Was Orson Welles A Psychic?

Orson Welles was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician known for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He was a collaborator in the creation of his famous voice, FDR, and served as a behind-the-scenes speechwriter. After the collapse of the “Cradle” project, Welles met Steven Spielberg for the first time and found himself in a familiar and painful situation. Critics and Directors Voted Orson Welles as the Greatest Director of All Time in 2002.

In Magician, Welles tells the story in several different versions and hears it wryly debunked by Peter Bogdanovich. The character of prostitute/clairvoyant Tana sees humanity within Hank and feeds him chili con carne in an attempt to stop him from chewing candy bars. Maurice Bernstein, a social-climbing Chicago doctor who had befriended the couple, became Orson’s guardian, shuttling him around while engaging in a flurry of high-profile affairs.

Welles was not only an amateur magician but also a man who appreciated fakery of magic. He became dangerously overweight, and his physical size mirrored his larger-than-life personality. As a teenager, Welles was also a keen magician and remained fascinated by magic throughout his life. Today, the genius behind War of the Worlds and Citizen Kane would be 100 years old.


📹 Orson Welles on Cold Reading

Orson Welles discusses the nature of ‘cold reading’, a type of analysis used by many phony psychics and fortune tellers to trick …


Was Orson Wells a genius?

The individual in question was a virtuoso of cinema and illusion, displaying remarkable prowess in both acting and directing. However, he was also prone to the excesses that ultimately led to his downfall.

Who was the greatest prodigy?

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a child prodigy, was a remarkable musician who began playing the harpsichord at four years old and composing simple music at five. He was among seven famous child prodigies who went on to achieve great things as adults. Not all gifted children go on to achieve great things as adults, but Mozart was a prime example. His elder sister, Maria Anna, was also remarkably gifted, and the Mozart family went on tours to showcase his musical abilities. There are numerous anecdotes about Mozart’s astonishing musical dexterity, memory, and creativity in composition.

Is the brain based on Orson Welles?

Pinky and the Brain, a series based on the character of the Brain, was created using the Acme Labs Bagel Warmer and Gene Splicer. The Brain’s voice is based on Orson Welles’. The series’ opening theme features the Brain writing a complex mathematical formula, “Theory of Everything (Made Simple)”, which is THX 1138, the title of George Lucas’ first film. The series began as segments on Animaniacs and was later adapted into a series, winning an Emmy. After being canceled, it spawned a spin-off series, Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain, which was canceled after 13 episodes.

What was Orson Welles like as a person?
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What was Orson Welles like as a person?

Welles was a unique and extraordinary man who lived a life of extravagant, self-defeating behavior and inspiring generosity. He was funny, terrifying, creative, destructive, kind, and cruel, all on the largest scale. His lack of self-knowledge led him to repeat his errors. His successes and failures were equally titanic, creating memorable films and striking theatre of the 20th century. His TV work pointed to possibilities for the medium that nobody bothered to take up.

He was fearless in his experiments, never doing it for the money, just for the sheer joy of making films. Despite his success, Welles left no legacy, as he was a one-off. If the author had written twice as much about him, he would still find him fascinating.

What did Orson Welles think of Stanley Kubrick?
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What did Orson Welles think of Stanley Kubrick?

Orson Welles, a personal influence of director Steven Kubrick, praised him as a giant among the “younger generation”. Leading directors like Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Quentin Tarantino have cited Kubrick as a source of inspiration and collaboration. In an interview for the Eyes Wide Shut DVD release, Steven Spielberg stated that Kubrick could shoot a picture better in history and told stories in a way “antithetical to the way we are accustomed to receiving stories”.

Many filmmakers imitate Kubrick’s inventive and unique use of camera movement and framing. For example, Jonathan Glazer’s music videos contain visual references to Kubrick, while The Coen Brothers’ Barton Fink contains a hotel hallway Steadicam shot as an homage to The Shining. The storytelling style of their Hudsucker Proxy was influenced by Dr. Strangelove.

Director Tim Burton has included visual homages to Kubrick in his work, using actual footage from 2001: A Space Odyssey in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and modeling the look of Tweedledee and Tweedledum in his version of Alice in Wonderland on the Grady girls in The Shining. Film critic Roger Ebert noted that Burton’s Mars Attacks! was partially inspired by Dr. Strangelove, and the video for The Killers’ song “Bones” includes clips from Kubrick’s Lolita and other films from the general era.

Was Orson Welles a prodigy?
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Was Orson Welles a prodigy?

