Orson Welles: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Orson Welles arrived in Hollywood in 1939 as a 24-year-old radio and theatre prodigy, having already staged an all-Black Macbeth for the Federal Theatre Project and panicked America with a Martian broadcast. His cinema fused Ford's Westerns, German Expressionist shadow, Shakespearean rhetoric and newspaper cynicism. This mix traces what fed him, who ran beside him, and who inherited the wreckage.

The Kynda mix for Orson Welles

• Key Influence · Stagecoach by John Ford (1939). Welles famously said he prepared to direct by watching Stagecoach dozens of times in RKO's screening room, treating Ford as his film school and calling him among the masters he learned from. Ford's ceiling-beamed interiors, Monument Valley low angles and ensemble character shorthand are visibly rehearsed in Citizen Kane, which Ford's own cameraman Gregg Toland then shot for Welles a year later.
• Influencia Obscura · The Power and the Glory by William K. Howard (1933). A largely forgotten Fox picture, scripted by Preston Sturges, that tells a ruthless tycoon's life story through fragmented flashbacks framed by a narrator at his funeral — the architecture Kane would use eight years later with newsreel and interviews. Long cited by film historians as the structural precursor Hollywood had already tried, shot with Spencer Tracy aging across decades.
• Local Roots · The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur (1928). Welles grew up around Chicago and Woodstock, Illinois, steeped in the same Midwestern newspaper culture Hecht and MacArthur satirized from their years on Chicago dailies. Their machine-gun reporters, cynical editors and headline-as-weapon rhythm supply the newsroom world of Kane's Inquirer, right down to the montage of presses, scoops and the reporter sent chasing one last quote.
• Beyond the Medium · Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (1899). Welles adapted Conrad for radio and then wrote an elaborate first-person-camera screenplay of it as his intended RKO debut; when budgets killed it, he made Citizen Kane instead. The abandoned project's obsessions — a journey toward an unreachable, monstrous great man reconstructed from others' testimony — survive intact as Kane's search for Rosebud and Kurtz-like tycoon.
• Peer · The Maltese Falcon by John Huston (1941). Released months after Kane, Huston's debut marked the same 1941 arrival of writer-directors reshaping the studio system, and it cast Mercury Theatre alumni Agnes Moorehead's contemporaries from Welles's stock company world. Huston and Welles later circled each other for decades; Welles acted in Huston's The Kremlin Letter and Huston starred in Welles's The Other Side of the Wind.
• From the Canon · Citizen Kane by Orson Welles (1941). Made at 25 under a contract granting final cut, co-written with Herman J. Mankiewicz, shot by Gregg Toland in deep focus with ceilinged sets, scored by Bernard Herrmann and acted largely by Mercury Theatre radio players. Hearst's press fought it; it won only the screenplay Oscar; it then topped critics' polls for half a century as the template for the ambitious debut feature.
• Key Collaborator · The Grapes of Wrath by John Ford (1940). Toland shot this for Ford immediately before volunteering to photograph Kane — the only Hollywood cameraman who asked to work with an untested 24-year-old. Its lamp-lit interiors, hard-edged deep focus and silhouettes are the laboratory for Kane's ceilings, wide-angle lenses and pan-focus. Welles shared his main title card with Toland, an almost unheard-of screen credit for a cinematographer.
• Legacy · The Last Picture Show by Peter Bogdanovich (1971). Bogdanovich spent years interviewing Welles for the book This Is Orson Welles, hosted him in Los Angeles, acted in The Other Side of the Wind and later supervised its completion. Welles reportedly urged him to shoot this small-town Texas elegy in black and white; its deep-focus compositions and study of a community's decay openly echo The Magnificent Ambersons.

What influenced Orson Welles

• Stagecoach by John Ford (1939). Stagecoach (John Ford) — titan for Orson Welles (also via Citizen Kane) “Orson Welles claimed that he watched Stagecoach forty times in preparation for making Citizen Kane .” (Wikipedia)
• D.W. Griffith. Griffith claimed Welles borrowed ideas from his own films for Citizen Kane. (via Citizen Kane, Intolerance, The Birth of a Nation) “I loved Citizen Kane and particularly loved the ideas he took from me.” (Wikipedia)
• The Power and the Glory by William K. Howard (1933). The Power and the Glory (William K. Howard) — ghost for Orson Welles (also via Citizen Kane) “but acknowledged that it had similarities to such previous works as The Power and the Glory .” (Wikipedia)
• Othello by William Shakespeare. Welles directed a film adaptation of Othello. “tourné h Venise même dans le cadre où Shakespeare a situé ce drame classique de la Jalonsle.” (Le Messager (Lewiston, Me.))
