The Cotton good-luck charm

[Tony]

I read somewhere that OW considered Joe Cotten his good-luck charm, and included at least one shot of Cotten in every film; is this true? For example, I don't think he's in The Trial (is he?), and people are always saying he's in Othello, but I've never seen him. Cotten IS in:

Kane
Ambersons
Journey
(Othello?)
Touch of Evil
Wind
F for Fake


That's it, right?

[colwood]

I've heard the same thing, but I think Welles said that he "tried" to include Cotten in every film. Besides the ones you named, the only other film (of Welles') that they are listed together in at the IMDB was Welles' 1938 film, Too Much Johnson.

What is "Wind?" Can't say it rings a bell.

[Harvey Chartrand]

Joseph Cotten is one of the great unsung screen actors, but after what happened with Ambersons, I doubt that Welles viewed him as a "good-luck charm."
Cotten's portrayal of sad Holly Martins in The Third Man anchors the picture and is as brilliant in its own way as Welles' electrifying performance as Harry Lime (but Cotten has the larger role and carries the picture). Cotten was equally effective as the serial killer in Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt, but (like Glenn Ford, another unsung screen giant) was never even nominated for an Academy Award.
Recently, I saw Cotten in Richard Lester's Petulia (1968), one of the few great roles he was given in the later phase of his career. Cotten didn't bring Lester any luck either, as Petulia tanked at the box office, despite the presence of stars Julie Christie and George C. Scott in their prime and cameos by Janis Joplin and The Grateful Dead. But Petulia has gained a certain stature over the years. Leonard Maltin said it was one of the best American films of the sixties.
Cotten does not appear in The Other Side of the Wind, according to IMDB. He is supposedly in the crowd scenes early on in Othello (standing beside Joan Fontaine). The two were in Italy shooting the romance 'September Affair' and made uncredited appearances in 'Othello' as a lark. I've never been able to make out either one of them.

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

that's no surprise to have considere your best friend a good luck charm. but apparently all the bad things must have happened when joseph wasn't present.

colwood: Wind just a quick way of "other side of the wind"

tony: check your spellin' buddy...joseph is cotten

i've been reading that joseph and orson were writer and co-writer of the film "journey into fear". i thought norman foster did so. or was he just the director.

bye now!

[colwood]

O_B_O, thanks, while I don't consider myself a Welles expert, I feel like kicking myself over Wind, something I should have known.

I checked out the imdb, maybe not the definitive source for movie info but still...and they list Joseph Cotten as writer for Journey Into Fear and Orson Welles, Ben Hecht, and Richard Collins as uncredited writers.