On this date in 1915, Orson Welles was born. 10 facts about him:
He was born on the same day that Babe Ruth hit his very first home run. His father was an inventor and his mother a pianist. The family lived in Wisconsin.
Welles was a talented pianist as a child, but gave it up when his mother died when he was nine, and never played again.
Welles got his first acting gig as a child; he was paid $25 a day to dress up as Peter Rabbit and stand in the window of a department store in Chicago.
On leaving school, he chose not to go to college, but to travel in Europe instead. He was trying to break into acting at the time, but had little success until he arrived in Ireland and used his acting skills to convince the Gate Theatre in Dublin that he was a big Theatre Guild star from New York. They believed him and gave him some roles, getting him the theatre experience he needed.
As well as acting, he enjoyed performing magic. He had flat feet, which ruled him out of military service in the second world war, so he turned his hand to entertaining the troops with a magic act instead. His act included sawing movie star Marlene Dietrich in half. Back home in America, he performed the same act only with his then wife, Rita Hayworth. Welles was a member of the Society of American Magicians and the International Brotherhood of Magicians, and performed at several of their conventions. Some say he preferred magic to acting.
Some newspapers actually banned the very mention of his name or any advertising of his films or TV shows. This was because of his famous film, Citizen Kane, which was loosely based on the life of newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst, and Hearst took exception to it. The only exception to Hearst’s rule was if an article declared that Welles was “a menace to American motherhood, freedom of speech and assembly, and the pursuit of happiness.”
In later life, he grew very fat. Hardly surprising when you consider that his favourite meal was two rare steaks and a pint of Scotch, and he once ate 18 Hot dogs in one sitting at a Los Angeles hot dog stand. His weight limited the roles he could play, but he could still use his distinctive voice. He provided the voice for Robin Masters, Tom Selleck’s never-seen host in the first few seasons of Magnum, P.I. and Unicron in Transformers: The Movie; He narrated the trailer for Revenge of the Nerds and numerous advertisements. He was the first actor to play a comic book hero in media when he provided the voice of The Shadow. He almost became the voice of Darth Vader. George Lucas wanted him for that role, but decided against it in the end as the voice would be too recognisable.
He was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for contributions to radio and one for his contribution to film. He won one Oscar, for Best Original Screenplay for Citizen Kane in 1941, but gave the Oscar away to his cinematographer Cary Graver because he couldn’t afford to pay him.
Welles wanted to play Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather, but Francis Ford Coppola already had his heart set on Marlon Brando.
He died at the age of 70 in 1985. His death occurred a couple of hours after being interviewed on The Merv Griffin Show, and it’s said he died with a Typewriter in his lap as he was in the middle of typing up notes for a shooting session with Gary Graver the following day.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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