• Macbeth by William Shakespeare (1606). Macbeth (William Shakespeare) — culture for Orson Welles “Orson Welles , a lifelong lover of Shakespeare, directed and starred in Macbeth , Othello and Chimes at Midnight” (Wikipedia)
• The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari by Robert Wiene (1920). The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene) — titan for Citizen Kane (via Citizen Kane) “He then taught himself filmmaking by matching its visual vocabulary to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari , which he ordered from the Museum of Modern Art” (Wikipedia)
• Jean-Luc Godard (1930). Welles calls Godard a defining influence on filmmaking. “He is the definitive influence if not really the first great film artist of this last decade, and his gifts as a director are enormous.” (Wikipedia)
• The Last Laugh by F. W. Murnau (1924). The Last Laugh (F. W. Murnau) — titan for Orson Welles (also via Citizen Kane) (wikidata.org)
• Roger Hill. Welles was mentored by his teacher Roger Hill at the Todd School. “Welles came under the influence of Roger Hill, a teacher who was later the school's headmaster.” (Wikipedia)
• Boris Anisfeld. Welles studied briefly under painter Boris Anisfeld at the Art Institute of Chicago. “with Boris Anisfeld , who encouraged him to pursue painting.” (Wikipedia)
• Battleship Potemkin by Sergei Eisenstein (1925). Orson Welles named Battleship Potemkin among his favorite films. “Directors Orson Welles , [ 67 ] Michael Mann [ 68 ] and Paul Greengrass [ 69 ] placed Battleship Potemkin on their list of favorite films” (Wikipedia)
• Intolerance by D. W. Griffith (1916). Intolerance (D. W. Griffith) — titan for Citizen Kane (via Citizen Kane) “Before RKO cut the film's budget, Ferguson's designs were more elaborate and resembled the production designs of early Cecil B. DeMille films and Intolerance” (Wikipedia)
• Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1816). Kubla Khan (Samuel Taylor Coleridge) — culture for Citizen Kane (via Citizen Kane) “== References in popular culture == Orson Welles's Citizen Kane alludes to "Kubla Khan" (Kane builds a palace called Xanadu, and the poem is quoted in the newsreel segment).” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Birth of a Nation by D. W. Griffith (1915). Critic Andrew Sarris compared Citizen Kane's influence to that of The Birth of a Nation. (via Citizen Kane) “the work that influenced the cinema more profoundly than any American film since The Birth of a Nation .” (Wikipedia)
• Frank Capra. Welles studied films by Capra among others while preparing to direct. (via Citizen Kane) “films by Frank Capra , René Clair , Fritz Lang , King Vidor” (Wikipedia)
• René Clair. Welles studied films by René Clair among others while preparing to direct. (via Citizen Kane) “films by Frank Capra , René Clair , Fritz Lang , King Vidor” (Wikipedia)
• Fritz Lang. Welles studied films by Fritz Lang among others while preparing to direct. (via Citizen Kane) “films by Frank Capra , René Clair , Fritz Lang , King Vidor” (Wikipedia)
• King Vidor. Welles studied films by King Vidor among others while preparing to direct. (via Citizen Kane) “films by Frank Capra , René Clair , Fritz Lang , King Vidor” (Wikipedia)
• Jean Renoir (1894). Welles studied films by Jean Renoir among others while preparing to direct. (via Citizen Kane) “King Vidor [ 43 ] : 1172 : 1171 and Jean Renoir .” (Wikipedia)
• Auguste and Louis Lumière. Sadoul argued Kane's deep-composition technique echoed the Lumière brothers' cinematography. (via Citizen Kane) “He pointed out such examples as compositions that used both the foreground and the background in the films of Auguste and Louis Lumière , special effects used in the films of Georges Méliès , shots of the ceiling in Erich von Stroheim 's…” (Wikipedia)
• Georges Méliès. Sadoul argued Kane's special effects echoed those pioneered by Georges Méliès. (via Citizen Kane) “He pointed out such examples as compositions that used both the foreground and the background in the films of Auguste and Louis Lumière , special effects used in the films of Georges Méliès , shots of the ceiling in Erich von Stroheim 's…” (Wikipedia)
• Greed by Erich von Stroheim (1924). Sadoul noted Kane's famous ceiling shots had precedent in Erich von Stroheim's Greed. (via Citizen Kane) “He pointed out such examples as compositions that used both the foreground and the background in the films of Auguste and Louis Lumière , special effects used in the films of Georges Méliès , shots of the ceiling in Erich von Stroheim 's…” (Wikipedia)
• Dziga Vertov. Sadoul argued Kane's newsreel montage technique echoed Dziga Vertov's films. (via Citizen Kane) “He pointed out such examples as compositions that used both the foreground and the background in the films of Auguste and Louis Lumière , special effects used in the films of Georges Méliès , shots of the ceiling in Erich von Stroheim 's…” (Wikipedia)
