In 1979, Orson Welles narrated the trailer for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the cinematic return of the cult 1960s television series,
Making this commercial job noteworthy was that the big budget sci-fi epic was helmed by Robert Wise, Welles’ editor decades earlier on Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons. Thirty seven years after RKO Pictures ordered Wise to drastically recut Ambersons in Welles’ absence, some animosity may have lingered, according to a recent podcast hosted by Inglorious Treksperts Mark A. Altman and Daren Dochterman.
Altman and Dochterman sat down with marketing wizard Merv Bloch, whose advertising campaign credits ranged from Goldfinger to 2001:A Space Odyssey. During the podcast episode, It Will Startle Your Senses, Bloch shared his recollections of working with Welles on the trailer for producer Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Bloch suggested to Paramount Pictures they hire an “important voice” to herald the film, and he was aware of Welles ad work American Airlines and Perrier.
During the nearly two-hour podcast, Bloch shared warm memories of working with Welles.
Welles was amused that Bloch’s company was called Rosebud Advertising. Bloch had brought a copy of James Naremore’s The Magic World of Orson Welles, which Welles signed and “and drew the starship sled for me.”
Welles joked around with the pronunciation of various names during the recording session, he said.
“He was playing around… ‘Gene Rotten-berry.’ He was having fun and I enjoyed him,” Bloch recalled.
Welles was paid $25,000 to narrate the teaser trailer. He was subsequently called back to narrate foreign language versions of the trailer.
Bloch worked with Welles again few years later on ads for Conan the Barbarian. He recalled Welles sharing stories with him about the filming of The Third Man and his work during the Golden Age of Radio.
The podcast and teaser trailer are embedded below.
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