NAME: Orson Welles
BORN: 06/03/1916
BIRTH PLACE: Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA
DIED: 10/10/1985
BIOGRAPHY
The son of a concert pianist mother and wealthy inventor father, his parents initially channelled their energies into Orson’s older brother, Dickie.
Dickie failed to live up to their demands, but Orson showed great early promise in many arts - piano, magic, painting, and, especially, acting.
Upon his mother’s death in 1924, he travelled the world with his father, only to lose him in 1928. Turning down the chance of college in 1931, he went on a sketching trip to Ireland.
Unsuccessful in his attempts to break onto the London and Broadway stages, he travelled further in Morocco and Spain, where he fought in the bull-ring.
A big year for him, 1934 marked his first New York appearance, his marriage, the shooting his first short film, and his radio debut.
After forming the Mercury Theatre with John Houseman, he produced ‘The Mercury Theatre on Air’. The show became famous for the notorious events surrounding their version of ‘The War of the Worlds’ as a Halloween prank in 1938, in which they changed the action to the US, being so realistic as to provoke mass panic.