Rich Little recently sent Wellesnet a scan of a charcoal portrait he drew of Orson Welles that can be purchased at his website Here. Rich Little worked with Welles on the still unfinished The Other Side of the Wind, before he left the production and was replaced by Peter Bogdanovich. Here are some of Rich Little’s memories of working with Orson Welles:
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In the early seventies, I first worked with Orson Welles on the ABC-TV show called The Kopycats, filmed in England. He was one of the guests and we really hit it off. We spent a lot of time talking and getting to know each other. Orson was a really fascinating guy, and he’d already started shooting on The Other Side Of The Wind in Spain (then titled, The Sacred Beasts). This was three years before I came aboard. Orson didn’t have any studio backing, so he was paying for The Other Side of the Wind out of his own pocket. When he ran out of money, he’d go and put on a fake nose and play in some Italian epic to make the money to come back and try to finish his movie. When I met him, Orson had already abandoned the project and had decided to pick it up again. He had to recast some of the parts, and he asked me if I wanted to be in the movie. I said, “Of course!” So I went to Phoenix, where they were shooting the picture and worked for about five weeks.
Orson had rented a big estate in Cave Creek, outside of Phoenix and had told the landlord he was going to write his memoirs there. Then he brought in a film crew in and tore down walls and ripped up the swimming pool. When the owner came back from Europe, he got quite a shock. I played Brooks Otterlake, a young film director and John Huston played Jake Hannaford, an older film director. There were so many great actors in the picture—Edmond O’Brien, Mercedes McCambridge, Susan Strasberg, and many more. It was a movie about Jake Hannaford, a movie director. People were following him around, shooting his life, and that was what we were going to see on the screen.
I don’t know how Orson could keep everything in his head like that, because there were incredibly complicated sequences. But he was a genius. He knew everything that he wanted to do. He was obsessed with the project while he was doing it. And my God, he worked hard! I don’t think he ever slept. I mean, how could he? Orson probably couldn’t lie down without suffocating. More likely, he’d prop himself up with two pillows and then rewrite the next days scenes!
Unfortunately, I never finished my part, and Orson never finished the movie. I had other commitments so I had to leave. Orson was so upset. I remember he was shooting me going to the airport from in back of the car. I said: “Orson, what are you shooting?” He said: “I’ll find a way to put this in the picture!” The shooting was very open-ended, and after I left Peter Bogdanovich took over my part.
I never worked with Orson on a movie again, but did a couple of Dean Martin celebrity roasts with him. A couple of years after I left The Other Side of the Wind I got a lovely letter from Orson. Whenever I was on a talk show, I’d tell some of the funny things that happened with Orson on the set. So Orson wrote me a long letter explaining why some of the things that happened were so bizarre. He wrote, “everyone enjoys a good joke, but don’t make me look like a buffoon.” I still have that incredible letter Orson wrote to me.
When we were shooting, it was hard to figure out what The Other Side of the Wind was about, and sometimes I don’t think even Orson knew. He was rewriting scenes all the time, even on the set. He’d stay up all night and rewrite scenes, giving us the new pages in the morning. We had to learn all our new lines on the spot, while the crew was waiting. I’d see the new lines and say: “What the hell is this?” Orson would say: “Just do it!” He did offer to let us read the new dialogue from cue cards, but I said, “No, that will look bad. I’ll learn it.”
As an actor, Orson was extremely easy to work with. He had a wonderful sense of humor and took suggestions from anybody. He was not difficult at all. It was just that he was so heavy, that sometimes he couldn’t get out of a chair without assistance. Whenever he wanted to get up to show us how to do something, we’d yell: “No, don’t get up!” We were afraid he’d have a heart attack! Orson couldn’t even bend over to tie his shoelaces.
Later on, Orson was coming up to Las Vegas to talk to me about another project. He phoned me from Los Angeles and I said, “Orson, aren’t you here? I thought we were going to get together.” He said, “I couldn’t fit into the God damned airplane seat! Western Airlines does not accommodate me. I don’t think they could have got the damn plane off the runway if I was on board!” And I said, “Well, you’ll have to drive up.” So he did.
I truly miss this great man.
I will always remember Orson as a tremendous talent and terrific friend.
Warm Regards,
Rich Little
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Here is an excerpt of Rich Little’s scene as BROOKS OTTERLAKE from the script for The Other Side of the Wind.
As a reading of the script excerpt shows, Welles clearly wrote the script with Rich Little in mind, as Brooks Otterlake is a vocal mimic, who is able to imitate many famous people, rapidly changing his voice from such political leaders as President Richard Nixon and California Gov. Ronald Reagan, along with many other celebrities, including General Patton.
This excerpt takes place outside of JAKE HANNAFORD’S ranch house on the night of his birthday party, after a fireworks display has been set off and all hell has broken loose.
The major characters in the scene are BROOKS OTTERLAKE, film journalists MR. PISTER (Joseph McBride) and JULIETTE RICHE (based on Pauline Kael), along with AL, one of director JAKE HANNAFORD’s many personal assistants. The scene calls for Rich Little to rapidly go from several different celebrity voices and provides delightful Wellsian comment on many of the (then) current film trends, with references to Marlon Brando, Bertolucci, Antonioni, The New Wave, Neo-Realism, Otto Preminger, John Wayne and Jane Fonda!