He also performed a pelican character for ''Zep'', a local Washington, D.C. show airing on WTOP-TV.

In the early '80s, he performed regularly, with Jim Martin, on Bob Keeshan's ''Captain Kangaroo'' series, as well as building puppets and occasionally appearing on-camera.

From 1981 to 1986, he appeared in ''The Great Space Coaster'', as Goriddle Gorilla and Huggle Scuffy. On that show, he attracted the attention of Muppet designer Kermit Love, who invited him to work on various Henson projects.

Coming to the Muppets

Kevin Clash first met puppet-builder Kermit Love in the year 1978. Kermit Love was occasionally able to arrange for Kevin Clash to visit the set of ''Sesame Street''. In 1979, the main Muppet performers were performing in the bus scene in ''Muppet Movie'' the ''Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade'', and extra puppeteers were needed for the ''Sesame Street'' float, so Kevin Clash got to perform Cookie Monster in the parade.

Later, in 1983, he was officially hired to perform in ten episodes of ''Sesame Street''. However, at the time Clash was performing full-time on two other shows, and the producers of both shows refused to work around his schedule, so he was forced to tear up his contract to appear on ''Sesame Street''.

Kevin Clash was also given the opportunity to perform in ''The Dark Crystal'', but Kermit Love talked him out of being involved in the movie, saying that he should concentrate on his work in the series with which he was currently involved.

Kevin Clash officially became a puppeteer on ''Sesame Street'' in 1984. Some of his earliest characters included Hoots the Owl, Baby Natasha, and Dr. Nobel Price, but it was Elmo who became his main character. Clash has also sung in voice-over in a variety of film and animation songs on ''Sesame Street'', including "In My Animal Book" and "Take Care of That Smile". During the late 1980s, Clash was involved with a variety of Henson productions. He performed P.J. in the Play-Along videos, and Father Bunny and Be-Bop in ''Tale of the Bunny Picnic''. He would also perform Eliott Shag on ''Dog City'', various characters in ''Muppet Time'' insertials, and he performed a number of characters—most notably Baby Sinclair, but also Howard Handupme—on ''Dinosaurs''. He also performed the title character in the ''Muppet Sing-Along'' video ''Billy Bunny's Animal Songs''.

The Jim Henson Hour

Clash became one of the main Muppet performers on ''The Jim Henson Hour''. His two main characters on that show were the lizard-like Leon and the bass player Clifford. Of these two, only Clifford has remained a major character, having also appeared in ''The Muppets at Walt Disney World''; ''The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson''; an appearance on ''The Arsenio Hall Show''; the albums ''Muppet Beach Party'' and ''Kermit Unpigged''; and the feature films ''Muppets from Space'' and ''The Muppets' Wizard of Oz''. However, Clifford became a star when he hosted the short-lived ''Muppets Tonight''. On that show, Clash also performed Mulch and Craniac.

Film credits

Clash's film credits include Jim Henson's fantasy film ''Labyrinth''; ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'', and ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze''; The Muppet movies ''Muppet Treasure Island'', ''Muppets from Space'', ''It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie'', and ''The Muppets' Wizard of Oz''; and the ''Sesame Street'' films ''Follow That Bird'' and ''The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland''.

Additional work

Clash was co-executive producer for ''Elmopalooza'', co-producer for ''The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland'', and co-executive producer for ''CinderElmo'' and ''Elmo's World''. He has also served as either puppet coordinator, assistant puppet coordinator, or puppet captain on many productions, including ''Labyrinth'', ''Muppet Treasure Island'', ''The Puzzle Place'', ''Big Bag'' and ''Dog City''.

He occasionally played Miss Piggy and Statler in ''Muppets Tonight''.

Other appearances

Food Network

Kevin Clash was also a featured guest on The Food Network show "Grill It! with Bobby Flay". He shares his "Killer Ribeye Steak" recipe.

Being Elmo : A Puppeteer's Journey

Kevin Clash is the subject of an award-winning documentary ''Being Elmo : A Puppeteer's Journey'' released in 2011 and screened at American film festivals. Narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, this documentary includes rare archival footage, interviews with Frank Oz, Rosie O’Donnell, Cheryl Henson, Joan Ganz Cooney and others and offers a behind-the-scenes look at Sesame Street and the Jim Henson Workshop.

Puppeteer credits

Muppet Characters: Black Dog, Carter, Clifford, Leon, Mulch, Polly Lobster, Real Old Tom, Spa'am, Sam the Eagle (in ''It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie'')

''Sesame Street'' Characters: Elmo, Baby Tooth, Benny Rabbit, Hoots the Owl, Kingston Livingston III, Mel, Natasha, Wolfgang the Seal, Ferlinghetti Donizetti, The Big Bad Wolf (several '80s Sesame Street News Flash skits), The Duck

Sesame Beginnings'': Baby Elmo

''Dinosaurs'': Baby Sinclair, Howlin' Jay, Dinosaur Chief (face), Ethyl (sometimes, puppetry only), Howard Handupme, Monster (face), Mr. Ashland (face), Pterodactyl (puppetry only)

''Dog City (special)'': Ace Yu

''Dog City (series)'': Eliot Shag

''Labyrinth'': Fiery 1, Ambrosius (puppetry only), One of The Four Guards (puppetry only)

''Muppet Sing-A-Long: Billy Bunny's Animal Songs'': Billy Bunny

''The Tale of the Bunny Picnic'': Be-Bop, Father

''The Great Space Coaster'': Goriddle Gorilla (voice)

''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'': Splinter

''The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland'': Grouch Jailer and Pestie

''A Sesame Street Christmas Carol'': Sam the Super Automated Ghost of Christmas Future (voice only)

''Follow That Bird'': Additional Muppet Performer

Awards & honors

Clash won Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series for his work as Elmo and Hoots the Owl on ''Sesame Street'' in 1990, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009.

He was the first recipient of the 'Miss Jean' Worthley Award for Service to Families and Children given by Maryland Public Television on June 9, 2007.

References and footnotes

External links

Downloadable 15-minute interview with Kevin Clash from Wisconsin Public Television Kevin Clash talks about the development of his love of puppetry, how he became Elmo and what it's like to voice the most popular toy ever.

CNN profile an in-depth interview with photos for Black History Month

'Sesame Street' Turns 35: Kevin Clash and Elmo audio interview on National Public Radio

"Being Elmo : A Puppeteer's Journey" documentary film about Kevin Clash

Muppet wiki: Kevin Clash

Category:1960 births Category:Sesame Street Muppeteers Category:Muppet performers Category:American voice actors Category:American puppeteers Category:African American actors Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners Category:Living people Category:People from Baltimore, Maryland

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