The daughter of Orson Welles lives in Sedona. Her name is Beatrice, she is 59 years old, and is the offspring of Welles and his third and last wife, Paola Mori.
Beatrice has decided to
auction off several items from Welles’ estate because she thinks they would be
better off in the hands of those who appreciate Welles’ work rather than
gathering dust in a museum. Since she
lives in Sedona, I assume she is not destitute and selling the stuff just to
get some dough. Her reasoning makes
sense too. I’m sure there are still many
Orson Welles fans around who will appreciate his mementos.
There may be some who never
heard of Orson Welles. For those who fit
that category, it’s all right since Welles died in 1985 at age 70 and I realize
that for many younger movie fans, nothing happened before their lifetimes. They are still mesmerized by Donnie Walberg
and Leonardo DiCaprio.
I admit that Welles was an
acquired taste for many but he did enough in his lifetime to gain fame and
produce a lot of great films. He also
scared the hell out of a lot of people on Halloween night, October 30, 1938
when he and his Mercury Theater players did a radio version of H. G. Wells’
sci-fi classic, “The War of the Worlds.” Most of the six million who tuned into that
broadcast knew it was a spoof but enough thought it was real enough to cause
quite a stir.
If I was to choose some
favorite films by Welles I would start with probably his greatest: “Citizen
Kane” (1941). Although William Randolph Hearst’s
name is never used in the film, Charles Foster Kane showed a remarkable resemblance
to Hearst while Dorothy Comingore resembled his lover, actress Marion Davies.
Booth Tarkington’s “The
Magnificent Ambersons” (1942) is another fine Welles’ film with a great cast
consisting of Agnes Moorehead, Welles (as narrator), Joseph Cotten and other
stars of the day. Unfortunately, after
Welles completed the film and was working on another project, his studio (RKO)
sweetened the ending of that film which was a big mistake.
In 1949, Welles starred in “The
Third Man” which may have been his best acting role as the evil Harry
Lime. The use of a zither for the
background music is haunting and adds a lot to the suspense. A beautiful and young Alida Valli isn’t hard
on the eyes either. She was quite a dish!
In 1958, “Touch of Evil” was
released and portrayed Welles as an aging, blustering, crooked police officer
in a small Mexican border town (actually filmed in Venice, California). Welles is outstanding among a cast that
includes Janet Leigh and Charlton Heston in the unbelievable role as a Mexican
narcotics officer!
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Orson Welles (R) and Joseph Cotten in "The
Third Man" (1949)
