Hello Americans: 2 (Orson Welles)

by SimonCallow (Author)

• New

  Paperback
  2007

  $25.59

  As a man and an artist, Orson Welles was larger-than-life--vivid, energetic, unpredictable, and riveting. But in this first volume of his masterful, highly acclaimed biography, Simon Callow finally captures the chameleonic genius whole, as only an actor/director deeply rooted in the entertainment industry could. Here, brilliantly placed in its historical and social setting, is Welles's prodigious childhood; his youth in New York, with its fraught partnership with John Houseman and the groundbreaking triumphs of his all-black Macbeth and his modern-dress Julius Caesar; the pioneering radio work that culminated in the notorious 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds ; and finally, Hollywood--with a fascinatingly detailed and authoritative account of the making of Citizen Kane, still regarded by many as the finest film of all time. Rich in detail, wit, and insight, Callow's Orson Welles succeeds in revealing a life even more extraordinary than the myths that have surrounded it.

• New

  Paperback
  2007

  $20.96

  The reason for the decline of Orson Welles's career is a hotly debated issue, but decline it certainly did. When Citizen Kane, his first film, opened in 1941, Welles was universally acclaimed as the most audacious filmmaker alive. But instead of marking the beginning of a triumphant career in Hollywood, the film still regularly voted the greatest ever made proved to be an exception in Welles's life and work. In 1947 Welles left America for Europe and lived for the best part of twenty years in self-imposed exile. Welles himself famously quipped 'I started at the top and worked my way down' - the second volume of Simon Callow's compelling biography tells the story of that complex and protracted descent from grace.