Customer Reviews

Citizen Welles

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Frank Brady's "Citizen Welles" is one of the most well-respected biographies of Welles, and still one of the most underrated. Let me explain. Brady's book actually qualifies as a very early examination of Welles' life, beating Bogdanovich's "This is Orson Welles" and Simon Callow's "Orson Welles: The Road to Xanadu" onto the shelves by many years. It perhaps is not thought of as an early work because its publication was delayed several years due to trouble Brady's publishers had, not him. If it had been released when Brady first completed it, it probably would have earned much more acclaim than it already has. Brady anticipates much of the interest surrounding Welles and answers many key questions surrounding the man. He also thoroughly examines many areas of the famous man's life previously ignored by Welles historians, including Welles' abortive South American trip, which damaged Welles in Hollywood far more than "The Magnificent Ambersons" trauma or the battle Welles had to fight to get "Citizen Kane" released. Brady also avoids the awful bias of earlier works by Houseman and Kael that so macerated Welles, telling the man's story with frankness and understanding. It should be the first book anyone reads about Welles, and the book referred to by anyone reading any other work on the mythic director. With movies on Welles in production for HBO and the big screen (Tim Robbins' "The Cradle Will Rock"), interest in Welles only increases with time. That makes Brady's exhaustively-researched and smoothly-written book a keeper.

Frank Brady's biography dismantles the endless rumors and fabrications surrounding the life of Orson Welles. It is different from most of the other biographies on Welles in that it relies very heavily on research. Other biographies seem to subjective, and pay too much attention to the lies Welles sometimes told about himself. Ladies and gentleman, if you're into Welles, this is the one. A class 'A' "Mercury Theatre" production.

Frank Brady is a professor who knows how to write interesting prose about the fascinating figure of Orson Welles. Welles was a prodigy as a child who reach the heights of film glory with Citizen Kane! Brady points out that Welles excelled in radio, television, the movies and on the legitimate stage.
Welles was a man of Falstaffian stature whose appetites were
gargantuan whether it be wine, women, song and brilliant productions of his creative mind.
This book is not a candidate for the E True Hollywood Story or the National Enquirer! Brady provides a detailed account of the reason Welles will be remembered-his work in popular culture
for several decades.
Anyone wishing to know more about Welles, media in America or the difficulty of being a genius maverick in Hollwood will derive profit from this excellent biography. Highly Recommended!

I had always heard that Orson Welles was eccentric and weird. Having read this book I realize that he was extremely talented and energetic. His mind was always working. His genius was stifled by the movie studios who most times failed to recognize his vision. This book is a detailed telling of the many projects, most of them overlapping, of Orson Welles. From radio, to the stage, to screen, back to radio, back to the stage, back to screen. Even when he didn't claim critical success, there was always something magical about his work. If you are looking for sordid accounts of love affairs---this isn't the book for you. By reading this book you will gain an even greater appreciation for the passion Orson Welles had for acting and directing. Very well written.

By far the best biography on Orson Welles ever written. Not sure how this slipped by me for so long but it really is way more in depth than any other biography written on the genius Welles. It goes all the way back to his birth and of course has behind the scenes during the making and filming of Citizen Kane. But it goes way beyond that. Excellent read.

While not exhaustive, this is certainly a well-rounded bio of Orson, complete with information and anecdotes about almost everything he's done. I certainly learned a lot, and most of it was even interesting.

The book is set up chronologically, but I actually found myself just subject-surfing the index.

If I have any complaint, it's the writing style has a bit too much "hero-worship" of Welles. Don't get me wrong: I love the man, but recognize his flaws, and the book occasionally delved into apologetic on some of those matters. This is forgivable, though, and could certainly have been worse.

All in all, recommended reading if you're interested in him.