Wellesnet

By RAY KELLY

Looking back, Orson Welles’ final hours were rather ordinary by his remarkable standards: Performing a magic trick on Merv, dining with friends at posh Ma Maison and working on yet another unfinished film.

The death of one of the titans of stage, radio and motion pictures occurred in the early morning hours of October 10, 1985 in Hollywood, a city that had too often rejected him.

On October 9, Welles and biographer Barbara Leaming arrived at the Vine Street studio of The Merv Griffin Show to promote her new book.

Prior to taping his appearance on Merv that afternoon, Welles had telephoned his youngest daughter, Beatrice, in Las Vegas. He had been living apart from her mother, Paola Mori, because of his ongoing relationship with longtime collaborator Oja Kodar.

“We talked about Merv and how good he had always been to him and he told me that he wished I were coming with him. I went to so many tapings: Merv, Carson, Dinah Shore (and) the dreaded Dean Martin Roasts,” Beatrice Welles recalled in a conversation with Wellesnet a decade ago. “He said that he always felt more comfortable and happier when he knew I was in the audience and in turn a better guest. It was such a huge compliment – and he wasn’t big on expressing compliments. With him, I always knew words were not necessary between us. But that day, that phone call, he said things that he rarely expressed.”

Welles, who had lost considerable weight, looked pale when he walked out on stage with a cane. He opened his Merv appearance with a card trick he had worked out with magician Jim Steinmeyer; and then took an uncharacteristic stroll down memory lane, lavishing praise on second wife Rita Hayworth and longtime friend Marlene Dietrich.

He was less enthused talking about his recent 70th birthday. Quoting Charles de Gaulle, he told Griffin that “old age is a shipwreck.”

Asked about he coped with Broadway success at the age of 22, Welles replied, “Anybody who has trouble being successful doesn’t have any sympathy from me…  I was just awful busy  – and awful lucky. I had a tremendous streak of luck and I was very grateful for that. I am not being fake modest talking about luck. I really do think it has everything to do with anybody’s life.”

In an updated edition of her book, Leaming wrote that Welles was in considerable pain; his legs ached and he had not slept well the night before. However, he was excited by the receptive audience.

“Do you know how well that went?,” he asked her in the car ride to Ma Maison, where they met up up with longtime friend and Chimes at Midnight producer Alessandro Tasca di  Cutò. “Did you see how much they liked me?”

Ma Maison owner Patrick Terrail told UPI that “Orson was in great good health and in fine spirits” on the eve of his death.

‘”He had just done The Merv Griffin Show. He was talking about renegotiating his contract with Paul Masson about doing wine commercials. He also was talking about directing a segment of Amazing Stories for Steven Spielberg,” Terrail said. “I’ve never seen him with a greater desire to live in the past 10 years.”

Leaming added, “Dying wasn’t something that Orson had in mind… He was in absolutely top Orsonian form.”

After dinner, Leaming left for the airport to catch a flight to New York.  Tasca drove Welles to the Stanley Avenue home he shared with Kodar, who was away in Europe at the time.

Welles engaged in a lengthy telephone call with his childhood mentor and lifelong friend, Roger “Skipper” Hill,  which was recreated by Hill’s grandson, Todd Tarbox, in his book Orson Welles and Roger Hill: A Friendship in Three Acts. Welles complained of his age and failing health, but noted “like a tenacious bulldog  I continue to fight the good fight to find the money to complete a few of my films and begin (King) Lear and Cradle (Will Rock).”

“This shipwreck is too busy to be destroyed, let alone sink,” Welles told Hill.

During the night, Welles typed stage directions for a shoot he and cameraman Gary Graver were planning at UCLA that morning. According to Graver, who died in 2006, Welles was typing notes for the Julius Caesar one-man film, as well as The Magic Show.

Around 3 a.m., Welles left a message on director Henry Jaglom’s answering machine inquiring about his ill mother, according to a memorial he wrote for The Los Angeles Times. “This is your friend. Don’t forget to call your mother first thing in the morning, find out what the results of her operation are, then call and tell me!”

Initially, it was reported that Welles suffered a fatal heart attack in bed. Later, it was said he was found on the floor. His death certificate lists the immediate cause of death as cardio‑pulmonary collapse, when the heart and lungs stop working properly. It was triggered by a ventricular tachycardia, a dangerously fast heart rhythm in the ventricles of the heart. An irregular heart rhythm had been diagnosed by doctors five years earlier. Diabetes and chronic phlebitis were listed as contributing factors.

His driver, Freddie Gillette, discovered Welles’ body after 10 a.m. “That was one of the most devastating times in my life…  to be with a guy who I respected his work and all that and then be the guy who… found him and break the news to everyone. It was traumatic, it really was for a long time,” Gillette recalled in the video short F for Freddie.

Paul Stewart, who played Raymond the butler in the landmark Citizen Kane and loyal lieutenant Matt Costello in the posthumously completed The Other Side of the Wind, was at the nearby Directors Guild of America office when news of Welles’ death broke. He was among the first to arrive at the house.

Two days later, a private service was held at a Hollywood mortuary. It was organized by lawyer Eli Blumenfeld and Welles’ widow, Paola Mori. His three daughters were among the handful of invitees.  Welles’ eldest daughter, Chris Feder, has described the mortuary as looking “more like a hot sheets motel than a funeral home” with no music or flowers.

A larger, star-studded memorial was organized three weeks later by two Welles associates: author Joseph McBride, who had worked with Welles on several projects, most notably The Other Side of the Wind; and director Richard Wilson, whose relationship with Welles dated back to the Mercury Theatre days.  Peter Bogdanovich served as host of the November 2 tribute at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles.

Television coverage of his death

Welles’ passing was covered on all of the network evening newscasts, as well as CNN, with footage of his body being removed from his Hollywood home.

The following day, the CBS Morning News ran a tribute to Welles anchored by Maria Shriver with comments from actresses Janet Leigh (Touch of Evil) and Ruth Warrick (Citizen Kane); Frank Mankiewicz, son of Citizen Kane co-writer Herman Mankiewicz; and directors Martin Ritt and Martin Scorsese.

Scorsese rebuffed assertions that Welles failed to live up to the promise of his youth. “The proof is in the films. He made about 12  pictures. I wish he made more, but they are so great they will stand up for a long time.”

Much of this television coverage has been lost with the passage of time.

In marking the 40th anniversary of Welles’ death, Wellesnet is presenting nearly 37 minutes of news reports and tributes, which aired  October 10-11, 1985.  I assembled this compilation immediately after Welles’ death in 1985 and posted it on YouTube a decade ago. However, it was quickly removed because of a copyright claim over seven seconds of interview footage despite my fair use argument.

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