William Welles was a talented child prodigy, born to a concert pianist and crack rifle shot mother and an inventor and businessman father. He was a gifted actor, known for his skills in piano, violin, acting, drawing, painting, and verse. Welles attended the exclusive Todd School in Woodstock, Illinois, where he excelled in staging modern and classical plays. His father passed away in 1930, and he became the ward of Chicago doctor Maurice Bernstein.

Welles graduated from Todd but briefly studied at the Art Institute of Chicago before traveling to Dublin, where he auditioned for the Duke of Württemberg in a stage adaptation of Lion Feuchtwanger’s novel Jew Süss. He remained in Ireland for a year, acting with the company at the Abbey Theatre and at the Gate, designing sets, writing a newspaper column, and beginning directing plays.

In 1933, Welles was introduced to actress Katharine Cornell by author Thornton Wilder and was hired to act in Cornell’s road company. He played Mercutio in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Marchbanks in George Bernard Shaw’s Candida, and Octavius Barrett in Rudolf Besier’s The Barretts of Wimpole Street. In 1934, Welles organized a summer drama festival at the Todd School, where he made his first film, The Hearts of Age.

He met producer John Houseman, who cast him as the lead in Archibald MacLeish’s verse play Panic. They then moved on to mounting productions for the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Theatre Project, starting with Macbeth with an all African American cast and setting from Scotland to Haiti. Their most famous work was Marc Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock, which was shut down by WPA guards due to its political nature.

In 1938, the Mercury Theatre presented William Gillette’s comedy Too Much Johnson, and Welles shot three short silent films to precede each act of the play. However, the footage was never finished, and it was rediscovered, restored, and premiered in 2013.

Why is Orson Welles so important?
(Image Source: Pixabay.com)

Why is Orson Welles so important?

George Orson Welles was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician known for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. At 21, Welles directed high-profile stage productions for the Federal Theatre Project in New York City, including a 1936 adaptation of Macbeth with an African-American cast and the controversial labor opera The Cradle Will Rock in 1937.

He and John Houseman founded the Mercury Theatre, an independent repertory theatre company that presented a series of productions on Broadway through 1941. In 1938, Welles found international fame as the director and narrator of a radio adaptation of H. G. Wells’s novel The War of the Worlds, which caused some listeners to believe that a Martian invasion was in fact occurring. His first film was Citizen Kane, co-wrote, produced, directed, and starred in as the title character, Charles Foster Kane.

He directed twelve other features, including The Magnificent Ambersons, The Stranger, The Lady from Shanghai, Touch of Evil, The Trial, Chimes at Midnight, and F for Fake. Welles also had roles in other directors’ films, such as Rochester in Jane Eyre, Harry Lime in The Third Man, and Cardinal Wolsey in A Man for All Seasons.

What is an Orson Welles complex?

The Orson Welles Complex is a documentary film about the iconic Camrbidge MA cinema, restaurant, book store, and film school that grew from a torchlight parade in 1969 to its fire in 1986. The complex influenced the modern art house movie theatre and influenced the careers of notable figures such as Tommy Lee Jones, Jay Leno, Jimmy Cliff, and reggae music. The film highlights the impact of the Welles on American culture, as it shaped the development of independent filmmaking and established artists like John Sayles, Joan Micklin Silver, John Waters, and David Halerin. The Welles Complex is not just about celebrity, but about a specific time in American culture where one generation gathered and another reacted.

How heavy was Orson Welles?

George Lucas initially considered Orson Welles as the voice of Darth Vader but ultimately selected James Earl Jones due to the latter’s late-life obesity, which resulted in his demise at over 350 pounds.

Why does Pinky say narf?

The term “narf” is a common utterance of Pinky’s. It was previously employed in a manner that nearly resulted in the demise of both Pinky and Brain. This occurred when Brain instructed Pinky to alter the call sign of the Alvin (DSV-2), a directive that, if executed, would have had severe consequences. The Pentagon misinterpreted the alteration as a nuclear attack readiness formation. This article is a preliminary draft and can be developed further by contributing to the Pinky and the Brain Wiki.

Was Orson Welles the shadow?
(Image Source: Pixabay.com)

Was Orson Welles the shadow?

In 1937, the radio show The Shadow returned with Orson Welles assuming the role of the title character and Agnes Moorehead as Margo Lane. Subsequently, Bill Johnstone and Bret Morrison assumed the roles of the show’s protagonists, with Morrison continuing in the role until the conclusion of the series in 1954.


