> By 3 p.m. he’d been seated, and he delivered the lines perfectly. We were done by five, getting everything we needed without overtime. I remember him grinning at the furious agency guys as he walked away from the set. Later on, after a few more commercials, they’d fire him, but I wasn’t around for that.
Sounds like he combined alcohol with a sleeping pill—never a great idea—and needed to take a nap. Unprofessional, but hardly the worst thing a star has ever done on set.
My favorite Orson Welles thing is this anecdote from Kenneth Tynan:
> Arriving, some years ago, to deliver a lecture in a small mid-western town, he [Welles] was faced with a tiny audience of listeners and no one to introduce him. He decided to introduce himself.
> “Ladies and gentlemen,” he began, “I will tell you of the highlights of my life. I am a director of plays. I am a producer of plays. I am an actor on the legitimate stage. I am a writer of motion pictures. I am a motion-picture actor. I write, direct, and act on the radio. I am a magician. I also paint and sketch, and I am a book-publisher. I am a violinist and a pianist.” Here he paused, and rested his chin on his hands, surveying the sparse congregation. “Isn’t it strange,” he said, quizzically but with clinching emphasis, “that there are so many of me—and so few of you?”
>> Unprofessional, but hardly the worst thing a star has ever done on set.
I think he did pretty well. Other drunk/high actors get angry to grab people they should not. This appears to be tipsy-drowsy drunk, not shouty-punchy drunk. He still came to set. He was dressed. They got the shot in the end. All those extras (paid by the hour) were probably perfectly happy that it took longer than expected.
>> I told him that I had to put him on camera for insurance reasons, so that we could show that he was all over the place and that we couldn’t do the job — that way we’d have insurance coverage for the day because of the actor malfunctioning. He understood, so I helped him out of the vehicle; he held onto my arm and we walked in.
Being drunk is certainly unprofessional, but few modern celebs would push though, embarrassing themselves on camera, to satisfy the needs of the shoot. A drunk yes, but still a pro imho.
Given that Welles agreed to do the outtakes to prove incapacity for insurance purposes, I wonder whether he'd hammed it up a bit to be sure that they met the necessary bar.
> “Ladies and gentlemen,” he began, “I will tell you of the highlights of my life. I am a director of plays. I am a producer of plays. I am an actor on the legitimate stage. I am a writer of motion pictures. I am a motion-picture actor. I write, direct, and act on the radio. I am a magician. I also paint and sketch, and I am a book-publisher. I am a violinist and a pianist.”
My favorite anecdote is this one from Edward Zwick:
> ZWICK: You know, I have a story that I actually recalled after I wrote the book, but it's one of the most important stories in my life, and I'll tell it to you and see if you're interested. But it's - after the show, I was put on news programs, and I was asked to go on a local news program with Orson Welles. And you have to understand that Orson Welles was, of course, the spiritual father to this with his "War Of The Worlds." And I was in the green room with Welles, and he was in his wheelchair and not very communicative and actually rather cold. And I thought, oh, here's this opportunity to be with my idol. And he was not really forthcoming, and I just accepted it.
> And we went on with the show. And on the air, this news person begins to attack me and saying, well, how dare you do something like this and confuse people with actors acting as if they're news people? And Welles rises from his chair and says, you're an actor. You're just reading the news. How dare you attack this young man. And it was just one of those, you know, wonderful moments when things come full circle.
