Bond

Orson Welles assistant Dorian Bond pens ‘Me and Mr. Welles’

April 29, 2018
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Bond

Me and Mr. Welles by Dorian Bond. (History Press)

Dorian Bond, who worked as a personal assistant for Orson Welles during a year-long stint 50 years ago, has written a book recounting those days, Me and Mr. Welles.

Bond was a 22-year-old film school student when he was hired by Welles’ longtime private secretary, Ann Rogers, to deliver ten 400-foot rolls of 35mm film, and 100 No 1 Montecristo Havana cigars to Welles in Yugoslavia, where the director was filming on a yacht in the Adriatic port of Split.

Days later, Welles hired Bond as a personal assistant during the making of The Deep.

“They say one of the reasons Welles didn’t finish The Deep was because in 1973 Harvey died,” Bond says in an excerpt published in The Daily Mail. “I think he had long since got bored with it. The weight of the material was too light for him: he found the characters too facile.”

Bond also worked for Welles during the filming of The Merchant of Venice and had a small role.

“We were to film parts of The Merchant Of Venice in Venice itself. One image haunts me to this day. In the Piazza San Giorgio, laid out with enormous black and white flagstones, Welles shot an almost balletic scene, with all the actors dressed in black cloaks, white Venetian masks and black tricorn hats, which captured the mystery, menace and power of that great trading city,” Bond wrote. “I wonder whether this footage was ever used.”

It’s a surprising comment that betrays little additional research since the scene appeared in the 1995 documentary Orson Welles: One-Man Band and 20 years later in the restored and reconstructed version of The Merchant Of Venice.

Bond was also on hand when Welles worked in movies like Waterloo, portraying Louis XVIII, though he does not seem to realize these roles helped pay for his independent productions.

“I realize now Welles was taking these insignificant parts to pay for his lifestyle,” Bond wrote. “He had to support his Italian wife and their daughter, plus his Croatian mistress and small entourage, including Ann Rogers and me. He was like an upmarket gypsy, living from hand to mouth.”

Bond quit after Welles accused him of a “reluctance to work.”

In his letter of resignation, Bond wrote, “I was distressed to note the tone of suspicion in our conversation today. As you know I work hard and honestly for you. For some time now, I have felt somewhat frustrated by how things are going for me. You are a large tree which casts a great shadow on all those who are around you. I am a young sapling and I need the sun to let me grow. Reluctantly, I think it is time for me to transplant myself. I thank you for all you have done for me during this past year. I will not forget any of it.”

Apparently Bond did not forget a thing.  Like many memoirs, it is impressive or suspicious (depending on your view) that the author can recall lengthy comments made in such rich detail five decades after the fact.

Bond eventually moved on to work in commercials. He peppers his 232-page memoir with episodes of Wellesian bad behavior. He recalls excessive drinking and Welles’ negative takes on an allegedly dim Laurence Olivier and lecherous Charlie Chaplin. (Welles’ unflattering view of both men also appeared in Henry Jaglom’s My Lunches With Orson.)

Bond sums up his opinion of  his famous boss in the following remark:

“People used to ask what I thought Welles should be, and I always responded, ‘President of the United States’. Then his great knowledge and wisdom, his strength, energy, intelligence and epic voice, ability to charm people, even his ability to trick people, could have been put to constructive use, rather than these endless projects of no consequence. He was like a great painter forever pulling out unfinished canvases and dabbling with them, somehow aware he could do better, but lacking the will or wherewithal to do so.”

 

 

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