📹 Orson Welles and Robert Blake Trade Jabs With Each Other – Carson Tonight Show

Orsonwelles and #robertblake trade jabs with each other on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. #johnnycarson Listen to …


Was Orson Welles A Psychic?
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  • 1:45 to 1:47 “…and they have a name for it…” These couple of seconds are evidence to me that Orson Welles was a person who reveled in learning something new and reveled in sharing his knowledge with others. His face, his demeanor, and his voice are all absolutely radiant with joy at this point. What a fascinating, talented, marvelous man was Orson Welles!

  • Welles is the best. He can take a story like that and make you hang on every word. The obvious relish he had for this kind of thing is just wonderful. I love how, when he says “…between the ages of thirteen and fifteen, a great change…” his eyes narrow and the face become that of a nefarious hypnotist. The consummate actor. Forget Dos Equis. THIS was the most interesting man in the world.

  • The way he describes a “shuteye” with the hotel clerk analogy is what I believe “intuition” is. Your brain has come up with an answer to a question that you didnt know to ask. Your intuition tells you to run away from something because your brain has recognized you are in trouble far before you have

  • This is when talk shows were unscripted, and had intelligent, talented and interesting guests. Now talk shows are just vehicles to plug books, CD’s, movies, TV shows, plays, etc. I remember the Carson show was the most fun when his guests went off-script and he lost control of the show. Those were the days 🙂

  • For those that don’t know, this is actually a good Psychology clip. Without even realizing it, without likely ever having known an ounce of Academic Psychology, Orson Welles has effectively described the mind’s Dual-Processing mechanism. There are two tracks of ‘Consciousness,’: Implicit and Explicit. As an example offered in one of my Psychology Texts, you go out and see a Hummingbird. While you are actively aware–Explicit Processing–that the thing is called a Hummingbird, that it’s wings are fluttering, that it is drinking nectar to survive, you are ‘Subconsciously’ taking note of the varying hues in it’s body, the exact rate of speed of its wings, its exact height from the ground, the actual and exact Rate of Speed of its wings and so forth. All the latter information is encoded and itemized and catalogues without your even being aware of it. Orson Wells nails the concept perfectly. Yet ANOTHER reason he’s one of the Greats! 🙂

  • I had a similar case. A woman told my mother that not only had she just got married the previous week, but had also bought new curtains. I told my mum that it was easily deduced. She was playing with her ring because it was new as most people do, and that had no tan line, even though it was summer Back then moving to a new home after marriage was extremely common, and buying new curtains is the FIRST thing most do when decorating. Elementary, Watson.

  • I’ve had that in sales. Helping a customer you watch how they respond to different items you offer and just learn about the person on another level. It’s about reading people certainly it is a skill one develops has or has not. I never felt fraudulent about it sometimes uncomfortable as if I knew more than I should.

  • I once tried it myself a few times. All one needs to do is stop waiting for your turn to speak and just LISTEN to what people say. If you chat with someone in this way for 20-30 minutes you will have them tell you the names of their children, mother, father, spouse, what they do for a living etc. and IMMEDIATELY forget. When you pretend to them that you can read minds you simply repeat back, using careful wording, what was just said to you. They will appear astounded at your ‘psychic’ ability!

  • We did that as a pub game once, sat outside a quiet pub as people walked by we took it in turns to say to strangers things like “hey excuse me i know you think this is weird but i have this urge to tell you dont worry she will get better” etc etc, we all got hits on whoever we spoke too, then i got braver and got more specific, as a girl walked by in a big cardigan i said “escuse me etc etc, but your sister said look after her cardigan you look good in it, so cheer up” she was shocked and said was on the way to hospital to visit her sister who was gravely ill and dying and she had lent her the cardigan, i stopped playing as freaked me out and this girl wanted my number so her mum could talk to me etc, and now i know why, i think we all got confident and in my case girl was wearing a cardigan too big for her, she looked sad like someone was going to pass away etc and carrying a plastic bag of clothes, I think i just accesed her face and clothes was lucky guess, was a funny game though but i never played again, but think i will take it up again now i know no spirits are really envolved. lol x

  • People are creatures of habit and we recognize patterns and remember them…. When I trolled chat rooms in the late nineties and early two thousands, people were amazed by how I could guess what relationship status, education, car, favorite TV show, and foods that they had or consumed…. But this was all gathered from hundreds of hours of observation of people and what is popular. It was not 100%, but more than 70% accurate.