lawyers, priests, and physicians are professionals. they answer, in theory, to a higher code of ethics than whoever they're getting paid by at the moment, partly because they are in a better situation than their client to judge whether they've done their work well or poorly. their respective professional colleges judge that, largely to protect the clients from incompetent or corrupt professionals. partly as a consequence, it is often considered questionably ethical for them to become too dependent on a single client. they have duties to their profession such as education and the advancement of the profession itself—raising the level at which their successors can work
(those are not the only professions, but they are central examples of the professions)
this strikingly contrasts with the relationship in capitalism between employers and employees; like professionals, employees assume an ethical duty to act in the interests of those who pay them; but, unlike professionals, employees must defer to their employer's judgment on what that means. as a consequence, it is often considered questionably ethical for them to not be entirely dependent on a single employer
freelance artists, such as freelance actors and freelance photographers, do not fit either of these categories very well. it's not clear that they have a duty to act in the interests of their clients at all, but their clients often may not be able to tell how well they've done their work. moreover, both professionals and employees usually have a duty to suppress their own feelings in service of their work, whereas artists' work is their feelings to a significant extent. certainly there is no professional college of actors needed to protect clients from incompetent or unethical actors; such a thing would be absurd. the sag, as its name indicates, exists to protect actors from their clients, not vice versa. it is a cartel (look the word up before arguing with me about this), not a professional college
so to me it seems like a category error to describe welles's behavior as 'unprofessional', like trying to assess the electrical conductivity of a social movement, or the color of television
I feel guilty for saying this but when I think of Orson Welles, instead of any of his pioneering contributions radio and cinema my mind defaults to 'muahahahh the frensch'. There's something stunning to see master of the arts act in such a way, and in the internet age it's probably his most iconic performance!
> the great man needed to subject himself to work that was well beneath his talents
There's this cool anecdote of Mel Brooks hiring him to be the narrator to History Of The World Part 1. Brooks paid Welles $25000 for five days of work, from 9 to 5. But Welles was done by 11:30 the first day, and it was "all perfect". So Brooks asked him what he would do with the money, and Welles said "Cuban cigars and Sevruga caviar. I would have included women but I'm getting just a little too heavy for that."
He chose Sevruga because in his opinion it was just as good as Beluga, and half the price.
Taking a sleeping pill to try to get a few hours of sleep between Las Vegas and LA puts a different spin on it. Sure, he probably shouldn't drink with his sleeping pills, but I know a fair amount of nonalcoholics that have done similar.
Surely what really puts a different spin on it is that the purpose of these takes was apparently to demonstrate to the insurance company that Welles was unable to work. In that context, he put on a great (albeit method-enhanced) performance.
The voice actor in this clip is the guy that voiced The Brain in Pinky and the Brain, as well as several other famous cartoon characters. Maurice LaMarche.
LaMarche also did the voice of Orson Welles in Tim Burton's 1994 movie Ed Wood. Vincent D'Onofrio played Orson Welles, but was later dubbed by Maurice LaMarche.
I admired Welles back when I thought the famous Paul Masson shoot was him with no more fucks to give.
Now that I understand he was under the influence of a sleeping pill, slept it off, and finished the shoot perfectly in the most friendly and professional manner possible, I admire him even more.
He butted heads with suits all the time, as he did with the agency personnel, but with ordinary people like the cast and crew of this shoot he was always the most affable gentleman. Towards the end of his life he said "I want to be remembered as a good guy, not a difficult genius." And man, he lived up to that.
Readit News
Sounds like he combined alcohol with a sleeping pill—never a great idea—and needed to take a nap. Unprofessional, but hardly the worst thing a star has ever done on set.
My favorite Orson Welles thing is this anecdote from Kenneth Tynan:
> Arriving, some years ago, to deliver a lecture in a small mid-western town, he [Welles] was faced with a tiny audience of listeners and no one to introduce him. He decided to introduce himself.
> “Ladies and gentlemen,” he began, “I will tell you of the highlights of my life. I am a director of plays. I am a producer of plays. I am an actor on the legitimate stage. I am a writer of motion pictures. I am a motion-picture actor. I write, direct, and act on the radio. I am a magician. I also paint and sketch, and I am a book-publisher. I am a violinist and a pianist.” Here he paused, and rested his chin on his hands, surveying the sparse congregation. “Isn’t it strange,” he said, quizzically but with clinching emphasis, “that there are so many of me—and so few of you?”
I think he did pretty well. Other drunk/high actors get angry to grab people they should not. This appears to be tipsy-drowsy drunk, not shouty-punchy drunk. He still came to set. He was dressed. They got the shot in the end. All those extras (paid by the hour) were probably perfectly happy that it took longer than expected.
