On May 6, 2015, members of Más Que Cine (More Than Film) Cultural Association of Ronda placed flowers on a dry well at a Spanish bullfighter’s ranch where Orson Welles’ ashes are interred.
On Wednesday, more than a dozen members of Más Que Cine (More Than Film) Cultural Association of Ronda placed flowers on a dry well at a Spanish bullfighter’s ranch where Orson Welles’ ashes interred.
The gathering and expression was timed to mark the 100th anniversary of Welles’ birth, said José María Ruiz, president of Más Que Cin.
Told of the gesture by Wellesnet, Beatrice Welles sent an email to the group thanking them for their kindness.
“How beautiful that the country he loved so much would be the one with the simplest and most beautiful homage one can give a man that has been buried for 30 years,” she told Wellesnet. “The flower that belongs to the South, the Spain he loved so much; El Clavel, the carnation, just beautiful. Thank you from him and from all of us who really care about him.”
In May 1987, Beatrice Welles brought her father’s ashes to the Ronda ranch of his longtime friend, bullfighter Antonio Ordoñez. The legendary matador died in 1998 and some of his ashes were later interred in the same well as his late friend at El Recreo De San Cayetano ranch.
She said her father never expressed a preference for his funeral arrangements or burial plans in conversations with his family. She and her late mother, Paola Mori Welles, chose Ronda as Welles’ final resting after much consideration. They rejected his birthplace of Kenosha, Wisconsin, or Hollywood, where he died on October 10, 1985, because he never felt he truly belonged in either of those communities.
.
“He was buried amongst people who really, really loved him for who he was – and not because he was Orson Welles,” she said. “He truly loved southern Spain. He was at his happiest there.”
Orson Welles often spoke of his deep affection for Spain. It is evident in one of his greatest unfinished works, Don Quixote. He filmed his favorite movie, Chimes at Midnight, in Spain.
Antonio Ordoñez’s grandson, popular bullfighter Cayetano Rivera Ordoñez, conceived of opening his property to Welles’ admirers in the days leading up to the centennial of Welles’ birth.
An increasingly popular tourist destination, the picturesque Ronda is situated in a mountainous region about 60 miles west of Málaga. Rich in bullfighting history, Ronda was a favorite locale of both Welles and Ernest Hemingway.
________
[br]
Post your comments on the Wellesnet Message Board.