Also in 1975, the American Film Institute presented Welles with its third Lifetime Achievement Award (the first two going to director John Ford and actor James Cagney). Orson Welles Net Worth $20 million. [29]:549550 A brief private funeral was attended by Paola Mori and Welles's three daughtersthe first time they had ever been together. His co-star, Akim Tamiroff, impressed Welles so much that Tamiroff would appear in four of Welles's productions during the 1950s and 1960s. All of them were eventually released by the Filmmuseum Mnchen. November 19, 2012 Eddie Deezen. The tragic death occurred 37 . Harry Alan Towers offered Welles another series, The Black Museum, which ran for 52 weeks with Welles as host and narrator. Movie star Rita Hayworth, the ''Love Goddess,'' was a favorite pin-up of GIs during World War II. The daughter of actor Orson Welles and actress Rita Hayworth. [55]:165 On the stage was a series of risers; squares were cut into one at intervals and lights were set beneath it, pointing straight up to evoke the "cathedral of light" at the Nuremberg Rallies. The surviving film clips portions were eventually released by the Filmmuseum Mnchen. They were followed by Heartbreak House (April 29, 1938) and Danton's Death (November 5, 1938). "[184]:12, Welles was politically active from the beginning of his career. The restoration went on to a successful theatrical run in America. [67]:16 Mankiewicz based the original outline of the film script on the life of William Randolph Hearst, whom he knew socially and came to hate after being exiled from Hearst's circle. In 1968 Welles began filming a TV special for CBS under the title Orson's Bag, combining travelogue, comedy skits and a condensation of Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice with Welles as Shylock. Orson Welles (arms raised) rehearses his radio depiction of H.G. "[38], After his father's death, Welles traveled to Europe using a small portion of his inheritance. "Rock to opera, a full list of nominees"; 2017: Ken Closterman, Tony Delap, Peter Lane, U.S. Del Ro returned to Mexico in 1943, shortly before Welles married Rita Hayworth. [141]:154 The film reunited many actors and technicians with whom Welles had worked in Hollywood in the 1940s, including cameraman Russell Metty (The Stranger), makeup artist Maurice Seiderman (Citizen Kane), and actors Joseph Cotten, Marlene Dietrich and Akim Tamiroff. [101], The development of the show coincided with the resolution of Welles's oft-changing draft status in May 1943, when he was finally declared 4-Funfit for military servicefor a variety of medical reasons. It became the job of American radio to emphasize their common experience and essential unity. [175] McKerrow died on June 18, 2010, suddenly in his sleep at the age of 44. His performance as the announcer in the series' April 1937 presentation of Archibald MacLeish's verse drama The Fall of the City was an important development in his radio career[45]:78 and made the 21-year-old Welles an overnight star. The couple divorced in 1947. [58]:64. In 1998, Walter Murch reedited the film according to Welles's specifications in his memo. He approached the War Assistance League of Southern California and proposed a show that evolved into a big-top spectacle, part circus and part magic show. While much was shot for these projects, none of them was completed. Airing August 29, 1942, on the Blue Network, the program was presented in cooperation with the United States Department of the Treasury, Western Union (which wired bond subscriptions free of charge) and the American Women's Voluntary Services. They reached an agreement with Oja Kodar, who inherited Welles's ownership of the film, and Beatrice Welles, manager of the Welles estate;[202] but at the end of 2015, efforts to complete the film were at an impasse. After completing this film, he appeared in a brief cameo as Cardinal Wolsey in Fred Zinnemann's adaptation of A Man for All Seasonsa role for which he won considerable acclaim. At this time Welles met Oja Kodar again, and gave her a letter he had written to her and had been keeping for four years; they would not be parted again. Not known Orson Welles Salary Detail. He also did commercials for the Preview Subscription Television Service seen on stations around the country including WCLQ/Cleveland, KNDL/St. "If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.". The script, written in English by Welles and Oja Kodar, is in the Filmmuseum Munchen collection.[215]. "[71], Hearst's newspapers barred all reference to Citizen Kane and exerted enormous pressure on the Hollywood film community to force RKO to shelve the film. In his spare time, Marlon Brando loved to play the drums and the congas, watch professional wrestling, practice boxing, operate HAM radio . [58]:46, In July 1937, the Mutual Network gave Welles a seven-week series to adapt Les Misrables. This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 22:11. From 1949 to 1951, Welles worked on Othello, filming on location in Italy and Morocco. In Yugoslavia he starred in Richard Thorpe's film The Tartars and Veljko Bulaji's Battle of Neretva. A long-time supporter and campaign speaker for FDR, he occasionally sent the president ideas and phrases that were sometimes incorporated into what Welles characterized as "less important speeches". Orson Welles is a member of Actor. [54], Beginning January 1, 1938, Caesar was performed in repertory with The Shoemaker's Holiday; both productions moved to the larger National Theatre. 2023 Celebrity Net Worth / All Rights Reserved. He eventually returned to the U.S. after not being able to find consistent work. [26]:335, Outside the scope of the Federal Theatre Project,[33]:100 American composer Aaron Copland chose Welles to direct The Second Hurricane (1937), an operetta with a libretto by Edwin Denby. He just went ahead and performed them. George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 - October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. Cornell's husband, director Guthrie McClintic, immediately put Welles under contract and cast him in three plays. [39]:134 Welles made his stage debut at the Gate Theatre on October 13, 1931, appearing in Ashley Dukes's adaptation of Jud S as Duke Karl Alexander of Wrttemberg. In 1956, Welles returned to Hollywood.[137]. Sometimes Orson was holding the camera himself, but wherever the camera was, he had put it there, and all the lights were placed exactly where he said they were to be put. In the lawless land of Gando, fierce bandits will stop at nothing to fight for their precious homeland and loved ones even if it means life or death. Welles was cremated by prior agreement with the executor of his estate, Greg Garrison,[29]:592 whose advice about making lucrative TV appearances in the 1970s made it possible for Welles to pay off a portion of the taxes he owed the IRS. We had not had such a man in our theater. In 1992, the director Jess Franco constructed a film out of the portions of Quixote left behind by Welles. The combination of the news bulletin form of the performance with the between-breaks dial spinning habits of listeners was later reported to have created widespread confusion among listeners who failed to hear the introduction, although the extent of this confusion has come into question. Welles was an outsider to the studio system and struggled for creative control on his projects early on with the major film studios in Hollywood and later in life with a variety of independent financiers across Europe, where he spent most of his career. In addition to acting in the film, Welles was the producer. Under national director Hallie Flanagan it was shaped into a truly national theatre that created relevant art, encouraged experimentation and innovation, and made it possible for millions of Americans to see live theatre for the first time. [34] His father's will left it to Orson to name his guardian. That same year, Welles completed his self-produced pilot for The Orson Welles Show television series, featuring interviews with Burt Reynolds, Jim Henson and Frank Oz and guest-starring the Muppets and Angie Dickinson. The film that Welles was obliged to make in exchange for Harry Cohn's help in financing the stage production Around the World was The Lady from Shanghai, filmed in 1947 for Columbia Pictures. [29]:372,374 One of these ideas was the joke in what came to be called the Fala speech, Roosevelt's nationally broadcast September 23 address to the International Teamsters Union which opened the 1944 presidential campaign. Herbert Wilcox cast Welles as the antagonist in Trouble in the Glen opposite Margaret Lockwood, Forrest Tucker and Victor McLaglen. Welles replied, "Please tell him I really appreciate that offer, but I am an atheist. [35]:182, A revised production of Katharine Cornell's Romeo and Juliet opened December 20, 1934, at the Martin Beck Theatre in New York. While in his 20s, Welles directed high-profile stage productions for the Federal Theatre Project, including an adaptation of Macbeth with an entirely African-American cast and the political musical The Cradle Will Rock. [212], In 1944, Welles wrote the first-draft script of Monsieur Verdoux, a film that he also intended to direct. Some footage is included in the documentaries Working with Orson Welles (1993), Orson Welles: One Man Band (1995), and most extensively They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018). Welles also contributed to the script, although his writing credit was attributed to the pseudonym 'O. because at that time the Russian author moved from America to Europe. He also began working as a radio actor in Manhattan and quickly became very popular. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. As per our current Database, Orson Welles died on Oct 10, 1985 (age 70). [26]:331332 "Within a year of his debut Welles could claim membership in that elite band of radio actors who commanded salaries second only to the highest paid movie stars," wrote critic Richard France. On October 10, 1985, Orson Welles died at his home in Los Angeles. ", "The Myth of The War of the Worlds Panic", "War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast Causes Panic", "Orson Welles Running into Trouble on Citizen Kane Follow-Up, The Magnificent Ambersons", The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures, "Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator", Magic, An Independent Magazine for Magicians, "Orson Welles Rejected by Army (May 6, 1943)", "70 years ago: Orson Welles's patriotism, military service made headlines", "The Jack Benny Program for Grape-Nuts and Grape-Nuts Flakes", "Opening Fifth War Loan Drive, June 12, 1944", Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, "Brief History of World War Two Advertising Campaigns War Loans and Bonds", "Fenway Park is spectacle of color as leaders rally for FDR", "Around the World Musical Opened on Broadway 70 years ago", "Orson Welles Sought Justice for Issaac Woodard 70 years ago", "Orson Welles doth foully slaughter Shakespeare in a dialect version of his "Tragedy of Macbeth"or so sayeth Life magazine", "Orson Welles and pan-Europeanism 19571970", "I Love Lucy (195657), 'Lucy Meets Orson Welles', "Who's Out There Orson Welles narrates a NASA show on intelligent life in the Universe", "Orson Welles Oja Kodar Papers 19101998 (Box 17)", "George the bear seeks new followers as Hofmeister lager returns", "Orson Welles I Know What It Is To Be Young (But You Don't Know What It Is To Be Old) (CD) at Discogs". "[5] He has been praised as "the ultimate auteur". He left the only copy of it in his room at the Htel Ritz in Paris. [102]:142 During his last interview, recorded for The Merv Griffin Show on the evening before his death, Welles called Hayworth "one of the dearest and sweetest women that ever lived and we were a long time togetherI was lucky enough to have been with her longer than any of the other men in her life."[169]. Welles's growing fame drew Hollywood offers, lures that the independent-minded Welles resisted at first. Welles wrote two screenplays for Treasure Island in the 1960s, and was eager to seek financial backing to direct it. On Oct. 10, 1985, Welles appeared on The Merv Griffin Show in what would be his last public appearance before his death. In 1937, he and John Houseman founded the Mercury Theatre, an independent repertory theatre company that presented a series of productions on Broadway through 1941, including Caesar (1937), a modern, politically charged adaptation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Directed by Peter Brook, the production costarred Natasha Parry, Beatrice Straight and Arnold Moss.[136]. Welles died about 10:30 a.m., according to police, who said he was found beside his bed, dressed in a bathrobe, by chauffeur Fred Gillet, who had come to pick him up 15 minutes earlier. "[190], In 1946, Welles took to the airwaves in a series of radio broadcasts demanding justice for a decorated Black veteran Isaac Woodard, who had been beaten and blinded by white police officers. [188], Welles's political activities were reported on pages 155157 of Red Channels, the anti-Communist publication that, in part, fueled the already flourishing Hollywood Blacklist. If I wanted to get into heaven on the basis of one movie, that's the one I would offer up. Bogdanovich "asked Orson about that evening. If I try to think of a home, it's that. In 1984, Welles narrated the short-lived television series Scene of the Crime. Welles invested his earnings into his failing stage play. The film that survives is still considered a classic. Mrs. Welles was pregnant at the time, and when they said goodbye, she told them that she had enjoyed their company so much that if the child were a boy, she intended to name him after them: George Orson. His last television appearance was on the television show Moonlighting. Released in 1968, it stars Jeanne Moreau, Roger Coggio and Norman Eshley. [26]:391 He was told that if the film was successful he could sign a four-picture deal with International Pictures, making films of his own choosing. Actor, producer and genius Orson Welles and wealthy playboy Prince Aly . At 20, Welles was hailed as a prodigy. The film relates the efforts of a film director (played by John Huston) to complete his last Hollywood picture and is largely set at a lavish party. Unable to find network interest, the pilot was never broadcast. 