George Orson Welles

Personal and Family Information

George was born on 6 MAY 1915 in Kenosha, Kenosha County, Wisconsin, USA, the son of unknown parents.

He died on 10 OCT 1985 in Hollywood, California USA.

Events

Multimedia

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Notes

Note 1

Gravesite Details

In the garden in front of the house along the road of the Antonio Ordonez property called "Finca Recreo de San Cayetano," located in Ronda, house number 78 but no street name.

Note 2

Actor, Motion Picture Director, Producer, Screenwriter. Born the son of a businessman-inventor and a concert pianist, he was a child prodigy excelling in music, acting, art, poetry and magic. His parents separated when he was four and his mother died of hepatitis when he was nine. At the age of 11 he was sent to the Todd Seminary for Boys in Woodstock, Illinois where he staged both modern and classical plays. After his father died of heart and kidney failure in 1930, most likely exacerbated by his long-time alcoholism, he inherited a small fortune and became the ward of Chicago doctor Maurice Bernstein. He graduated from the Todd Seminary for Boys in 1931, and was awarded a scholarship to Harvard, which he declined, and instead studied briefly at the Art Institute of Chicago, then traveled to Dublin where he acted at the Gate Theatre. He remained in Ireland for a year, acting at both the Gate and Abbey theatres. At the same time he designed sets, wrote a newspaper column, and began directing plays. He left Dublin in 1932 and tried unsuccessfully to get acting work in London and New York. He traveled for the next year in Morocco and Spain. Back in the United States in 1933 he found work with Katharine Cornell's road company and toured in repertory for 36 weeks. He made his first film in 1934, the 8-minute short titled "The Hearts of Age". In December 1934 at the age of 19 he made his New York stage debut in "Romeo and Juliet". At the same time he met producer John Houseman, who cast him as the lead in "Panic". They produced several plays; most notable was "Macbeth" set in Haiti instead of Scotland and with an all African-American cast and also the musical play "The Cradle Will Rock" which was shut down before opening night in 1937 reputedly because of the radical political nature of the play. Houseman and Welles rented another theater 20 blocks away and the play was presented with actors performing from seats in the audience and no music but a single piano. That same year they founded the Mercury Theater and produced several stage plays. At the same time Welles began his radio career which became so hectic he eventually hired an ambulance to transport him from radio station to radio station as taxis couldn't get him there on time. The Mercury Theater radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds" had some Americans believing that aliens had landed on earth. The broadcast of "War of the Worlds", and his reputation from the stage, opened the doors to Hollywood. Welles appeared on the cover of Time magazine May 9, 1938, three days after his 23rd birthday. In 1941 he co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in "Citizen Kane", generally recognized as one of the greatest movies ever to come out of Hollywood. "Citizen Kane" made use of techniques that had not been used by other American filmmakers. The movie, a thinly veiled portrait of powerful newspaper mogul William Randolph Hurst, was boycotted by all of the Hurst newspapers, insuring that, in spite of rave reviews, the movie was not a financial success but did receive nine Academy Award nominations. The next movie produced, directed and written by Welles, "The Magnificent Ambersons", lagged behind schedule and went over budget, the relationship between Welles and RKO studios deteriorated, ultimately RKO took control of the film and had it recut without his input. His reputation suffered and he was regarded as having difficulty adhering to shooting schedules and budgets. He continued to work in Hollywood but his career never fully recovered. His last film was "Touch of Evil" (1958), while Welles was in Mexico shooting scenes for "Don Quixote" Universal added some scenes and cut "Touch of Evil" down to 93 minutes; when he returned from Mexico Welles wrote a lengthy memo to the studio with details of his preferred changes. His memo was ignored and the shortened version was released; the studio finally re-cut the film with his changes and released the film in 1998. He married three times, first to Virginia Nicolson November 14, 1934, divorced February 1, 1940; they had one child; second to Rita Hayworth September 7, 1943, divorced December 1, 1948; they had one child; third to Paola Mori, May 8, 1955 until his death; they also had one child. There were rumors that he was the father of his married lover's child born June 5, 1940. Welles was a member of the fraternal groups International Brotherhood of Magicians and the Society of American Magicians. He was born on the day that Babe Ruth hit his first home run and died on the same day as Yul Brynner.

Bio by: Gail Campbell Schulte

Note 3

Sat 30 Jan 2010, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, his mother, Irish actress Geraldine Fitzgerald

Lindsay-Hogg, 59, has often brushed away a persistent rumour that he is Welles's only son, a rumour fuelled by his strong resemblance to the director.

Now the identity of the baronet's real father has been queried once again by Welles's first child, the writer Chris Welles Feder. As a childhood friend of Lindsay-Hogg, Welles Feder has said she has always known he might well be her brother.

Writing in her new autobiography, In My Father's Shadow, Welles Feder remembers knowing him when they lived next to each other in beachside homes. "If it does turn out that Michael is my half-brother, it would be delightful," she said. "We used to play on the beaches of Santa Monica together all the time and he was my favourite playmate, and I have the fondest memories of him," she said.

Lindsay-Hogg is said to be about to take a DNA test so that he can finally confirm or deny a story that has dogged his career when he publishes his own life story.

Lindsay-Hogg's mother was the Irish actress Geraldine Fitzgerald, a star of the Broadway stage who appeared in Wuthering Heights with Laurence Olivier and died in 2005. Married to Sir Edward Lindsay-Hogg, she had begun a relationship with Welles in America during his marriage to Chris Welles Feder's mother, the Chicago-born actress Virginia Nicholson. The families continued to live side-by-side for some time and the two children became close.

2021

DNA tests were inconclusive: For his part, Lindsay-Hogg believes that Welles was his biological father. When his mother originally denied the rumours of Welles being his father, Lindsay-Hogg was suspicious with her defensive nature and refusal to acknowledge the uncertainty further. He had been playmates with Welles’ oldest daughter Chris, and she suspected that Lindsay-Hogg was secretly her brother. Lindsay-Hogg eventually took a DNA test that was inconclusive, but his mother’s close friend, actress Gloria Vanderbilt, confirmed to Lindsay-Hogg that Welles was indeed his biological father.