American actor, director, producer and writer who presented his sensational drama, “War Of The Worlds,” by radio on 31 October 938. The presentation of the show was so convincing that some people around the country thought that aliens had truly invaded, creating a public panic. A brilliant talent, Welles appeared in many films, including “Citizen Kane,” 1941, a film which earned him a best-actor Oscar nomination. His other films included “Long Hot Summer,” 1958 and “The Trial,” 1963. He also did guest shots on many TV shows.
Welles story is that of a stunningly brilliant and sudden rise followed by a long, slow decline. He could read by the age of three and weighed 80 lbs. and was 4′ 6″ by the time he was six. He was proficient at a number of magic tricks by age seven, and also read Shakespeare, wrote poetry and painted. At 10, he was lecturing at his local high school and age 15 when his dad died, about the same time that his older brother was institutionalized as schizophrenic. He made his pro acting debut at 16, acting in “Jew Suss” at Dublin’s Gate Theater; at 18, he was playing opposite Katharine Cornell and at 19, making a network radio debut on “The March of Time.”
In 1935, his magnificent baritone became the voice of “The Shadow” on radio. Two years later he dazzled the New York theater world with his modern-dress “Julius Caesar.”
A handsome young man, his first marriage was to Virginia Nicholson. Welles associated with beautiful women, including Rita Hayworth (whom he married), Delores Del Rio and Lena Horne. His third wife was Paola Mori, and he had three children, a daughter with each wife. He once described his parenting skills as “minimal.”
Welles made his first film when he was 25, “Citizen Kane.” He directed 17 films, a number of which were never finished; he appeared in all but one of them. As an actor he was most notable for the wildly uneven quality of the approximately 60 films in which he performed. They ranged from superlative to dreadful. In his last years, he worked primarily as a voice-over artist; one of his last credited roles was as Unicron, a character in a kid’s cartoon show.
He steadily gained weight with age to become immense. His obesity contributed to his fatal heart attack, sometime in the early morning hours of 10 October 1985, Los Angeles, CA. He was home, alone, in front of a typewriter.
Link to Wikipedia biography