# I'm looking for a good Orson Welles biography **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 7, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-good-orson-welles-biography/379424 "2006-11-07T14:51:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-good-orson-welles-biography/379424/1 "2006-11-07T14:51:23Z")
Just browsing at Amazon, I see a \*lot \* of books on Orson Welles. Can anyone steer me towards the best recent (non-gossipy) biography? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-good-orson-welles-biography/379424/2 "2006-11-07T14:59:20Z")
Honest, despite the way I screwed up the thread title, I \*am \* literate. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-good-orson-welles-biography/379424/3 "2006-11-07T15:03:34Z")
I’m intrested in any recently-published volumes on the Mars Hoax, and related radio hoaxes in the US & abroad. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-good-orson-welles-biography/379424/4 "2006-11-07T16:31:16Z")
I read one Welles bio (_Orson Welles_, by Barbara Leaming) a few years ago, and I have another, _Despite the System_ by Clinton Heylin, on the shelves. One of the blurbs on the back of _Despite the System_ describes the author as a “champion” for Welles, so it may be well-written, but I’m not expecting it to be really evenhanded. The Leaming book has to be out of date by now, but it’s a unique one, as it’s almost a Welles autobiography. Welles suggested that they make it an openly collaborative effort. So there are some obvious biases, and probably some inaccuracies too, but it may have some value. ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-good-orson-welles-biography/379424/5 "2006-11-07T16:51:58Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I read one Welles bio (_Orson Welles_, by Barbara Leaming) a few years ago, and I have another, _Despite the System_ by Clinton Heylin, on the shelves. One of the blurbs on the back of _Despite the System_ describes the author as a “champion” for Welles, so it may be well-written, but I’m not expecting it to be really evenhanded. The Leaming book has to be out of date by now, but it’s a unique one, as it’s almost a Welles autobiography. Welles suggested that they make it an openly collaborative effort. So there are some obvious biases, and probably some inaccuracies too, but it may have some value. [/QUOTE] I would also like to recommend Leaming’s “If This Was Happiness” - her biography of Rita Hayworth. She got a lot of input from Welles re: Hayworth’s issues (apparent sexual abuse by her father & first husband). VCNJ~ ---
**Author:** ![Leechboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@Leechboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leechboy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-good-orson-welles-biography/379424/6 "2006-11-07T18:29:36Z")
The actor Simon Callow (He of Four Weddings and Funeral fame. The fat one who dies) wrote what can only be described as an exhaustingly researched account of Welle’s life. I can’t remember the title, but if you want detail, it is the book to track down. For Welles in his own words (approximately) I would reccommend Peter Bogdanovich’s book. It’s falls into the same category as Truffaut’s book on Hitchcock and the Billy Wilder book by Camron Crowe - very interesting dialogue about film in a teacher/pupil type setting. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-good-orson-welles-biography/379424/7 "2006-11-07T18:37:19Z")
[QUOTE=Leechboy] The actor Simon Callow (He of Four Weddings and Funeral fame. The fat one who dies) wrote what can only be described as an exhaustingly researched account of Welle’s life. I can’t remember the title, but if you want detail, it is the book to track down. [/QUOTE] Actually, it’s an ongoing series. Part 1, about his early life pre-Hollywood, is **The Road to Xanadu** and Part 2 (just published this last August) is **Hello Americans**. Probably as close to definitive as you can get (and there’s still one more volume to go). ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-good-orson-welles-biography/379424/8 "2006-11-08T18:06:33Z")
Thanks for all the help, evereyone! I’m leaning toward the first Callow volume–thought the Leaming and Heylin books do sound interesting too. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-good-orson-welles-biography/379424/9 "2006-11-09T00:15:34Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] I’m intrested in any recently-published volumes on the Mars Hoax, and related radio hoaxes in the US & abroad. [/QUOTE] Hmm, it’s not like there are a whole lot of books on the 1938 _War of the Worlds_. But back in the early 1970s, Howard Koch, the author of the radio play, wrote a book on it that included the complete script.