42. The Inquirer was one of Kane's papers, and Jed Leland (Joseph Cotten) was its theater critic. The episode starts with him telling the story of Isaac Woodard, an African-American veteran of the South Pacific during World War II being falsely accused by a bus driver of being drunk and disorderly, who then has a policeman remove the man from the bus. Welles also told a BBC interviewer that it was his best film. Some of his best-known works were the Broadway production Caesar in 1937, the debut of the Mercury Theatre which featured one of the most famous radio . Jack Benny estate is worth $5,852,000; amount disclosed in appraisal submitted to Superior Ct Judge Pearce Young; 1729 Stradivarius violin, valued at $46,750, is left to Los .Angeles Symphony Orch (S) [208] The film was shown at a single screening at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on May 3, 2014. "It belongs to a period when hemispheric unity was a crucial matter and many programs were being devoted to the common heritage of the Americas," wrote broadcasting historian Erik Barnouw. His longtime companion for the last 20 years of his life was Oja Kodar, a Croatian-born artist and actress. Jane Eyre (1943) $100,000. Welles made a correction of the script in 13 extraordinary sequences. She was married to Orson Welles. "And they made a great publicity point of the fact that I had gone to South America without a script and thrown all this money away. [173]:265267 A 2015 Welles biography by Patrick McGilligan, however, reports the impossibility of Welles's paternity: Fitzgerald left the U.S. for Ireland in May 1939, and her son was conceived before her return in late October, whereas Welles did not travel overseas during that period. The film was a movie version of the novel by the same name by Calder Marshall. [124]:5657, Completed a day ahead of schedule and under budget,[29]:379380 The Stranger was the only film made by Welles to have been a bona fide box office success upon its release. "I think he was the greatest directorial talent we've ever had in the [American] theater," Lloyd said of Welles in a 2014 interview. [82]:298299[198][j][k]. Personally financed by Welles and Kodar, they could not obtain the funds to complete the project, and it was abandoned a few years later after the death of Harvey. It is also thought that he may have had a son, British director Michael Lindsay-Hogg, with Irish actress Geraldine Fitzgerald, but this rumor has never been officially confirmed. Lee Grant. For two years he was on-camera spokesman for the Paul Masson Vineyards,[e] and sales grew by one third during the time Welles intoned what became a popular catchphrase: "We will sell no wine before its time. In 1960, in Paris he co-starred in Richard Fleischer's film Crack in the Mirror. Welles thought the location possessed a "Jules Verne modernism" and a melancholy sense of "waiting", both suitable for Kafka. Welles then goes on to give other examples of police being given more power and authority than is necessary. Welles brought significant attention to Woodard's cause. Filming was suspended several times as Welles ran out of funds and left for acting jobs, accounted in detail in MacLiammir's published memoir Put Money in Thy Purse. $20 Million. [31]:278 They were divorced on November 10, 1947. Murch says that "I'm sure Godard and Truffaut, who were big fans of Touch of Evil, learned from that scene how they could achieve exactly what they wantedat once both a fresh sense of reality and ingenuity."[144]. The restoration included reconstructing Angelo Francesco Lavagnino's original musical score, which was originally inaudible, and adding ambient stereo sound effects, which were not in the original film. While McKerrow and Rebecca were never able to meet due to her cancer, they were in touch before her death, and he attended her funeral. You can certainly find that with martial arts expert Bruce Lee, who died in 1973 at age 32; Bill Bixby, star of My Favorite Martian, The Courtship of Eddie's Father and The Incredible Hulk, whose life ended at age 59 in 1993; and Richard Long of The Big Valley (one of the great classic TV Westerns) and Nanny and the Professor, who suffered a fatal heart attack in 1974 at age 59. Beatrice died of hepatitis in a Chicago hospital on May 10, 1924, just after Welles's ninth birthday. Welles attended Todd Seminary for Boys. [25]:35 [26]:326 The Gordon String Quartet, a predecessor to the Berkshire String Quartet, which had made its first appearance at her home in 1921, played at Beatrice's funeral. All net worths are calculated using data drawn from public sources. Prior to 1948, Welles convinced Republic Pictures to let him direct a low-budget version of Macbeth, which featured highly stylized sets and costumes, and a cast of actors lip-syncing to a pre-recorded soundtrack, one of many innovative cost-cutting techniques Welles deployed in an attempt to make an epic film from B-movie resources. "Many such programs were being translated into Spanish and Portuguese and broadcast to Latin America, to counteract many years of successful Axis propaganda to that area. "Probably the best lager in the world" was at one time being sold by probably the best director in the world. Welles wore a cutaway borrowed from his friend George Macready. In 2002, Welles was voted the greatest film director of all time in two British Film Institute polls among directors and critics. Oja Kodar was born Olga Palinka, in 1941, in Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia, to