Orson Welles's brother Richard

[Anthony]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this forum, and since a year or so became interested in the life and work of mr. Welles.
Now i have some questions about Welles's brother Richard of which there is not so much information kown to me.
Can someone tell me who he was? and in which books about Orson Welles he is mentioned and/or what is particurly khown about?
I, myself do khow the following things of which i am not sure, maybe somebody can give me a true/false about them:

1) He was shy, whitdrawn, clumsy?
2) He went to the same school as his younger brother Orson later went, but failed at school?
3) Orson didn't like him?
4) The most important: was he a schizofrenic?

Maybe someone has got a photograph of him?

I, hope someone can help me with mine questions

Regards, Anthony

There is this one website, on brothers:
http://www.openlettersmonthly.com/the-p ... -brothers/

[Wellesnet]

From a webpage on Beatrice Ives Welles:

Notes for RICHARD JR. IVES WELLES:
Orson Welles had an older brother Richard who is seldom discussed in many of his books. He was not very bright and considered a disappointment. He would be expelled from the progressive Todd School, where Welles would be sent years later, and later spent many years in a mental institution before settling into a normal life as a counselor.

http://genforum.genealogy.com/ives/messages/122.html

[Wellesnet]

I don't know who the other man is in these photos of Welles on the RKO lot, but he sure looks an awful lot like him. Several people on Wellesnet Fb speculated that it might be Richard. The man to the right looks about 10 years older then Orson, which Richard was. BTW, Orson is wearing his "Heart of Darkness" beard, so these were obviously taken on the set of that eventually abandoned project:

[JulieS]

Hi, I'm new here. I've been an avid fan of Orson Welles for almost forty years, it's so nice to be amongst Welles lovers. I wanted to say a quick comment on Mr Welles' older brother. From what I heard He was institutionalized for the last 12 or 15 years of his life. I know that Mr Welles and he were not close at all, they were practically strangers. The photo is very interesting though there is a huge similarity

Thank you !

[Le Chiffre]

Welcome, Tina. Thanks for the info. That sounds plausible, given that he was institutionalized for ten years as a young man. From the descriptions of him in various Welles books, I'd always pictured him as a stammering simpleton, and more then one Welles book has speculated that the "Nightman" in TOUCH OF EVIL may have been inspired by Richard. But the man in these photos looks like a more rugged, rough-and-tumble fellow than the Nightman.

Leaming's book has a few things on Richard, most interestingly Orson Welles's claim that Richard initially criticized him for disgracing the family name by becoming an actor, but after the WOTW broadcast, attempted to capitalize on his younger brother's success by launching an imitation Martian broadcast himself in Los Angeles. Welles then began quietly sending small sums of money to Richard in order to prevent him from pulling such a stunt again.

[Le Chiffre]

Found this picture last year on the Internet, the earliest picture of Welles I've seen, with Richard:

(Picture removed)

[JulieS]

Great picture! I had heard from someone who knew Mr Welles that he didn't just send money to prevent him from pulling silly Martian attack stunts. In fact I was told Mr Welles supported his brother most of his life and the older Welles got a monthly check for many years.
Maybe someone knows more?

[JulieS]

I forgot to mention this was told to me by someone who had been receiving and still was receiving money from Orson Welles to help support him through a very long and difficult financial time in his life .

[Le Chiffre]

Thanks Tina. I remember reading at the Lilly Library that Welles adopted (or at least sponsored) a couple of kids from different countries as well. Another reason not to criticize his work in commercials in later years. He needed the money for personal as well as professional reasons.

Welles appears to have been reluctant to talk about Richard in later years, as indicated by this unused exchange from THIS IS ORSON WELLES:

WELLES'S YOUTH (FAMILY)

PB: Did your parents plan your education?

OW: I don't know.

PB: But your mother wanted you to go to school to be a sports...

OW: But that's not education. But that all goes...yes, forcing me to go out and play football with groups of slum children, and all that, yes. But no plan. She died when I was eight, you know, and you don't have much of an education before eight. I was self-taught until then. Afterwards, I didn't know how...

PB: Your brother...

OW: I don't talk about him. Next...

PB: OK

OW: I have nothing to say. If I talk about him it sounds cynical. There's no way I could deal with the subject and be understood, because this isn't a personal book of memoirs, and I'm not interested in...

PB: No, the question wasn't about it. Apparently there was a life of Christ that your brother wrote, and I wondered if...

OW: My brother never wrote anything as far as I know.

[Wellesnet]

Courtesy of the Citizen Welles Society of Kenosha:
https://www.facebook.com/citizenwelless ... =1&theater