6 Comments TIL Orson Welles was not drunk during the infamous Paul Masson shoot, he was under the effects of a sleeping pill. After napping for a few hours, Welles was able to complete the commercial within an hour, and the director said he was a delight to work with. by whatilearned June 3, 2023, 11:24 pm 2 Points Upvote Downvote
1 Comment TIL Orson Welles wore a fake nose in most of his films because he felt his nose was too small. Welles sometimes fashioned and applied his own prosthetic and according to some had a personal display of his noses. by whatilearned January 25, 2023, 12:13 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
3 Comments TIL FDR’s Fala Speech, inwhich Roosevelt defended his dog’s honor from false accusations, was by Orson Welles. Welles had a history of sending in ideas for FDR and ad-libbed the original Fala joke for the President. by whatilearned January 11, 2023, 12:31 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
1 Comment TIL The Stranger (1946) was the first Hollywood film to include footage of the Holocaust. The film’s director, Orson Welles, who saw footage at the United Nations Conference on International Organization in May 1945, described the newsreels as “putrefaction of the soul, a perfect spiritual garbage” by whatilearned December 6, 2022, 1:56 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
4 Comments TIL Orson Welles was locked out of the editing room of Touch of Evil. Editing fell to Aaron Stell, who was rendered “ill, depressed and unhappy with the studio’s impatience.” After a series of edits and reshoots Welles wrote a 58 page report of needed improvements. by whatilearned November 23, 2022, 2:17 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
TIL while filming “The Other Side Of The Wind” in 1970, director Orson Welles was unable to afford to pay his cinematographer Gary Graver for his work. Instead, Welles gave Graver his Oscar statuette that he had won for Best Original Screenplay for “Citizen Kane” in 1941. by whatilearned August 30, 2022, 6:31 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
2 Comments TIL that in the 1940s, filmmaker Orson Welles was under investigation by the FBI as they believed he had ties to communist activities because of his film “Citizen Kane”. He was considered such a threat that the FBI had him on a list of people who should be apprehended in case of a national emergency by whatilearned March 4, 2022, 4:24 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
3 Comments TIL that HG Wells and Orson Welles (the person who made the infamous 1938 radio drama) met once during an interview. Both men were sceptical about the claims made of mass panic from the broadcast and expressed that they thought the reports were exaggerated. by whatilearned January 12, 2022, 1:18 am 12 Points Upvote Downvote
3 Comments TIL William Randolph Hearst went to great lengths to shut down the production of Citizen Kane, going so far as to purportedly arranging for a naked woman to jump into director Orson Welles’ arms at his hotel room; a photographer would also be hiding to take a “salacious” photo of them. by whatilearned August 18, 2021, 6:57 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
4 Comments TIL War Of the Worlds creating a nationwide panic is a myth – manufactured by newspapers at the time to discredit radio as a form of news or information. Hooper radio ratings at the time credited only 2% of radio listeners listened to Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds broadcast. by whatilearned July 25, 2021, 6:13 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
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