Film scholar Robert L. Carringer – whose research documented Orson Welles’ contribution to the Citizen Kane screenplay and his intended vision for The Magnificent Ambersons – has died. He was 81.
His recent passing was confirmed to Wellesnet by friends and colleagues.
Carringer was emeritus professor of English and Cinema Studies at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and his contribution to understanding Welles’ first two Hollywood films was immense.
His exhaustive review of the seven drafts of Citizen Kane and numerous revisions documented Welles contribution and that of co-writer Herman J. Mankiewicz. In his 1978 essay “The Scripts of Citizen Kane,” Carringer concluded, “In the eight weeks between the time the Victorville material passed into Welles’ hands and the final draft was completed, the Citizen Kane script was transformed, principally by him, from a solid basis for a story into an authentic plan for a masterpiece.”
Carringer authored several books on film including The Making of Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons: A Reconstruction. He retired from teaching in 2003, but in a string of emails with Wellesnet in 2021 and last year, Carringer revealed he was finishing work on a third book on Welles.
He recently appeared in the Danny Wu documentary on Welles, American: An Odyssey to 1947. He cooperated on Joshua Grossberg’s upcoming The Lost Print: The Making of Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons.”
A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, Carringer held degrees from the University of Tennessee, Johns Hopkins and Indiana University. He began his teaching career at the University of Illinois in 1970. He is survived by his wife, Sonia Raysor.
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