• Auguste Renoir. Truffaut connected Welles's visual approach in Kane to painter Auguste Renoir's dictum, extending it to sound. (via Citizen Kane) “A lot of filmmakers know enough to follow Auguste Renoir 's advice to fill the eyes with images at all costs, but only Orson Welles understood that the sound track had to be filled in the same way.” (Wikipedia)
• William Randolph Hearst. The character Charles Foster Kane was based in part on William Randolph Hearst. (via Citizen Kane) “a composite character based on American media barons William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer , and Chicago tycoons Samuel Insull and Harold McCormick” (Wikipedia)
• Joseph Pulitzer. The character Charles Foster Kane was based in part on Joseph Pulitzer. (via Citizen Kane) “a composite character based on American media barons William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer , and Chicago tycoons Samuel Insull and Harold McCormick” (Wikipedia)
• Samuel Insull. The character Charles Foster Kane was based in part on Samuel Insull. (via Citizen Kane) “a composite character based on American media barons William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer , and Chicago tycoons Samuel Insull and Harold McCormick” (Wikipedia)
• Harold McCormick. The character Charles Foster Kane was based in part on Harold McCormick. (via Citizen Kane) “a composite character based on American media barons William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer , and Chicago tycoons Samuel Insull and Harold McCormick” (Wikipedia)
• Un Chien Andalou by Luis Buñuel (1929). Un Chien Andalou (Luis Buñuel) — ghost for Orson Welles (wikidata.org)
• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (1899). Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad) — culture for Orson Welles (also via Citizen Kane) (openlibrary.org)
• Maria Lani. F for Fake (Orson Welles) — legacy for Maria Lani (via F for Fake) (themoviedb.org)

Peers and kindred spirits

• Gregg Toland. Welles publicly credited cinematographer Gregg Toland's essential contribution to the film. (also via Citizen Kane) “It's impossible to say how much I owe to Gregg," he said. "He was superb.” (Wikipedia)
• Eartha Kitt (1927). Kitt starred in a production staged by Welles. (also via Citizen Kane, Orson Welles) “In 1950, Orson Welles gave Kitt her first starring role as Helen of Troy in his staging of Dr. Faustus .” (Wikipedia)
• John Ford. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles) — collaborator for John Ford (via Citizen Kane, Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath) “Ford's work was held in high regard by his contemporaries, with Akira Kurosawa, Orson Welles, Frank Capra, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Ingmar Bergman naming him one of the greatest directors of all time.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Mercury Theatre. Welles co-founded the Mercury Theatre with John Houseman. “The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory theatre company founded by Orson Welles and John Houseman in 1937.” (Wikipedia)
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Ford (1940). The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford) — collaborator for Orson Welles (also via Citizen Kane) “In a telegram on December 20, 1941, Whitney wrote Welles, "Personally believe you would make great contribution to hemisphere solidarity with this project." The OCIAA sponsored cultural tours to Latin America and appointed goodwill ambas…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Herman J. Mankiewicz. Welles collaborated with Herman J. Mankiewicz on the Citizen Kane screenplay. (via Citizen Kane) “arguing that Herman J. Mankiewicz , the screenplay's coauthor, was virtually its sole author and the film's actual guiding force.” (Wikipedia)
• Richard Wright. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles) — collaborator for Richard Wright (via Citizen Kane, Native Son) “His play Native Son opened on Broadway in March 1941, with Orson Welles as director, to generally favorable reviews.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Maltese Falcon by John Huston (1941). The Maltese Falcon (John Huston) — peer for Orson Welles (also via Citizen Kane) “Producer Sam Spiegel initially planned to hire director John Huston, who had rewritten the screenplay by Anthony Veiller.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Zsa Zsa Gabor. The filmography identifies Welles as director of Touch of Evil and lists Gabor’s role. (also via Touch of Evil) “Touch of Evil Orson Welles Strip-club owner [ 27 ] Queen of Outer Space Edward Bernds Talleah” (Wikipedia)
• Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock (1958). Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock) — collaborator for Orson Welles (also via Citizen Kane) “In 2012, Hitchcock's psychological thriller Vertigo, starring Stewart, displaced Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941) as the British Film Institute's greatest film ever made based on its world-wide poll of hundreds of film critics.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Vera Miles (1930). Touch of Evil (Orson Welles) — peer for Vera Miles (via Touch of Evil) “After leaving MGM in 1954, Leigh signed with Universal and Columbia Pictures, starring in films such as the adventure feature Safari (1956) and Orson Welles' film noir Touch of Evil (1958).” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Third Man by Carol Reed (1949). The Third Man (Carol Reed) — collaborator for Orson Welles “The following year, Welles starred as Harry Lime in Carol Reed's The Third Man, alongside Cotten, his friend and co-star from Citizen Kane, with a script by Graham Greene and a memorable score by Anton Karas.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Katharine Cornell. Welles remained in Cornell and McClintic's New York production of Romeo and Juliet. “Orson Welles was kept, but played Tybalt instead of Mercutio , making his Broadway debut.” (Wikipedia)
• Native Son by Richard Wright (1940). Welles directed the Broadway production of the play. “His play Native Son opened on Broadway in March 1941, with Orson Welles as director, to generally favorable reviews.” (Wikipedia)
• The Second Hurricane by Aaron Copland. Aaron Copland selected Welles to direct his operetta The Second Hurricane. “American composer Aaron Copland chose Welles to direct The Second Hurricane (1937), an operetta with a libretto by Edwin Denby.” (Wikipedia)
• Piero Regnoli. The article states Welles is making his new film with the help of Piero Regnoli, in which Welles will also act. “Orson Welles qui commence à tourner ce film avec l’aide |i Piero Regaoll Jouera dans trois rôles.” (Le Messager (Lewiston, Me.))
• The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. Welles directed and narrated a radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel. “the director and narrator of a radio adaptation of H. G. Wells 's novel The War of the Worlds” (Wikipedia)
• How Green Was My Valley by John Ford (1941). How Green Was My Valley (John Ford) — peer for Citizen Kane (via Citizen Kane) “The one film he genuinely studied was John Ford's Stagecoach, which he watched 40 times.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Best Years of Our Lives by William Wyler (1946). The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler) — collaborator for Citizen Kane (via Citizen Kane) “Selznick, who asked him to head his film company's story department, and William Wyler, who wanted him for a supporting role in Wuthering Heights.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Bernard Herrmann. Bernard Herrmann, a prior radio collaborator of Welles, scored Citizen Kane. (via Citizen Kane) “It was the first film scored by Bernard Herrmann , who had worked with Welles in radio.” (Wikipedia)
• Psycho (1960 film). A contemporary review compares Psycho's creative standing with Touch of Evil. (via Touch of Evil) “"first American movie since Touch of Evil (1958) to stand in the same creative rank as the great European films", respectively.” (Wikipedia)
• Lucille Ball. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles) — geography for Lucille Ball (via Citizen Kane) “Audio "Orson Welles Radio Almanac".” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Negroni. Touch of Evil (Orson Welles) — collaborator for Negroni (via Touch of Evil) “One of the earliest reports of a drink by the name "Negroni" came from Orson Welles in correspondence with the Coshocton Tribune while working in Rome on Cagliostro in 1947, where he described a new drink called the Negroni, "The bitters…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur (1928). The Front Page (Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur) — geography for Orson Welles (wikidata.org)
• Waiting for Lefty by Clifford Odets (1935). Waiting for Lefty (Clifford Odets) — geography for Orson Welles (wikidata.org)
• Sullivan's Travels by Preston Sturges (1941). Sullivan's Travels (Preston Sturges) — peer for Orson Welles (wikidata.org)
• Bringing Up Baby by Howard Hawks (1938). Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks) — geography for Citizen Kane (via Citizen Kane) (themoviedb.org)
• Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock (1960). Touch of Evil (Orson Welles) — geography for Psycho (via Touch of Evil) (themoviedb.org)
• King Kong by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack (1933). King Kong (Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack) — geography for Citizen Kane (via Citizen Kane)

Who Orson Welles influenced