>> I told him that I had to put him on camera for insurance reasons, so that we could show that he was all over the place and that we couldn’t do the job — that way we’d have insurance coverage for the day because of the actor malfunctioning. He understood, so I helped him out of the vehicle; he held onto my arm and we walked in.
Being drunk is certainly unprofessional, but few modern celebs would push though, embarrassing themselves on camera, to satisfy the needs of the shoot. A drunk yes, but still a pro imho.
I.... am Unicron.
> ZWICK: You know, I have a story that I actually recalled after I wrote the book, but it's one of the most important stories in my life, and I'll tell it to you and see if you're interested. But it's - after the show, I was put on news programs, and I was asked to go on a local news program with Orson Welles. And you have to understand that Orson Welles was, of course, the spiritual father to this with his "War Of The Worlds." And I was in the green room with Welles, and he was in his wheelchair and not very communicative and actually rather cold. And I thought, oh, here's this opportunity to be with my idol. And he was not really forthcoming, and I just accepted it.
> And we went on with the show. And on the air, this news person begins to attack me and saying, well, how dare you do something like this and confuse people with actors acting as if they're news people? And Welles rises from his chair and says, you're an actor. You're just reading the news. How dare you attack this young man. And it was just one of those, you know, wonderful moments when things come full circle.
https://www.npr.org/2024/03/07/1236539789/a-hollywood-filmma...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Bulletin
No, the sleeping pill just took too long to hit him. He probably took it on a full stomach or some other random gastro think slowed it down.
(those are not the only professions, but they are central examples of the professions)
this strikingly contrasts with the relationship in capitalism between employers and employees; like professionals, employees assume an ethical duty to act in the interests of those who pay them; but, unlike professionals, employees must defer to their employer's judgment on what that means. as a consequence, it is often considered questionably ethical for them to not be entirely dependent on a single employer
freelance artists, such as freelance actors and freelance photographers, do not fit either of these categories very well. it's not clear that they have a duty to act in the interests of their clients at all, but their clients often may not be able to tell how well they've done their work. moreover, both professionals and employees usually have a duty to suppress their own feelings in service of their work, whereas artists' work is their feelings to a significant extent. certainly there is no professional college of actors needed to protect clients from incompetent or unethical actors; such a thing would be absurd. the sag, as its name indicates, exists to protect actors from their clients, not vice versa. it is a cartel (look the word up before arguing with me about this), not a professional college
so to me it seems like a category error to describe welles's behavior as 'unprofessional', like trying to assess the electrical conductivity of a social movement, or the color of television
Hollywood did so, so much cocaine back then.
There's this cool anecdote of Mel Brooks hiring him to be the narrator to History Of The World Part 1. Brooks paid Welles $25000 for five days of work, from 9 to 5. But Welles was done by 11:30 the first day, and it was "all perfect". So Brooks asked him what he would do with the money, and Welles said "Cuban cigars and Sevruga caviar. I would have included women but I'm getting just a little too heavy for that."
He chose Sevruga because in his opinion it was just as good as Beluga, and half the price.
As told by Mel Brooks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Hhwp4tm6Wc
The GOAT doing that: https://twitter.com/JFrankensteiner/status/17876944958421527...
https://youtu.be/6i7ycxiog40
The voice actor in this clip is the guy that voiced The Brain in Pinky and the Brain, as well as several other famous cartoon characters. Maurice LaMarche.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_LaMarche
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Wood_(film)
Now that I understand he was under the influence of a sleeping pill, slept it off, and finished the shoot perfectly in the most friendly and professional manner possible, I admire him even more.
He butted heads with suits all the time, as he did with the agency personnel, but with ordinary people like the cast and crew of this shoot he was always the most affable gentleman. Towards the end of his life he said "I want to be remembered as a good guy, not a difficult genius." And man, he lived up to that.
https://youtu.be/eOmYEssdXg8?si=AEboh7p4LcHXnueO
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