Me and Orson Welles (2008)

Actors

• Greg Bennett (actor)
• Leo Bill (actor)
• Cris Blanco (actor)
• Shane James Bordas (actor)
• Michael Brandon (actor)
• Aaron Brown (actor)
• Ben Chaplin (actor)
• Cosmo Currey (actor)
• Zac Efron (actor)
• Mark Flanagan (actor)
• David Garbutt (actor)
• Alessandro Giuggioli (actor)
• Garrick Hagon (actor)
• Jools Holland (actor)
• Thomas Arnold (actor)

Genres

• Drama

Taglines:

All's fair in love and theater

Quotes:

Orson Welles: Cinna is Shakespeare's indictment of the intelligentsia. He's a lofty, Byronic figure.

Orson Welles: Where is thou ukulele?::Richard Samuels: I think some asshole... doth... stole it

Orson Welles: Do you know Booth Tarkington's "The Magnificent Ambersons?" Tarkington was a family friend. The character of Eugene, the inventor, is based on my father who died when I was fifteen. My mother when I was nine. "Ambersons" is about how everything gets taken away from you.

Orson Welles: Look at us, Runyon. Me without my story and you without your girl. We can't ever tell what will happen at all, can we? Once I stood in Grand Central Station to say goodbye to a pretty girl. I was wild about her. In fact, we decided we couldn't live without each other, and we were to be married. When we came to say goodbye we knew we wouldn't see each other for almost a year. I thought I couldn't live through it - and she stood there crying. Well, I don't even know where she lives now, or if she is living. If she ever thinks of me at all, she probably imagines I'm still dancing in some ballroom somewhere... Life and money both behave like quicksilver in a nest of cracks. And when they're gone we can't tell where - or what the devil we did with 'em...

John Houseman: This is an infinitely rewarding partnership, Orson. You go around smashing everything, you disenfranchise every friend, every supporter we have. And then I'm left desperately trying to clean up your mess. Because I am the one who ends up making the apologies, making the corrections, and making the ten thousand phone calls...::Orson Welles: And I'm out acting in "The Shadow" and "The March of Time" and every other piece-of-shit radio show in this city, just to pour my money into this son-of-a-bitch theater that you're supposed to be running.::John Houseman: That I'm 'supposed to be running?' I am killing myself trying to run it!

Joseph Cotten: Welcome to quadruple-space, kid.::Richard Samuels: What's quadruple space?::Joseph Cotten: You know in a novel, when the main characters are finally about to shtup? They can't describe it or otherwise they can't print the book. They just go, 'He hugged her hard, and they fell into bed.' Period. Quadruple space.::Norman Lloyd: The next paragraph the sun is rising and the milkman is knocking the bottles together.::Joseph Cotten: All the good stuff happens in the quadruple space.::Norman Lloyd: Fertilizer's hoping to make his next thirty years one long quadruple space.::Joseph Cotten: Forty.

Sonja Jones: Mercury. This is she... Oh, Mr. Ingram, Orson left just two minutes ago... he took an ambulance to beat the traffic... Well, you know, according to Orson there's no law on the books that says you have to be sick to take an ambulance. Of course, that's according to Orson, which probably means it isn't really true but it ought to be...

Richard Samuels: Well, I wish you luck.::Sonja Jones: I won't need luck. I don't believe in luck.::Richard Samuels: I don't think I do anymore, either. It's kind of a relief, isn't it, not believing in luck?::Sonja Jones: I don't want to keep Mr. Selznick, waiting, do I? How do I look?::Richard Samuels: Like a girl who's going to give me one blindingly beautiful parting kiss.

Sonja Jones: Orson wants to stay with me tonight.::Richard Samuels: Stay with you tonight?::Sonja Jones: I'm in no position to refuse.::Richard Samuels: What are you talking about?::Sonja Jones: I have to watch out for myself. That's what my whole life has taught me again and again.

[first lines]::Dr. Mewling: By the year of 1592, Shakespeare was already an actor, and a playwright. Records of how his stage career began have not survived. We do know that in 1594 he joined a theater troupe. Called... anyone remember? Not everyone at once now. The Lord Chamberlain's Men.

RKO 281 (1999)

Actors

• Simeon Andrews (actor)
• William Armstrong (actor)
• Jay Benedict (actor)
• Ron Berglas (actor)
• Paul Birchard (actor)
• Neil Conrich (actor)
• James Cromwell (actor)
• Michael Cronin (actor)
• Liam Cunningham (actor)
• Louis Hammond (actor)
• Aaron Keeling (actor)
• Joseph Long (actor)
• John Malkovich (actor)
• Gareth Marks (actor)
• Roger Allam (actor)

Genres

• Biography
• Drama

Quotes:

Welles's Mother: Orson, come into the light. Never stand in the shadows -- you were made for the light. Always remember that.

