On May 2, DGA members and guests gathered at the Guild’s New York Theater for a celebration of the legendary Orson Welles on the centenary of his birth (May 6, 1915). Following his successful 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds on radio, Welles came to Hollywood to pursue a film career. His first feature was the renowned masterpiece Citizen Kane, which is cited by many as one of the greatest films of all time. Other directing credits include The Magnificent Ambersons, The Stranger, Macbeth, The Trial, Chimes at Midnight, and the unfinished The Other Side of the Wind. Welles joined the DGA in 1956 and was presented with the Guild’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1984. He died in 1985 at the age of 70.
Following an introduction from DGA Eastern Region Special Projects Committee Chair Raymond De Felitta (Rob the Mob), the celebration began with a screening of Director Chuck Workman’s documentary Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles. The film explores the enigma of Welles' career as a Hollywood star, a Hollywood director and a crucially important independent filmmaker, and features close to 50 years of Welles interviews, covering both his finished films and several of his unfinished films. Following the screening, Workman and De Felitta engaged in a discussion about Welles’ art and life.
The celebration ended with a screening of Welles’ noir classic Touch of Evil, a dark portrait of corruption and morally compromised obsessions starring Welles, Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, and Joseph Calleia. The film, which tells the story of a crooked police chief who frames a Mexican youth as part of an intricate criminal plot, has a Hollywood backstory as legendary as the movie itself.
The Orson Welles Centenary Celebration continues in Los Angeles with a week of screenings of Welles film from Monday, May 25 through Friday, May 29. The celebration will culminate on Saturday, May 30 with a reception, a discussion about Welles’ art and life with a panel of prominent filmmakers, and another screening of Workman's documentary, Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles.