With allusions to Citizen Kane, Dan Rather reports on Orson Welles’ death on the CBS Evening News.
By RAY KELLY
Looking back 30 years, Orson Welles’ final hours were rather routine by his standards: A magic trick on Merv, dinner at Ma Maison with friends and work on yet another unfinished film.
Welles, one of the titans of stage, radio and motion pictures, died in the early morning hours of October 10, 1985 in Hollywood, a city that had too often rejected him.
On October 9, Welles and biographer Barbara Leaming arrived at the Vine Street studio of The Merv Griffin Show to promote her book.
Prior to the taping that afternoon, Welles had telephoned his youngest daughter, Beatrice, in Las Vegas.
“We talked about Merv and how good he had always been to him and he told me that he wished I were coming with him. I went to so many tapings: Merv, Carson, Dinah Shore (and) the dreaded Dean Martin Roasts,” Beatrice Welles recalled. “He said that he always felt more comfortable and happier when he knew I was in the audience and in turn a better guest. It was such a huge compliment – and he wasn’t big on expressing compliments. With him, I always ‘knew’ words were not necessary between us. But that day, that phone call, he said things that he rarely expressed.”
Welles, who had lost considerable weight, looked pale when he walked out on stage with a cane. He opened his Merv appearance with a card trick he had worked out with magician Jim Steinmeyer; and then took an uncharacteristic stroll down memory lane, lavishing praise on second wife Rita Hayworth and longtime friend Marlene Dietrich.
He was less enthused talking about his recent 70th birthday. Quoting Charles de Gaulle, he told Griffin that “old age is a shipwreck.”
Asked about he coped with Broadway success at the age of 22, Welles replied, “Anybody who has trouble being successful doesn’t have any sympathy from me… I was just awful busy – and awful lucky. I had a tremendous streak of luck and I was very grateful for that. I am not being fake modest talking about luck. I really do think it has everything to do with anybody’s life.”
In an updated edition of her book, Leaming wrote that Welles was in considerable pain; his legs ached and he had not slept well the night before. However, he was excited by the receptive audience.
“Do you know how well that went?,” he said to Leaming in the car ride to Ma Maison, where they would meet up with longtime friend and Chimes at Midnight producer Alessandro Tasca di Cutò. “Did you see how much they liked me?”
Leaming left for the airport to catch a flight to New York and Tasca drove Welles to his Stanley Avenue home, where the two talked for awhile. Welles’ companion, Oja Kodar, was away in Europe and her live-in nephew was reportedly asleep in the attic.
Welles reportedly telephoned director Henry Jaglom and left a message on his answering machine inquiring about his ill mother’s health.
He also engaged in a lengthy call with his childhood mentor, Roger “Skipper” Hill, which was recreated by Hill’s grandson, Todd Tarbox, in his book Orson Welles and Roger Hill: A Friendship in Three Acts. Welles complained of his age and failing health, but noted “like a tenacious bulldog I continue to fight the good fight to find the money to complete a few of my films and begin (King) Lear and Cradle (Will Rock).”
“This shipwreck is too busy to be destroyed, let alone sink,” Welles told Hill.
During the night, Welles typed stage directions for a shoot he and loyal cameraman Gary Graver were planning to film at UCLA that morning. According to Graver, who died in 2006, Welles was typing notes for the Julius Caesar one-man film, as well as The Magic Show.
Welles did not die in bed, as initially reported. He had gone to the bathroom and could not make it back to his bed. He grabbed a pillow and slept on the floor, where he suffered a heart attack.
His driver, Freddie Gillette, made the sad discovery at 10 a.m.
Paul Stewart, who played Raymond the butler in Citizen Kane and hatchet man Matt Costello in the still-unfinished The Other Side of the Wind, was at the nearby Directors Guild of America office when news of Welles’ death broke. He was among the first to show up at the house.
Welles’ passing was covered on network newscasts and CNN with footage of his body being removed from the house.
The following day, the CBS Morning News included a tribute anchored by Maria Shriver with comments from colleagues Janet Leigh (Touch of Evil) and Ruth Warrick (Citizen Kane), as well as directors Martin Scorcese and Martin Ritt.
Much of this television coverage has been lost with the passage of time.
In marking the 30th anniversary of Welles’ passing, Wellesnet is presenting nearly 37 minutes of news reports and tributes, which aired on October 10-11, 1985.
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