[last lines]::Herman J. 'Mank' Mankiewicz: All stars burn out, Orson. It's the flame that counts.::Orson Welles: [toasts] To the flame.::Herman J. 'Mank' Mankiewicz: To the flame.

William Randolph Hearst: There is nothing to understand. Only this: I am a man who could have been great, but was not.

[Addressing the RKO shareholders]::Orson Welles: Good afternoon. Today a man from Germany invaded Greece. He's already swallowed Poland, Denmark, Norway, and Belgium. He's bombing London as I speak. Everywhere this man goes he crushes the life and the freedom of his subjects. He sews yellow stars on their lapels, he takes their voices. In this country, we still have our voices. We can argue with them, and we can sing, and we can be heard because we are, for the moment, free. No one can tell us what to say or how to say it, can they? Gentlemen, I am one voice; that is all. My picture is one voice, one view, one opinion, nothing more. Men are dying in Europe now, and Americans soon will be so that we can surmount the tyrants and the dictators. Will you send a message across America that one man can take away our voices? So, who is Mr. Hearst, and who is Mr. Welles? Well, Mr. Hearst built a palace of brick and mortar, and little wars and corpses piled high. Mr. Welles built a palace of illusion. It's a, what we call a matte painting, it's a camera trick, it's nothing. Nothing but a dream. Today you have the chance to let the dream triumph. Thank you.

Orson Welles: Everything I am, everything I could be is in that picture.

Orson Welles: I expected better of you, Mank.::Herman J. 'Mank' Mankiewicz: Me too, but I got used to it.

Herman J. 'Mank' Mankiewicz: What about Marion?::Orson Welles: Another animal in his zoo.::Herman J. 'Mank' Mankiewicz: That is love to him. "I love you, I built you a beautiful cage."

Herman J. 'Mank' Mankiewicz: Every man loves, Orson. Or has loved.

William Randolph Hearst: My battle with the world is almost over. Yours is just beginning.::Orson Welles: Kane would've taken the tickets.

[In the lobby, opening night]::Herman J. 'Mank' Mankiewicz: Rosebud's a sled! Rosebud's a sled.

Orson Welles Sells His Soul to the Devil (1999)

Actors

• Matt Bray (actor)
• Todd Butera (actor)
• Frankie Faison (actor)
• David Heckel (actor)
• Kevin Keaveney (actor)
• Matt Rankin (actor)
• Ray Schiel (actor)
• Kate Anthony (actress)
• Melanie Ashley (actress)
• Camille McCord (actress)
• Jay Bushman (producer)
• Jay Bushman (writer)
• Alexander DeMammos (composer)
• Loren Bevans (costume designer)
• Jay Bushman (director)

Genres

• Short

Cradle Will Rock (1999)

Actors

• Tommy Allen (actor)
• Tony Amendola (actor)
• Bobby Amore (actor)
• Lee Arenberg (actor)
• Robert Ari (actor)
• Hank Azaria (actor)
• Ian Bagg (actor)
• Bob Balaban (actor)
• Chris Bauer (actor)
• Ned Bellamy (actor)
• Matthew Bennett (actor)
• Jack Black (actor)
• Rubén Blades (actor)
• Brian Brophy (actor)
• Robert Aberdeen (actor)

Genres

• Drama

Taglines:

Art is never dangerous -- unless it tells the truth.

Quotes:

Gray Mathers: Get in the car! Now!::Countess LaGrange: Perhaps you've mistaken me for a spaniel.

John Houseman: As the producer, I can fire anybody I want, and I am fucking fired!

John Houseman: I've always said the play would be better on a bare stage.::Orson Welles: Actually, Hallie said that.::John Houseman: No, I said it first.::Orson Welles: No you didn't.::John Houseman: Yes I did.::Orson Welles: No, you didn't!::John Houseman: Yes, I did!::Orson Welles: No, you DIDN'T!::John Houseman: Yes, I BLOODY WELL DID!::Orson Welles: Oh, *fine*, Jack! You win, you've got the biggest creative dick, okay?::John Houseman: Thank you.

Marc: I am faithful to the ideals of the party.::Orson Welles: I am faithful to the party of ideas.::John Houseman: You are faithful to the idea of a party.

Diego Rivera: You're a piece of work. A Jewish fascist!::Margherita Sarfatti: And you, a wealthy communist!

Bertolt Brecht: But where are the artists? Artists are the worst whores of all!

Security Guard: Mr Rivera, Mr Rockefeller has told us to give you your comission check. Your services are no longer required.

Tommy Crickshaw: If you guys are going to kill my joke at least kill it right.

