Citizen Kane.
In the history of American popular culture, there is no more dramatic story no swifter or loftier ascent to the pinnacle of success and no more tragic downfall than that of Orson Welles. In this magisterial biography, Patrick McGilligan brings young Orson into focus as never before. He chronicles Welles s early life growing up in Wisconsin and Illinois as the son of an alcoholic industrialist and a radical suffragist and classical musician, and the magical early years of his career, including his marriage and affairs, his influential friendships, and his artistic collaborations.
The tales of his youthful achievements were so colorful and improbable that Welles, with his air of mischief, was often thought to have made them up. Now after years of intensive research, McGilligan sorts out fact from fiction and reveals untold, fully documented anecdotes of Welles s first exploits and triumphs, from starring as a teenager on the Gate Theatre stage in Dublin and bullfighting