Orson Welles, the precocious genius – El Universal (Venezuela)

Orson Welles (1915-1985) Success came early. The American filmmaker was just 26 when he debuted Citizen Kane (1941), his first film that -time later- did become one of the great directors. Today, the centenary of his birth

Before fulfilled, the film world celebrates his work. The director had already gained some recognition. Even a cover in the magazine Time had for his work as a playwright and radio actor. His youthful (or child prodigy) stage could be summarized as follows: as a teenager was passed in Ireland by a star of Broadway to the theater; at 18, he had participated as a professional in the company of actress Katherine Cornell; at 23, he made a radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds -the HG Wells, which caused panic in the American people to believe that Martians were invading the city of New Jersey.

The success with his soap opera opened the doors of Hollywood for his first film. RKO made him an initial contract for Welles wrote, produced, directed and starred Citizen Kane . It all ended in failure, critical and box office, prompting big companies take away his confidence. “If someone again will give me a contract like that could make a better movie, but they have never given me a second chance,” even said the author, who did not return to have the same status in life.

The feature film debut of Welles spent in posterity, part of the lists of the best movies ever. The story of the newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane, a fictional figure based on the life of William Randolph Hearst, won nine Academy Award nominations (only won Best Screenplay). The word “Rosebud”, which refers to the childhood of the protagonist, involves one of the most memorable sequences in the film. “My great contribution to Citizen Kane was ignorance. I did not know there were things that could not be done.”

The rest of Welles’s work adds a long list of tapes among documentaries, shorts and largos- including titles The Lady from Shanghai (1946), Macbeth (1947) and Otello (1952 ). He also made radio, television and acted in over 100 films. A couple of quotes about his job: “The film director is the only profession where you can be completely incompetent and succeed for 30 years without anyone finds out.” / “I started at the top and since then I have fallen”.

The son of a pianist who died before Welles met the nine, the director was married three times and had a son with each woman (Virginia Nicholson, 1934-19440, Rita Hayworth, 1943-1948; and Paola Mori, 1955-until his death). “I’m not necessarily a happy man, but I have my joys,” he said in an interview the same day he died. A 100 years of birth, your movie is still a reference.