  • I have friends that believe in fortune tellers….i explain how they can “read” peoples non-verbial communication. Its nothing supernatural or hocus-pocus. Im a Councillor and I worked with cognitively challenged non-verbail people and I honned my ability to understand non-verbial communication. Eyes say alot with subtle movements

  • If they’re doing a TV show, psychics will often ask ‘customers’ to come to the audience. They can then easily pass off information that had been established in private sessions as new information that the spirits have given. When you see a psychic get a hit after hit on TV, this is what is happening. Of course there is also the feedback-loop. The ‘customers’ will often elaborate after a psychic got a hit. This too can be fed back as new information, sometimes sessions later. They keep files, too

  • Four Men on a Raft – Its All True By: Orson Welles 1942 Filmed in the Fishing Village of Caponga Brazil You tube – duration 9:56 Walk in the footsteps of Orson Welles. His legendary shadow still shimmers on the golden sands and warm waters of the traditional Brazilian fishing village of Caponga. The fishermen are still there. The rafts are still there. Orson is still there! Brazil’s best kept secret Pousada Meu Refugio / Hotel ‘My Refuge’ – Caponga

  • “Psychic” readings are really not even as interesting sounding as he is making it out to be. There is the cold reading aspect of course, but It basically comes down to a numbers game where they miss a whole lot and hit on something every now and again. And if anyone knows someone who is considering paying one of these hucksters, you should send them this article immediately.

  • I would have gone further and told her more. I would have told her that she had a stopped watch in a drawer that had a cotton reel with black or red cotton on it. There are letters in the drawer, one pertaining to a new job acquired in the previous year (to pay for the wedding preparations, and it was the 80’s). Easy stuff so far…

  • There are several possibilities. There is just plain guessing: working letter per letter (“It starts with an M or N”) or the most often used names and their variations (“Do you know someone called John or Joe? Maybe Jonathan.”). Often the value of the name (relative, friend, high school teacher, dog,…) is attributed by the mark. There is also ‘hot reading’: research that has been done by ‘psychic’, look at Popoff for a good example, though in a different setting. (to be continued)

  • I feel that the word “genius” is one of the most recklessly used in the English language. Especially when used in regards to those who work in the artistic medium of film, television, etc. Are some sublimely talented? Yes. But geniuses? Not so much. I can think of two American directors that I would honestly consider stone cold geniuses. One of them is Orson Welles and the other isn’t.

  • I wish this was longer…fascinating…I am a medium and am repelled by the ‘ cold callers’….such a common practice..I often attend sittings and end up on the receiving end of cold calling..I always challenge them…makes no difference..they just say.. ‘Oh I will leave that with you..I am never wrong ‘!!!..A medium needs to prove survival after death…not just waffle on..Watch out for these…’ you are a very kind person…but other people sometimes take advantage of you ‘..’ You have had some ups and downs in your life ‘…waffle…

  • The second great component of Gnostic thought is magic, properly so called, i.e. the power ex opere operato of weird names, sounds, gestures, and actions, as also the mixture of elements to produce effects totally disproportionate to the cause. Arendzen, John. “Gnosticism.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 30 Jan. 2013. Wikipedia Bayesian probability, interprets the concept of probability as “an abstract concept”. Whereas its your truth, we may say!

  • We can be given these “gifts of knowledge”, indeed we all experience them at times. It’s actually a biblical phenomenon, recorded there, specifically, as a gift, which can be given by God, used by his trustworthy servants. And it can be very easy, when it happens. As Orson perfectly describes! In fact the whole idea too, of using Orson in this way, was probably God’s. Orson, a very gifted charismatic person, should have investigated it more. Which could have then led on into prophecy, and seeing the future.

  • @skepticslayer1234 Why? If you are not prepared to show evidence of these tests, you have no right to mention them as something that proves that your beliefs are valid. That said, I think, I’m going to call troll. the grasshopper and Magic Castle comments are just that little bit too absurd to be real.

  • As I said, I have an open mind about psychic phenomena so I don’t think that’s the problem. Your story is based purely on what this person said she saw, and on what she said occurred. You then go on to state, as if what you’d been told was actual evidence, that psychics “CAN see more than some other do.” If I told you that someone with dowsing rods had told me he’d found a gold mine in Nebraska would that be evidence that dowsing is effective in finding precious metals? Critical thinking.

  • Back when my parents were first married, my fathers step mother always said little jabs about my mother’s weight. Mom, saw this episode and seeing Mr. Wells fight back as he did, gave my mother courage. The next time her mother-in-law started to bully, mom said the exact same thing and it shut her mother-in-law down really fast.

