Weaponized SciFi: Produced and broadcast a radio play based on War Of the Worlds by HG Wells that caused (disputed amounts) of nationwide panic
Peaked Early: Co-wrote, produced, directed, and starred in possibly the greatest film ever made at 26, which was a huge box office bomb at the time
Didn’t Throw Hitler off a cliff when he had the chance: During a 1970 appearance on
The Dick Cavett Show, Welles claimed to have met Hitler while hiking in Austria with a teacher who was a “budding Nazi”. He said that Hitler made no impression on him at all and does not remember him. He said that he had no personality at all: “He was invisible. There was nothing there until there were 5,000 people yelling sieg heil.”[168]
Could have spared the US McCarthyism: For several years, he wrote a newspaper column on political issues and considered running for the U.S. Senate in 1946, representing his home state of Wisconsin—a seat that was ultimately won by Joseph McCarthy.[166]
Magician (Allegedly): He was a lifelong member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the Society of American Magicians.[172]
Okay so for that last one:
That’s Orson Welles in the black tux, my grandfather in the white jacket, and my grandmother who Welles is ‘levitating’ in this trick.
Again, grandpa in white and Welles in black.
My grandparents leased magic equipment to Welles and contracted to assist with his stage show in Vegas for a 3-7 week run at the Riviera for a hundred bucks a week in 1956.
So, for at least that long, Welles was something of a magician.
