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Orson Welles facts

While investigating facts about Orson Welles Movies and Orson Welles War Of The Worlds, I found out little known, but curios details like:

In 1936, Orson Welles directed an entirely African American cast in a production of Macbeth set in the Caribbean, nicknamed Voodoo Macbeth, where Haitian vodou took the place of Scottish witchcraft

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The 'hysteria' created by Orson Welles' 'War Of The Worlds' was a myth created by newspapers to instil fear over the power of broadcast radio

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 50 of the best facts about Orson Welles Books and Orson Welles Films I managed to collect.

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  1. Ted Turner planned to colorize Citizen Kane, but scrapped the project after Orson Welles' dying wish was ''Don't let Ted Turner deface my movie with his crayons.''

  2. When Mel Brooks hired Orson Welles to narrate History of the World pt.1, he budgeted $5,000 a day for 5 days. Welles completed all the narration perfectly by noon on the first day, making $25,000 for 3 hours work. He said he planned to spend the money on Cuban cigars and caviar.

  3. Orson Wells's office was secretly bugged. Orson acknowledged the room was bugged and would greet the room upon arrival and farewell upon leaving as if he was on a radio show. "This is Orson Wells signing off."

  4. In 1971 there was a failed attempt to adapt Dune to film. It would have included Salvador Dali, Orson Welles, and Mick Jagger acting with music by Pink Floyd. Its failure caused the SFX head to go into a psychiatric hospital where he later wrote the script for "Alien".

  5. Orson Welles was a lifelong practitioner of magic, and that in 1953 he filmed a short where he pretended to interact from the screen with a live magic performer, and that David Copperfield used this film to interact with him posthumously on television in 1992.

  6. Orson Wells was only 23yrs old when he gave his famous 'War of the Worlds' Broadcast, and only 26yrs old when he produced, co-authored, directed, and starred in Citizen Kane.

  7. Stalin ordered the assassination of John Wayne. Stalin was angered by John Wayne’s anti-communist rhetoric and ordered the KGB to kill him. John Wayne learned of the plot from from Orson Wells and the FBI. Wayne worked with some stuntmen friends and foiled several attempts on his life.

  8. Orson Welles, influential actor and director of the classic film "Citizen Kane," ended his prolific career by playing Unicron, a planet-eating robot in "Transformers: The Movie".

  9. In 1936 Orson Welles directed an adaptation of Macbeth with an entirely black cast

  10. Orson Welles' radio adaptation of "War of the Worlds" never actually caused a mass panic in 1938. This rumor was created by newspaper journalists in an attempt to discredit radio as a medium because they felt threatened by it.

orson welles facts
What are the best facts about Orson Welles?

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The character of Brain (from Pinky and the Brain) was based off of Orson Welles, and was directly inspired by tape of Welles being a cranky b*stard during the taping of a commercial.

Transformers the Movie (1986) starred the voice acting of Leonard Nimoy and Orson Welles - source

A costume ball held in Venice, 1951, is considered the "party of the century." Hosted by an eccentric millionaire, a thousand guests attended, including Salvador Dali, Christian Dior, & Orson Wells. Many that weren't invited arrived by yacht and anchored offshore, hoping they would get in.

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Gregg Toland, cinematographer for Citizen Kane, wanted to work with Orson Welles because he anticipated the first time director's inexperience and reputation for audacious experimentation would allow him to try new and innovative camera techniques

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Transformers: The Movie was Orson Welles final film role.

Orson received a scholarship to attend Harvard University after graduating from Todd Seminary in 1931. He chose to travel instead and left for Europe.

Orson returned to the Todd school and began a writing project - a series of books called Everybody's Shakespeare. This took him to North Africa to work on thousands of illustrations.

Orson Welles gave his voice in 1986 animation adaptation of The Transformers. This was his last role before his death.

How old was orson welles when he died?

Orson Welles co-wrote, directed, and produce the film Citizen Kane, and despite immense pressure from the Hollywood film community to destroy the film, it was released and gained great praise. The National Board of Review and New York Film Critics Circle named it the best picture of 1941.

Orson Welles was once so drunk whilst recording an advert for “champagne” that he had to re-record the lines later on and dub then over.

Orson landed his first radio job in 1934.

Orson Welles was earning up to $2000 a week between 1935 and 1937, working between different radio studios.

How old was orson welles when he died?

Towards the end of his life Orson Welles was so heavy he became tightly wedged in the front seat of a car. The car had to be taken apart to remove him.

RKO Pictures offered Orson Welles an unheard-of contract in 1939 which allowed him total control as a filmmaker and actor for two films. Hollywood studios resented the contract.

Orson Welles stated that Buster Keaton's movie The General was the highest cinematic comedy achievement and even likely the greatest movie ever made at the time.

In May 1937, Orson Welles met Ernest Hemingway, who accused him of being gay. They swung at each other, then became drinking buddies.

The mass panic caused by Orson Welles radio broadcast of War of the World never actually took place. Newspapers greatly exaggerated the to steer advertisers away from radio.

On October 30th, 1938 Orson Welles performed a radio play of The War of the Worlds. It was an adaptation of H.G. Wells" book and caused panic as audiences were led to believe that it was real. The novel was made into Hollywood movies and the radio broadcast and its effects are still talked about today.

Orson Welles was only 26 years old when he made Citizen Kane.

The "national panic" caused by Orson Welles's reading of War of the Worlds, was just a story spread by newspapers to make radio look bad.

Orson met Thornton Wilder in 1933 at a party in Chicago and was then sent to NYC to meet Katharine Cornell whose husband subsequently signed Orson to a contract to perform in plays.

Orson married Virginia Nicolson in 1934.

There have only been three people nominated for both Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars: Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, and Sylvester Stallone

In 1975, director Alejandro Jodorowsky planned to film an adaptation of the epic science-fiction novel 'Dune' starring Salvador Dalí, David Carradine, Orson Wells and Mick Jagger with the soundtrack provided by Pink Floyd. However, it was never filmed due to the lack of funding.

In the time before doing “War of the Worlds” Orson Welles traveled around the world and met people like Houdini, Igor Strawinsky and a guy called Adolf Hitler that “made so little impression on me that I can't remember a second of it“

Orson Welles went on to have a highly successful film, theatre, and radio career. He won many awards including the Academy Award for Best Screenplay for Citizen Kane.

The radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds, which Orson Welles directed and narrated on October 30th, 1938, made him instantly famous. Listeners that missed the introduction thought they were listening to a news broadcast and thought the world was being invaded by extraterrestrials.

This is our collection of basic interesting facts about Orson Welles. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is Orson Welles so important!

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