a Hungarian father and a Croatian mother. In 1975 he was given the American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award. Manowar have been using this introduction for all of their concerts since then. [26]:419, Welles is thought to have had a son, British director Michael Lindsay-Hogg (born 1940), with Irish actress Geraldine Fitzgerald, then the wife of Sir Edward Lindsay-Hogg, 4th baronet. However, both Hefner and Shepherd became convinced that Bogdanovich himself would be a more commercially viable director than Welles and insisted that Bogdanovich take over. The 30-minute weekly program promoted inter-American understanding and friendship, drawing upon the research amassed for the ill-fated film, It's All True. Welles later said this was the most valuable story. [214], The producers of Histoires extraordinaires, a 1968 anthology film based on short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, announced in June 1967 that Welles would direct one segment based on both "Masque of the Red Death" and "The Cask of Amontillado" for the omnibus film. He was allowed to explore his creativity there and sometime would stage theatrical productions. The cast includes Peter Bogdanovich, Susan Strasberg, Norman Foster, Edmond O'Brien, Cameron Mitchell and Dennis Hopper. He said that Hitler made no impression on him at all and does not remember him. Some months later the show was called The Mercury Theatre on the Air. Many of the shows originated on U.S. military camps, where Welles and his repertory company and guests entertained the troops with a reduced version of The Mercury Wonder Show. [26]:158159[45]:15, Required to film the Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro in early February 1942, Welles rushed to edit The Magnificent Ambersons and finish his acting scenes in Journey into Fear. The American release prints had a technically flawed soundtrack, suffering from a dropout of sound at every quiet moment. He wanted Keith Baxter to play Doctor Livesey and John Gielgud to take on the role of Squire Trelawney. He ended his lucrative CBS radio show[83]:189 February 2, flew to Washington, D.C., for a briefing, and then lashed together a rough cut of Ambersons in Miami with editor Robert Wise. [29]:8, In 1928, at age 13, Welles was already more than six feet tall (1.83 meters) and weighed over 180 pounds (82kg). In 1961, Welles directed In the Land of Don Quixote, a series of eight half-hour episodes for the Italian television network RAI. [26]:330331, On November 14, 1934, Welles married Chicago socialite and actress Virginia Nicolson[26]:332 (often misspelled "Nicholson")[41] in a civil ceremony in New York. A Democrat, he was an outspoken critic of racism in the United States and the practice of segregation. In postwar France, however, the film's reputation grew after it was seen for the first time in 1946. In 1970, Welles began shooting The Other Side of the Wind. Although reports of panic were mostly false and overstated,[2] they rocketed 23-year-old Welles to notoriety. Presented at the Henry Street Settlement Music School in New York for the benefit of high school students, the production opened April 21, 1937, and ran its scheduled three performances. Welles played a film director in La Ricotta (1963), Pier Paolo Pasolini's segment of the Ro.Go.Pa.G. In 1966, Kodar and her lover, American filmmaker Orson Welles, began shooting 'The Deep' on the Yugoslav coast. [83]:192 He spoke on topics ranging from Shakespeare to visual art at gatherings of Brazil's elite, and his two intercontinental radio broadcasts in April 1942 were particularly intended to tell U.S. audiences that President Vargas was a partner with the Allies. "I was guilt-ridden about my civilian status. (In one case, he had a complete cut ready in which Quixote and Sancho Panza end up going to the moon, but he felt the ending was rendered obsolete by the 1969 moon landings and burned 10 reels of this version.) W. Jeeves'. [126] Inspired by magician and cinema pioneer Georges Mlis, the show required fifty-five stagehands and used films to bridge scenes. Year: 2013 Director: Aleksei German Starring: Leonid Yarmolnik Rating: NR Runtime: 177 minutes Watch on Metrograph At Home. It was abandoned altogether in 1973, perhaps due to the death of its star Laurence Harvey. In 1979, Welles completed his documentary Filming Othello, which featured Michael MacLiammoir and Hilton Edwards. Orson Welles's income source is mostly from being a successful Actor. "[102]:86 He had been publicly hounded about his patriotism since Citizen Kane, when the Hearst press began persistent inquiries about why Welles had not been drafted. [138] On radio, he was narrator of Tomorrow (October 17, 1956), a nuclear holocaust drama produced and syndicated by ABC and the Federal Civil Defense Administration.