Roles Orson Should Have Played

[Sherlock Holmes]

Nero Wolfe


The Doctor

He would've made a great Mycroft Holmes too.

[Kevin Loy]

I certainly don't mean for this to be taken too seriously, but whenever I see Welles as Falstaff, I find myself reminded of how much he resembled the cliched imagery associated with Papa Noel. Of course, I can't think of a substantial movie with Santa Claus in it (therein lies the rub), but he was certainly in worse movies...

[jaime marzol]

MOVIES WELLES SHOULD HAVE DIRECTED:
andrew sarris said of MOBY DICK, huston should have played ahab, and welles should have directed. that certainly would have been interesting.

[Terry]

Had Welles done commercial products for the studio in order to earn the right to do his pet projects (just as DUNE earned David Lynch the opportunity to do BLUE VELVET,) then it would have been interesting to see a 1940 RKO version of WAR OF THE WORLDS with Welles having final cut.

[Gordon]

MOVIES WELLES SHOULD HAVE DIRECTED:
andrew sarris said of MOBY DICK, huston should have played ahab, and welles should have directed. that certainly would have been interesting.

Welles agreed that (John) Huston should have played Ahab.

As for Welles roles what about Don Corleone?

[marcoshark]

Had Welles done commercial products for the studio in order to earn the right to do his pet projects (just as DUNE earned David Lynch the opportunity to do BLUE VELVET,) then it would have been interesting to see a 1940 RKO version of WAR OF THE WORLDS with Welles having final cut.

or "The Shadow" for that matter.

[Glenn Anders]

The Studios would have loved for Welles to put "The War of the Worlds" on film, said so, and I'm sure would have welcomed the Shadow, too. But though he had a boyish delight in early sci-fi and melodrama, he aspired to Art. That's what got him in trouble. He did not want to be a matinee idol or pulp hero, and the Studios were never interested primarily in Art.

The same problem, in its way, applies to MOBY DICK. John Huston wanted to direct his father Walter in the part of Ahab. When Walter Huston died, it would have made a lot of sense for John Huston to play the part, have Welles direct, or share in the direction chores. The Studio, however, demanded a star of the magnitude of Gregory Peck at the time.

As for Don Corleone, I believe Welles said it was the role he lost that he most wanted.

Glenn

[Tashman]

PHILEAS FOGG-- in OW's own version of Around the World in 80 Days.

[Glenn Anders]

Perfect.

[Jeff Wilson]

There is material in Welles' correspondence about a SHADOW film in 1947, I think, which obviously came to nothing. I'll have to look at my notes, but I don't think it ever progressed past the ideas stage.

[Le Chiffre]

.

There is material in Welles' correspondence about a SHADOW film in 1947, I think, which obviously came to nothing. I'll have to look at my notes, but I don't think it ever progressed past the ideas stage.

Hmmm, reminds me of that Welles/Batman hoax awhile ago. Maybe the hoaxers got their superheroes mixed up. If they'd picked The Shadow they would have been right!

As for lost Welles acting roles, the one I find myself thinking of frequently would have had him playing Baron Harkonnen in Jodorowski's proposed film of DUNE, with music score by Pink Floyd. But I think that's been discussed here before. David Lynch's DUNE has some wonderful sequences here and there, but overrall just doesn't work.

[Harvey Chartrand]

Back in 1975, I recall reading that Welles was cast as Professor James Moriarty in THE SEVEN-PER-CENT SOLUTION, one of the worst Sherlock Holmes films ever made, despite its lavish budget. (God, how I hated this picture after the brilliance of THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.) Welles' old nemesis Laurence Olivier ended up in the part instead.
Then Welles joined the ensemble for the detective send-up MURDER BY DEATH, but dropped out. Just as well.

[Tony]

The 7% solution was a GREAT Holmes film: Harvey, you and I really disagree on this one! Bernard Herrmann was supposed to do the music, but he died; still, it's a terrific Holmes, in my top 3, and I would reccommend it to anyone!

[Glenn Anders]

I'm with Harvey on this one, tony. THE 7 PERCENT SOLUTION was a strained, pretentious piece of Holmesiana -- especially compared with Billy Wilder's THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, which is a poignant masterpiece despite half of it being cut away. The cast and production design are magnificent.

We don't have to apologize for the loss of Welles or the death of Herrmann on this one. Like THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, it was in the can. From a truly imaginative screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L Diamond (on the premise of "lost" (suppressed) Watson case accounts), we have a film featuring Robert Stephens (pretty close to Conan Doyle's description of Holmes), Colin Blakely (Watson), Genivieve Page (the femme fatale), Christopher Lee (Mycroft Holmes), Clive Revill, Tamar Toumanova, Stanley Holloway, John Williams, et. al.

The production crew includes Christopher Challis's Cinematography; Welles' favorite Alexander Trauner's Production Design, and Miklos Rosza's last great film score [based on his achingly beautiful Violin Concerto, and incidentally, his score for THE THIEF OF BAGDAD).

Now, finding a complete print of that film as it was intended to be sent out, in a "roadshow" version, would be another grail worthy of Wellsians . . . in their spare time!

No need to even mention THE 7 PERCENT SOLUTION, if THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES should be found.

Glenn