Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre

Join Share

40 members| 16 shouts

Leader: PopeDaniel
Join Policy: Open
Created on: 23 Dec 2008
Description:
Celebrating George 'Orson' Welles (1915-1985), along with his Mercury Theatre colleagues--please note, for now, that this is a work in progress!

One of the great American directors and actors from the 20th century, whose works inspired countless others and who, to this day, continues to influence. Morever, he helped introduced some other amazing talent, who also left an indelible imprint on stage, radio and screen.

In 1940 Orson Welles arrived in Hollywood, California with only his wit and portentious talent. With him came one of his early New York City creations: the Mercury Theatre. Founded by Welles and John Houseman, it was made up of a fine collection of fellow stage/radio actors such as Joseph Cotton, Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins, Everett Sloane, and George Coulouris, among others. They had already rocked American radio audiences with their radio interpretation of another famous Wells' (Mr. H.G., that is) War of the Worlds broadcast in 1938 on CBS.


They had also produced many innovative and brilliant plays (eg, Julius Ceasar done in 1937). However, the radio microcosm would not be enough to contain their talents, and another, much grander world would be theirs to colonize. This other sphere--Hollywood by name--proved to be large enough to house the Mercury, along with many other cinematic orbs to boot!

Well.........after getting the fattest of all Hollywood contracts from RKO (which allowed him to produce, direct, write and star in his films), Welles and his troupe shined in such movies as

Citizen Kane (1941):










The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)










Journey into Fear (1943)




After his aborted last film at RKO ('It's Alll True', 1942), he would only star in 'Jane Eyre' (1944) with Joan Fontaine and star/direct in the forciblly mundane 'The Stranger' (1946), a by-the-book film made at Columbia only in order for Orson to get a chance to direct/star in

The Lady from Shanghai (1948):








Also in 1948, he followed that last movie up with a version of
Macbeth:


By 1949, perhaps the most successful actor at this time in the Mercury Theatre --including Orson--was Joseph Cotton, whose dignified Virginian drawl, relaxed mannerisms, handsome features and cheerful personality helped him to star in many classic Hollywood films from the time, including Hitchcock's 'Shadow of a Doubt' (1942), Cukor's remake of 'Gaslight' with Ingrid Bergman (1944), Selznick's 'Duel in the Sun' (a film narrated by the Fat Man himself), Potter's 'The Farmer's Daughter' (1947) and Dieterle's 'Portrait of Jennie' (1948). In 1949 Joseph and Orson would meet up again, but not in another Mercury Theatre production, sadly. Both would star in Carol Reed's

The Third Man (1949):




Of course, Orson accepted his role in the 'Third Man' in order to complete his version of 'Othello', which was finally finished by 1952!:

By the 1950's Welles was a pariah in Hollywood, but many of the members besides Orson and Joe had already become successful actors outside of the theatre, but some made occasional appearances in Orson's films. Although officially a not member of the theatre, Akim Tamiroff would later act in many of Orson's later pictures and play roles in masterpieces like

Mr.Arkadin (1955):



Touch of Evil (1958):



[url=http://voiceover.blogdiario.com/img/touchof.jpeg nofollow=yes]http://voiceover.blogdiario.com/img/touchof.jpeg[/url]


The Trial (1962:)

Recent Journals

Weekly Top Artists

Connected Artists

Shoutbox

Leave a comment. Log in to Last.fm or sign up (it’s free).

  • krocronos

    The Mercury Theatre presents Charles Dickens, 'The Pickwick Papers' : Orson Welles as Alfred Jingle "Whiz! Bang!"....very! hahaha lol.....very! Great Welles perfomance.

    November 2010

  • johntardsbaby66

    need to fix a lot of the links

    September 2010

  • PopeDaniel

    I enjoyed it. :)

    March 2010

  • ilud_

    So is Me & Orson Welles any good? I admire Richard Linklater, but I was kind of worried about this one. I haven't had the chance to see it though.

    March 2010

  • PopeDaniel

    Perhaps he was talking about both? :P

    March 2010

  • johntardsbaby66

    Nope, I'm pretty sure he's talking about the Third Man. Carol Reed is a god.

    March 2010

  • PopeDaniel

    Hey, if y'all get the chance, see the film Me & Orson Welles!

    January 2010

  • PopeDaniel

    You're probably thinking of Touch of Evil, 'tho both films are brilliant. But.....Carol Reed directed TTM. ;)

    January 2010

  • Mokami

    I have always thought that the opening in "the third man" was simply brilliant!

    January 2010

  • PopeDaniel

    Brothers and sisters, we have our Queen Badass!

    January 2010

  • Chiaroscurist

    I can only hope that I'm badass enough for this group... ;-)

    January 2010

  • PopeDaniel

    You could be badass too if you................................. ;)

    February 2009

  • easeease

    hi

    January 2009

  • PopeDaniel

    We're badass...............

    January 2009

  • Theelongplayer

    I'm in!

    January 2009

  • PopeDaniel

    the editing of the pictures for this group just won't work right................apologies

    January 2009
See all 16 shouts
Orson Welles and his Mercury…’s Group Radio

Newest Members (40)

See all members

Recent Activity

  • Paddyeahh joined this group. 16 days ago
  • Octaviobanake left this group. January 2012
  • psychocybin joined this group. December 2011
  • Octaviobanake joined this group. November 2011
  • laaelxim joined this group. July 2011
  • A deleted user joined this group. May 2011
  • luluvuvuvu joined this group. March 2011
  • Feudale joined this group. February 2011
  • A deleted user joined this group. January 2011
  • chihiro78 joined this group. January 2011