Overview

Genius, artist, monstre sacre, Orson Welles had one of the most brilliant and tempestuous careers in show business. Here he confides his most intimate feelings and recollections of his extraordinary life. With remarkable detail and intimacy, Barbara Leaming reveals the private Welles: from child prodigy and young lion in Dublin and New York, to the succes de scandale of his The War of the Worlds broadcast; from his auspicious directing debut with the legendary Citizen Kane in his twenties, to the sabotage of his further directing career by the Hollywood studios; from his affairs, carousing, and stormy marriage to Rita Hayworth, to his association with Roosevelt and aspirations to the presidency. It is a picture with an all-star cast, including Olivier, Monroe, Dietrich, Garbo, Warren Beatty, Charlie Chaplin, Princess Margaret, and Prince Aly Khan. Based on painstaking research and extensive interviews with Welles, this is a firsthand portrait of the flamboyant American genius who became a titanic figure in twentieth-century popular culture.

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9781441750044

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Reviews

[A] beautifully researched, valuable study of one of America's most influential and mysterious artists...[What] makes this book remarkable is Welles' own contribution. His comments, opinions, interviews cut in and out of the narrative with an almost cinematic force. -- Patricia Bosworth [The] next best thing to a Welles autobiography...An entertaining read that unfolds like a good novel. -- Amazon.com, editorial review A biography that splendidly evokes a good deal of the man, his work, and his time...Here is a man of appetites, of supreme self-confidence, and deep insecurities. But above all here is the man. -- New York Times Book Review A distinguished gift to American arts and letters, Leaming's biography is the serious, affectionate big book that hungry Wellesians have awaited for decades. -- Kirkus

A distinguished gift to American arts and letters, Leaming's biography is the serious, affectionate big book that hungry Wellesians have awaited for decades. -- Kirkus [The] next best thing to a Welles autobiography...An entertaining read that unfolds like a good novel. -- Amazon.com, editorial review [A] beautifully researched, valuable study of one of America's most influential and mysterious artists...[What] makes this book remarkable is Welles' own contribution. His comments, opinions, interviews cut in and out of the narrative with an almost cinematic force. -- Patricia Bosworth A biography that splendidly evokes a good deal of the man, his work, and his time...Here is a man of appetites, of supreme self-confidence, and deep insecurities. But above all here is the man. -- New York Times Book Review

A distinguished gift to American arts and letters, Leaming's biography is the serious, affectionate big book that hungry Wellesians have awaited for decades. -- Kirkus A biography that splendidly evokes a good deal of the man, his work, and his time...Here is a man of appetites, of supreme self-confidence, and deep insecurities. But above all here is the man. -- New York Times Book Review [The] next best thing to a Welles autobiography...An entertaining read that unfolds like a good novel. -- Amazon.com, editorial review [A] beautifully researched, valuable study of one of America's most influential and mysterious artists...[What] makes this book remarkable is Welles' own contribution. His comments, opinions, interviews cut in and out of the narrative with an almost cinematic force. -- Patricia Bosworth

Author Information

Barbara Leaming is the author of the New York Times bestseller Katharine Hepburn. She was for many years professor of theater and film at Hunter College. Her articles have appeared in Vanity Fair and the New York Times Magazine. She lives in Connecticut. Grace Conlin (1962-1997) was the recording name of Grainne Cassidy, an award-winning actress and acclaimed narrator. She was a member of the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC, and won a Helen Hayes Award in 1988 for her role in Woolly Mammoth's production of Savage in Limbo.

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