[139][140]. [26]:453 He was found by his chauffeur at around 10 a.m.; the first of Welles's friends to arrive was Paul Stewart. Orson Welles Net Worth: Orson Welles is known as a Richest Director, Film Director, Film Producer, Screenwriter, Actor, Television Director, Playwright, Film Editor, Theatre Director, Costume Designer, Production Designer. [122]:15:45, The Stranger was the first commercial film to use documentary footage from the Nazi concentration camps. The song was performed with the Nick Perito Orchestra and the Ray Charles Singers and produced by Jerry Abbott (father of guitarist "Dimebag Darrell" Abbott).[163]. [81]:33,326 Adapted by Norman Foster and John Fante, "My Friend Bonito" was the only segment of the original It's All True to go into production. . Sources vary regarding Beatrice Ives Welles's birth year; her grave marker reads 1881, not 1883. [26]:373, Hello Americans, a CBS Radio series broadcast November 15, 1942 January 31, 1943, was produced, directed and hosted by Welles under the auspices of the Office of the Coordinator for Inter-American Affairs. [29]:379 Welles was given some degree of creative control,[45]:19 and he endeavored to personalize the film and develop a nightmarish tone. Song of the Bandits. He had a troubled childhood; his father was an alcoholic and his mother died when he was young. Rita Hayworth was an American actress, dancer, and producer who had a net worth of $10 million at the time of her death in 1987. Submit a correction suggestion and help us fix it. Another project he worked on was Filming the Trial, the second in a proposed series of documentaries examining his feature films. [26]:353 The agreement was bitterly resented by the Hollywood studios and persistently mocked in the trade press. The actors' union stated that the production belonged to the Federal Theatre Project and could not be performed outside that context without permission. She concludes that Welles's acceptance of Whitney's request was "a logical and patently patriotic choice". "[58]:8, That September, Mutual chose Welles to play Lamont Cranston, also known as The Shadow. Murch said "Im just flabbergasted when I read his memos, thinking that he was writing these ideas forty years ago, because, if I was working on a film now and a director came up with ideas like these, Id be amazed pleased but amazed to realize that someone was thinking that hard about sound which is all too rare. It also features Anne Baxter as Lucy Morgan, Dolores Costello as Isabel Anderson Minafer, Tim Holt as George Amberson Minafer and Richard Bennett as Major Amberson. [29]:18, Welles occasionally returned to Woodstock, the place he eventually named when he was asked in a 1960 interview, "Where is home?" During the Mexican revolution, a cowboy mercenary known simply as "the Dutchman" (Peter Graves) enlists a group of four uniquely trained fighters to help him rob a train carrying $500,000 of gold. The final film credits Chaplin with the script, "based on an idea by Orson Welles". [192] He was in Europe during the height of the Red Scare, thereby adding one more reason for the Hollywood establishment to ostracize him. [84]:109 "The Story of Jazz" was to go into production in December 1941. [141]:175176 Welles wrote a 58-page memo outlining suggestions and objections, stating that the film was no longer his versionit was the studio's, but as such, he was still prepared to help with it. "So I was fired from RKO," Welles later recalled. Paola Mori was born on September 18, 1928, is Actress. [68] Welles conceived the project with screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, who was writing radio plays for The Campbell Playhouse. [128], The last broadcast of Orson Welles Commentaries on October 6, 1946, marked the end of Welles's own radio shows. [154] Again, Welles bowed out of the project due to creative differences and William Conrad was cast in the role. "[72] Citizen Kane is now widely hailed as one of the greatest films ever made. From infancy he suffered from asthma, sinus headaches, and backache[29]:8 that was later found to be caused by congenital anomalies of the spine. [45]:83[60]. As a result, Orson felt guilty because he believed his father had drunk himself to death because of him. [110] On the recommendation of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau asked Welles to lead the Fifth War Loan Drive, which opened June 12 with a one-hour radio show on all four networks, broadcast from Texarkana, Texas. Not long after release, Welles and Hayworth finalized their divorce. The last film roles before Welles's death included voice work in the animated films Enchanted Journey (1984) and the animated film The Transformers: The Movie (1986), in which he provided the voice for the planet-eating supervillain Unicron. [18]:4748[82]:311 As presented by Charles Higham in a genealogical chart that introduces his 1985 biography of Welles, Orson Welles's father was Richard Head Welles (born Wells), son of Richard Jones Wells, son of Henry Hill Wells (who had an uncle named Gideon Wells), son of William Hill Wells, son of Richard Wells (17341801).