MOBY DICK - Rehearsed - Christopher Lee on Orson

[Tony]

The story I've always heard is that when Welles moved back to America in 1970, he rented his house to Robert Shaw, who got drunk and burned down a wing, unfortunately where Welles had kept a lot of his stuff; why would Welles lie about this?

[NoFake]

I had a chance to see the last matinee performance of the American Century Theater production of "Moby Dick Rehearsed," and it was every bit as good as the Falls Church critic said it was. The theater, though small, was packed with enthusiastic and appreciative observers, and the program included the director's informed and perceptive exegesis of the play, in which he analyzed (hypothesized?) Welles' identification with both the captain and Melville (not to mention the whale...).

[jbrooks]

I saw that production back in 1997. I thought it was very well done. Very well staged -- and with a great cast. I read that much of the same cast was back this time -- so I'm sure it was good.

[L French]

Christopher Lee wasn't in the play version of MOBY DICK REHEARSED, only the film version, replacing actor Peter Sallis (in the roles of the Stage Manager & Mr. Flask).

Lee had some further comments in his autiobiography about the filming of the play:

Welles had taken a place near me in Belgravia and since he drove everywhere and would have taken a taxi to Land's End, I was deputed to drive him to and fro in a minuscule vehicle with my head touching the roof and his vast bulk under a heap of scripts theatening to burst the whole machine asunder.

He called us, as he'd probably called every other company he'd worked with, "the most talented company I ever worked with."

It was a great challenge, but when I made an extra special effort his booming voice would reach out to me in chuckling irony, "There you go again, with that fi-i-i-ne brush!" And when all went well, it was "Print - with enthusiasm!"

[Tony]

As always, Lawrence, a nice post. Someone should interview Lee specifically about Welles, and put out a book of interviews about Welles, or alternately put out an "oral history" of welles, such as Plimpton's book on sedgewick.

What about you, Monseur French?

[Orson&Jazz]

Yes, I enthusiastically agree with Tony!!


Some one must, that's an absolute must, put out a book of interviews, or a collection of stories from people that had worked with Welles.


It would be fascinating to read people's recollections of the man. I would be able to see Welles through different eyes. It would be great.

[Tony]

Orson and Jazz:

You've nailed it: why read a whole book on Orson, say Thompson's or Leaming's, which pretend to be the objective truth of the man, when we could read a whole book of many people's opinions of the man and what it was like to work with him, or to know him, and then we have to form our own impression of him: the latter process is much more productive, I'd say- and honest.

[Glenn Anders]

Orson & Jazz, Tony: I would like to read such a symposium, too, but aside from a few alive who actually worked on Welles' projects like Christopher Lee, there are not many of those personalities still alive. The book would have to be made up transcripts of film biography docs (like Huston's memory of why and how Welles gave his Father Mapple performance in MOBY DICK), or collected and uncollected bits from interviews in already published books and magazines.

It may not be much of a movie, but the best fairly recent collection of such memories is Graver's WORKING WITH ORSON WELLES (1993). Besides the Boswellian Peter Bogdanovich, there are lots of anecdotes from the likes of Stacy Keach, Peter Jason, Susan Strasberg, and director Curtis Harrington. Not exactly on the same level of Joseph Cotton or Agnes Moorehead, perhaps, but very interesting, and sometimes amusing.

Glenn

[Orson&Jazz]

Yes, that's what crossed my mind too. Many of the people who have worked with Welles have passed on.

So, I agree that the book would have to be from transcripts or whatnot.

I still would like to read their stories with Welles, whether they be good or bad recollections.


There is an infinite amount of people's accounts with Welles I would like to read in one single collection....

[Glenn Anders]

Start clipping and transcribing, O&J. One day will come the Year of Welles [again?], and a publisher will be willing to finance the book.

Glenn

[Orson&Jazz]

Hey now, when did I become the delegated individual to attempt such a daunting task?


But, it does sound like a great idea.



hmmmm...............on second thought...........maybe I should embrace the challenge.

[ToddBaesen]

With the passing of Patrick McGoohan, it would be rather appropriate if Stefan Drossler would show his Moby Dick footage at the PFA this weekend...

I find it interesting to note that many of the Patrick McGoohan obits point out his connection with Orson Welles, just as the Earth Kitt obits did, a few weeks ago.

Which brings up a rather interesting point about Welles as an early detector of unsung talent. Obviously, this is no surprise for anyone familiar with Welles career in the theater. Remember, CITIZEN KANE had, at the time, no real known actors in the cast. So Welles discovering of actors with talent before they were "names" is no surprise. But having Eartha Kitt and Patrick McGoohan die so close together merely points out that Welles didn't just make movies with stars. He also discovered and featured good actors in stage plays that gave them their first steps into a Hollywood career...

The list is rather impressive, and here are just a few of the names it includes, all of whom Welles cast in plays he directed, before they were well-known:


Peter Finch (Iago)
Joan Plowright (Pip)
Christopher Lee (Flask)
Patrick McGoohan (Starbuck)
Viveca Lindfords (Cordelia)
Eartha Kitt (Helen of Troy)
Keith Baxter (Prince Hal)
Christopher Plummer (alternate Hal)
Maxine Audley (Emilia)
Alvin Epstein (The Fool)
Herbert Machiz (The Fourth Man)