In the 1930's, radio programs offered a wide range of entertainment thanks to the wonderful writers and voices behind it. Orson Welles was born on May 6, 1915, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. His birth name was George Orson Welles. He was an actor, producer and writer. He created one of the most renowned radio broadcasts of all time, “The War of the Worlds". Later, he directed movie classics such as Citizen Kane in 1941 and Touch of Evil in 1958. Orson is known as one of the most recognizable deep voices in all of film, radio and television.
When he was younger, he was very gifted when it came to playing the piano and the violin, doing magic tricks and painting. His mother was a beautiful concert pianist and his father was a sucessful manufacturer/inventor. They divorced when he was six years old. His mother died soon after when he was only eight years old. Through his father, he was able to meet actors and sportsmen. By the time he was 11, he had been around the world twice. His father passed away when he was thirteen years old. He attended the Todd School for Boys in Woodstock in Illinois, where he learned much about dramatics. Later on, he studied briefly at the Art Institute of Chicago and worked as a reporter before going to Ireland, where he made a sketching tour by donkey cart.
Orson Welles stage debut was in Dublin in 1931 where he performed in Hamlet. He went on to tour with Katharine Cornell's company in 1933 and 1934. He performed in Romeo and Juliet as Mercutio, Candida as Marchbanks, and The Barretts of Wimpole Street as Octavius Barrett.
His radio career began early in 1934 when he was the poet for Archibald MacLeish's verse play Panic. In 1934 and 1935, he narrated The March of Time news series. His radio roles included the part of Lamont Cranston in the mystery series The Shadow.
The Mercury Players, who he was apart of, attained national notoriety with the program based on H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds. The performed it on October 30, 1938. They used the format of a news broadcast and announced an attack on New Jersey by invaders from Mars. Thousands of listeners, not realizing the announcement was a simulation, were panic-stricken.
If I continued to write about all the stuff Orson Welles has done in his lifetime, I would never finish this blog. He was a very interesting man and is still very well known as an amazing actor, producer, and writer. Welles died on October 10, 1985.
Comments
Have you ever listened the original broadcast of "War of the Worlds"?
Well done!