Orson Welles (redirected from Orson Wells)

Welles, Orson 

Born May 6, 1915, in Kenosha, Wis. American motion-picture producer, director, actor, and writer.

Welles began his theatrical career in Dublin in 1931 as an actor. Returning to the USA, he directed an innovative production of Macbeth in 1936 and presented a famed radio production of H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds in 1938. Welles’ first film, Citizen Kane (1941; screenplay by Welles and H. Mankiewicz), in which Welles played the title role, became a landmark not only of American film art but of world film art as well. The theme of power and its destructive influence on the human personality was developed by Welles in other films, such as Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1948) and Mister Arkadin (1955; based on a novel by Welles); Welles directed both films and played the title roles. Attempting to resolve sociopolitical problems in such films as The Magnificent Ambersons (1942; based on a novel by B. Tarkington) and The Lady From Shanghai (1946; based on a novel by S. King), Welles encountered the opposition of Hollywood filmmakers and left the USA in the late 1940’s. Welles was unable to realize many of his creative projects because of financial difficulties.

Films directed by Welles include Shakespeare’s Othello (1952), Kafka’s The Trial (1962), and Chimes at Midnight (1966; based on Shakespeare’s plays, with Welles playing the role of Falstaff). Welles also appeared in the films The Third Man (1949; directed by C. Reed), Moby Dick (1956; directed by J. Huston), and Waterloo (1970; directed by S. F. Bondarchuk).

REFERENCES

Cowie, P. The Cinema of Orson Welles. London, 1965. (References, pp. 197–207.)
Orson Uells: Stat’i, Svidetel’stva, Interv’iu. Moscow, 1975.

IA. A. BEREZNITSKII