• Paul Thomas Anderson. The article says Anderson cited Welles as an influence. (also via There Will Be Blood) “He has cited Robert Altman , Martin Brest , Jonathan Demme , Robert Downey Sr. , Alfred Hitchcock , John Huston , Alex Cox , Stanley Kubrick , Akira Kurosawa , Mike Leigh , David Mamet , Anthony Mann , Max Ophüls , Martin Scorsese , Stev…” (Wikipedia)
• Stanley Kubrick (1928). Welles's camera style influenced Kubrick, especially in The Killing. (also via Citizen Kane) “Film historian/critic Robert Kolker sees the influence of Orson Welles ' moving camera shots on Kubrick's style. LoBrutto notes that Kubrick identified with Welles and that this influenced the making of The Killing” (Wikipedia)
• Arthur Penn (1922). Penn's interest in film is attributed to seeing Citizen Kane. (via Citizen Kane) “And then finally when I saw "Citizen Kane," that was really the turning point in terms of gratification from film.” (Fresh Air (NPR))
• There Will Be Blood by Paul Thomas Anderson (2007). There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson) — legacy for Orson Welles (also via Citizen Kane) “He has cited Robert Altman, Martin Brest, Jonathan Demme, Robert Downey Sr., Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, Alex Cox, Stanley Kubrick, Akira Kurosawa, Mike Leigh, David Mamet, Anthony Mann, Vincente Minnelli, Max Ophüls, Martin Scorsese,…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Monsieur Verdoux. Welles supplied the concept that inspired Chaplin’s film. “Chaplin's inspiration for the project came from Orson Welles , who wanted him to star in a film about the French serial killer Henri Désiré Landru .” (Wikipedia)
• French New Wave. Orson Welles was admired by the New Wave directors. “Charlie Chaplin , Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Howard Hawks , John Ford, Sam Fuller and Don Siegel [ 1 ] were held up in admiration.” (Wikipedia)
• The Last Picture Show by Peter Bogdanovich (1971). The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich) — legacy for Orson Welles “Peter Bogdanovich observed that Welles found it riotously funny.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Roman Polanski (1933). Polanski also named Orson Welles as one of his favorite filmmakers. “Roman Polanski considered Fellini to be among the three film-makers he favored most, along with Akira Kurosawa and Orson Welles .” (Wikipedia)
• James Baldwin (1924). Seeing Welles’s theatrical production inspired Baldwin’s ambition to write plays. “Miller took Baldwin to see an all-Black rendition of Orson Welles 's take on Macbeth at the Lafayette Theatre , from which flowed Baldwin's lifelong desire to succeed as a playwright .” (Wikipedia)
• The Simpsons by Matt Groening (1989). Citizen Kane (Orson Welles) — culture for The Simpsons (via Citizen Kane) “Voice actor Maurice LaMarche is known for his Welles impression, heard in Ed Wood (in which he dubbed the dialog of Vincent D'Onofrio); the 1994–95 primetime animated series, The Critic; a 2006 episode of The Simpsons; and a 2011 episode…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Raging Bull by Martin Scorsese (1980). Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese) — legacy for Citizen Kane (via Citizen Kane) “Martin Scorsese recalls, "I saw Citizen Kane on TV...And I began to become aware of editing and camera positions...Welles was not afraid of being self-conscious with the camera and making self-referential remarks with the camera." Steven…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Brian De Palma (1940). Seeing Citizen Kane sparked his interest in filmmaking. (via Citizen Kane) “De Palma became enraptured with filmmaking after seeing Orson Welles ' Citizen Kane (1941) and Alfred Hitchcock 's Vertigo (1958)” (Wikipedia)
• The Social Network. Critic David Edelstein reports that director David Fincher compared The Social Network's arc to Citizen Kane. (via Citizen Kane) “Director Fincher has likened the film to "Citizen Kane," his protagonist becoming at once more successful and more alone” (Fresh Air (NPR))
• The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (1920). Scorsese documents The Magnificent Ambersons as an influence on The Age of Innocence. (via The Magnificent Ambersons) “In Scorsese on Scorsese , he documents influences from films such as Luchino Visconti 's Senso and his Il Gattopardo ( The Leopard ) as well as Orson Welles 's The Magnificent Ambersons and also Roberto Rossellini's La prise de pouvoir p…” (Wikipedia)
• Stephen Sondheim. Citizen Kane is named among the films Sondheim favored. (via Citizen Kane) “He devoured 1940s and 1950s films, and called cinema his "basic language"; [ 12 ] his film knowledge got him through The $64,000 Question contestant tryouts. Sondheim disliked movie musicals, favoring films like Citizen Kane , The Grapes…” (Wikipedia)
• Zhang Yimou (1950). Citizen Kane (Orson Welles) — titan for Zhang Yimou (via Citizen Kane) (themoviedb.org)