Congressman Starnes: You are quoting from this Marlowe. Is he a Communist?::Hallie Flanagan: I am very sorry. I was quoting from Christopher Marlowe.::Congressman Starnes: Tell us who Marlowe is, so we can get the proper reference, because that is all we want to do.::Hallie Flanagan: Put in the record that he was the greatest dramatist in the period immediately preceding Shakespeare.

Orson Welles: No one should be afraid of an idea!

Houseman, John Filmography

• Tales from the Mist: Inside 'The Fog'
  2002, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Twentieth Century Fox: The Blockbuster Years
  2000, role: actor , character name: Charles W. Kingsfield Jr
• Saboteur: A Closer Look
  2000, role: actor , character name: Himself
• The Best of Film Noir
  1999, role: actor , character name: Himself
• The Best of Hollywood
  1998, role: actor , character name: Interview
• The Complete Citizen Kane
  1991, role: actor , character name: Himself
• L'homme qui a vu l'homme qui a vu l'ours
  1990, role: actor , character name: Himself
• The 61st Annual Academy Awards
  1989, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Bright Lights, Big City
  1988, role: actor , character name: Mr. Vogel
• Scrooged
  1988, role: actor , character name: Himself
• The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
  1988, role: actor , character name: Driving Instructor
• Another Woman
  1988, role: actor , character name: Marion's Father
• Lincoln
  1988, role: actor , character name: Gen. Winfield Scott
• Our Planet Tonight
  1987, role: actor , character name: Himself - Host
• Olympic Gala
  1984, role: actor , character name: Himself - Guest
• The American Film Institute Salute to Lillian Gish
  1984, role: actor , character name: Himself
• The Good Fight: The Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War
  1984, role: actor
• The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts
  1983, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Peace on Borrowed Time
  1983, role: actor , character name: Himself - Host
• Choices of the Heart
  1983, role: producer
• A Rose for Emily
  1983, role: actor , character name: Narrator
• Freedom to Speak
  1982, role: actor , character name: Benjamin Franklin
• Murder by Phone
  1982, role: actor , character name: Stanley Markowitz
• The Brand New Illustrated Journal of the Arts
  1982, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Ghost Story
  1981, role: actor , character name: Sears James
• Stages: Houseman Directs Lear
  1981, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Starring Katharine Hepburn
  1981, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Wholly Moses!
  1980, role: actor , character name: The Archangel
• Gideon's Trumpet
  1980, role: producer
• Gideon's Trumpet
  1980, role: actor , character name: Chief Justice
• Gideon's Trumpet
  1980, role: actor , character name: Offscreen Narrator
• My Bodyguard
  1980, role: actor , character name: Dobbs
• A Christmas Without Snow
  1980, role: actor , character name: Ephraim Adams
• The 37th Annual Golden Globe Awards
  1980, role: actor , character name: Himself
• The Babysitter
  1980, role: actor , character name: Dr. Lindquist
• The Fog
  1980, role: actor , character name: Mr. Machen
• The Merry Wives of Windsor
  1980, role: actor , character name: Himself - Host
• The 33rd Annual Tony Awards
  1979, role: actor , character name: Himself - Presenter: Best Featured Actor in a Play
• Tales of the Unexpected
  1979, role: actor , character name: Himself
• The 31st Annual Emmy Awards
  1979, role: actor , character name: Himself - Presenter: Best Directing in a Limited Series or a Special
• Tales of the Unexpected
  1979, role: actor , character name: Host
• Old Boyfriends
  1979, role: actor , character name: Doctor Hoffman
• The Television Annual: 1978/1979
  1979, role: actor , character name: Himself
• The French Atlantic Affair
  1979, role: actor , character name: Dr. Archady Clemens
• The American Film Institute Salute to Alfred Hitchcock
  1979, role: actor , character name: Himself
• The Last Convertible
  1979, role: actor , character name: Dr. Wetherell
• The Cheap Detective
  1978, role: actor , character name: Jasper Blubber
• The Best of Families
  1977, role: actor , character name: Host
• Our Town
  1977, role: actor , character name: Prof. Willard
• The Displaced Person
  1977, role: actor , character name: Father Flynn

Houseman, John Filmography

• Ill Met by Moonlight
  1957, role: actor

Houseman, John Filmography

• Sandy: From Heartbreak to Hope
  2012, role: producer
• Dr Steve
  2011, role: producer

Famous quotes by John Houseman:

"Corporate society takes care of everything. All it asks of anyone -- all it has ever asked of anyone ever -- is not to interfere with management decisions,"

"While the juggling is always entertaining, the vaudevillian-style clowning around is less successful. None of the three is much of an actor or comedian, so the attempts at humor generally fall flat. It makes sense to include comedy in a show aimed at children, but the execution is disappointing."