Orson Welles

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Orson Welles

Orson Welles has remained a key figure in the history of films , theatre and radio . He received a lifetime achievement Oscar in 1971 , the American Film Institute 's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1975 , and despite his lack of commercial success , the Directors Guild of America awarded him their highest accolade , the D .W . Griffith award . His life is an amazing episode of struggle , success and failure . What is most remarkable about his career is that he has worked simultaneously

in the three media . The influence of theatre and radio on his filmmaking is very obvious . More so , his adaptations of Shakespeare in the three media provide an evidence of this close interaction . He used Shakespeare 's original texts repeatedly during his career , from a high school production of `Richard III ' to the projected film version of `King Lear at the time he died . He acclaimed tremendous fame from his radio prank `War of the Worlds ' and went on to become a brand-name in film history He is regarded as the most innovative and daring in cinema , theatre and radio . Despite his tremendous talent , production of his films faced irrecoverable problems , which earned him the label of `doomed director This will analyze the life and work of Orson Welles , scrutinizing his achievements as well as his failures

Orson Welles was born on 6 May 1915 in Kenosha , Wisconsin , USA . His father was an established inventor and his mother a beautiful concert pianist . Since his childhood he had lot of interest in many arts like magic , piano and painting . He was only nine when his mother died . After his mother 's death , he traveled the world with his father . His father also did not live long and died when Orson Welles was fifteen . He graduated from Todd School in Woodstock , Illinois in 1931 and decided to explore himself . In his school life , he had developed passion for film and theatre . After graduation , he made several unsuccessful attempts to enter the London and Broadway stages . His dream finally turned into reality when he got into Katherine Cornell 's road company , with which he made his New York debut as Tybalt in 1934 . The same year , he appeared on the radio for the first time and also got married . His first film to be seen by the public was Citizen Kane (1941 , a commercial failure losing RKO 150 ,000 , but regarded by many as the best film ever made . He explored all the three media in North America and Europe and kept bouncing between the two till his death in 1985 (Berg and Erskine 2-7

Theatre was Welles ' first love and the first medium where his acting directing and designing talents started to stand out . At Todd School when he was just a teenager , he directed his first play . He never got any professional or formal training , yet his early work speaks of his remarkable talent . In 1931 , Welles got his first professional...