  • This man Mr. Orson Welles at age 23 directed and narrated his own adaptation of H.G. wells Novel War Of The Worlds in a radio broadcast in 1938 that turned America upside down and shook the radio broadcasting and media industry at the time to it’s core. At the age of 26 he wrote, directed, and starred in the most revolutionary and considered by most film historians as the greatest movie ever made, Citizen Kane. All in an effort still not recognized by most today, to expose the corrupt power of media over Americans thinking and perception of America and the world.

  • This is a funny excerpt, and in the full episode, they do go back and forth some more. But in the end, Welles solicited Blake’s advice about whether he (Welles) should accept an offer to do a TV show. In reply, Blake shared lots of his personal experiences about the subject, and it was an genuine, interesting conversation, something that seldom happened between two guests on the Carson show. Johnny got his clever jabs in, as ever, of course!

  • Knowing how Bobby Blake had been in show business most of his life, and knowing how much a legend Welles was…I figured Bobby would have taken to him better. Unless there is some back story I’m missing. Still Welles comeback is hilarious, as is Bobby’s facial reaction..lol. Leave it to Johnny to break the tension with a witty come back.

  • Orson Wells due to his H.G. Wells heritage admits that as a child on up he found himself meeting people such as Winston Churchill, great writers and world leaders. So to say Orson Wells was highly educated is an under statement. He grew up around people others can only read about. Blake is like a child trying to get into a battle of wits with the greatly educated Wells.

  • People underselling Robert Blake here. Baretta was a great character, and Blake was also one of the Little Rascals, played in the Red Ryder movies, was a great actor who started as a kid and spanned the eras from the Golden Age of Hollywood to before it’s pathetic decline. In Cold Blood, Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here, Blake had an extraordinary career.

  • Woah! hahaha got ya, great comeback. I love Orson Welles, all the great people are gone, i never knew him but i would loved to have known him, his great voice, his friendly personality, and of course his excellent movies…whats not to like?, and F for Fake being one of my all time favorite films — and its free on youtube, even better.

  • I read with amusement people accusing Orson Welles of plagiarism and triteness because he modified a famous insult attributed to Winston Churchill. I’m reminded of an anecdote about a conversation which supposedly occurred between James McNeill Whistler and Oscar Wilde. Both prided themselves as great wags, quick with the clever repartee. They were exchanging witticisms, and Whistler uttered a remark which especially impressed Wilde. Wilde exclaimed: “I wish that I had said that!” To which Whistler retorted, “You will, Oscar. You will.”

  • I’m old enough to remember when Blake made the talk show rounds. He was a favorite guest because he always said things considered “outrageous”. In fact most of what he said was railing against the way Hollywood made movies/tv shows or personal attacks against his co-stars, in which he tried to portray himself as the little guy fighting against the establishment. Finally he managed to talk himself out of getting any work and disappeared from view….until his trial for murder.

  • I saw this episode, and Orson Welles was one of the few people who had the balls to put Robert Blake in his place. Blake was a talented actor, but he was also an insufferable jerk. A lot of people took potshots at Welles for his weight, but from what I have read about him, beautiful women of all ages used to throw themselves at him! Remember this: Rita Hayworth was one of his wives!

  • There was a similar exchange between a director, Vincent Gallo, and Roger Ebert, who had totally panned his film, Brown Bunny. Gallo called Ebert a “fat pig with the physique of a slave trader”. Ebert responded with, “It is true that I am fat, but one day I will be thin, and he will still be the director of The Brown Bunny.” (This is from Wikipedia, which also mentions the Churchill origin.)

  • Here’s what I think happened here. I think Robert Blake thought that the great Orson Welles would be able to laugh at his weight problem. And perhaps Orson could not laugh at his weight problem in the sense in how Blake framed it. Mind that the rich and famous lose their sense of humour about themselves

  • OH MAN Love real fights on TV especially on talk shows when guests clash. Anyone remember Shelley Winters pouring water over an actor’s head because she disagreed with him? Or when Lily Tomlin walked off the Dick Cavett Show because Chad Everett (Medical Center actor) was saying sexist things about women? Do you know Cher was never on The Tonight Show when Johnny Carson was hosting because they disagreed about Richard Nixon during a 1972 party. If you watch appearances of Cher on the Tonight Show, it is always with a guest host, not Johnny. At least she wasn’t banned from the show all together.

  • Burt Reynolds might have made the same kind of joke. That’s the way these “tough” character actors were. Jerky senses of humor. He certainly wasn’t the first comedian to poke fun at Welles’ weight. That was kind of a goto, along with Elizabeth Taylor for females. Not judging right or wrong here just speaking the truth.

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