Born on May 6th, 1915 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, George Orson Welles - "L'enfant terrible" of classic cinema - would have celebrated his 96th birthday last Friday had he not shuffled off his (gigantic) mortal coil in 1985. His legacy lives on not only through his history making body of work in theatre (a groundbreaking production of Julius Caesar and the all black Macbeth), radio (Mercury Theater on the Air, The Shadow), and film (Citizen Kane, Lady from Shanghai, and Touch of Evil being undisputed classics), but through the countless homages made to him in the medium of television animation.
An abbreviated list of cartoons that have referenced Welles and his oeuvre includes: The Care Bears, Casper, Earthworm Jim, Family Guy, Futurama, Garfield, The Simpsons (countless times), and Tiny Toons; most of which have given a nod to his defining works - the riot inducing War of the Worlds broadcast and Citizen Kane ("Rosebud" probably being the most quoted line in the history of cinema), or have made light of his later years as a corpulent, cantankerous, celebrity pitchman.
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| Futurama opted to mash up the old school War of the Worlds Welles with the old-aged bearded chubbo. |
To celebrate the occasion I've compiled a list of my five favorite characters based on Orson Welles that have popped up on Saturday mornings (and in one case, the cinemas) throughout the years:
