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:
Transformers: The Movie, 1986
A lot of hoopla, and much hulabaloo, has been made over the fact that the last contribution Orson Welles made to the medium of film was a voice-over cameo in Transformers: The Movie. As Unicron, Welles gave voice to a planet devouring robot that transformed roughly into a planet himself. Although the character, especially the toy, bore a strong resemblance to the actor at the time he recorded the part, personally, I have never seen mention as to whether or not Transformers designer Floro Decy took the actor's appearance into consideration when brainstorming the look of Unicron - but when you compare a shot of the unproduced Unicron toy to a shot of Welles in the early 80s, it's hard not to say that they look at least somewhat alike.
Ultimately there is no real significance to his casting, or the fact that this would be his swan song. Although Unicron was considered the main antagonist of the movie, the part had little screen time, and was a complete cash grab for Welles, who always was aware of the fact that his voice was his real money maker - much to the chagrin of movie geeks who revered his filmmaking skills above all. The fact that Welles had also transformed into something roughly the size of a planet by the time he collected his Transformers check, had everything to do with the fact that it would be his last role. So, yeah, Unicron's a bit of a cheat as far as this list goes, but when one can put that picture of the toy next to the one of a late era Orson how can you resist?
"Stage Fright," Beetlejuice, 1989
During his lifetime, Orson Welles was considered the "American Shakesperean" - this side of the Pond's answer to the likes of Olivier, Gielgud, and their ilk. Indeed his first brushes with stardom came as the director of the all-black "voo-doo" production of Macbeth that he staged in Harlem in 1936, which he followed up the next year with a Broadway run of Julius Caesar that referenced the fascist regimes that were coming to power in Europe at the time.
Beetlejuice paid a small homage to Welles' roots in the theatre (the theatre being the artform, while the theater is a building) by casting him - again the older, rounder, scarf wearing version - as Mr. Kane (get it?) the director of Miss Shannon's School for Girls' drama department. Although he looks like Orson, and the Beetlejuice creative team pushed the Shakespeare bit by having Kane direct a production of Romeo and Juliet (which BJ turns into a horror-themed farce), they didn't imbue Kane with Welles' most identifying characteristic - his voice - leaving this incarnation a little flatter (but not much fatter) than others.
Montague Kane
Orson Welles had a life-long love affair with magic, indeed, he often performed tricks as part of his appearances on numerous talk-shows and sitcom cameos (most notably I Love Lucy) throughout his lifetime. He also had a knack for exposing frauds which he explored in the "personal essay film" (part documentary/part fictional narrative) F is for Fake.
In yet another Saturday Morning meta-machination, cartoon creators - this time those behind the legendary Batman: The Animated Series - found a way to bring an animated incarnation of Welles into their universe through the actual Orson's passions, this time in the form of Dr. Kane (get it - again?) a con-man who debunks magicians and then uses their tricks against them to commit crimes.
This Kane brings some welcome relief in Orson homages, as it doesn't depict the grizzled grotesque of Welles in his later years, rather the somewhat suave, yet pompous, mustachioed media-personality that he was circa the late 40s/early 50s; and unlike his Beetlejuice counterpart, this Kane at least tries to sound like his namesake by having actor Michael York give a passable Welles impression in the role.
(However, there is one voice-actor who has built most of his career and tons of television memories around what's considered the best impression in the business... but we'll get to that after this Batman episode.)
During his lifetime, Orson Welles was considered the "American Shakesperean" - this side of the Pond's answer to the likes of Olivier, Gielgud, and their ilk. Indeed his first brushes with stardom came as the director of the all-black "voo-doo" production of Macbeth that he staged in Harlem in 1936, which he followed up the next year with a Broadway run of Julius Caesar that referenced the fascist regimes that were coming to power in Europe at the time.
Beetlejuice paid a small homage to Welles' roots in the theatre (the theatre being the artform, while the theater is a building) by casting him - again the older, rounder, scarf wearing version - as Mr. Kane (get it?) the director of Miss Shannon's School for Girls' drama department. Although he looks like Orson, and the Beetlejuice creative team pushed the Shakespeare bit by having Kane direct a production of Romeo and Juliet (which BJ turns into a horror-themed farce), they didn't imbue Kane with Welles' most identifying characteristic - his voice - leaving this incarnation a little flatter (but not much fatter) than others.
Montague Kane "Zatanna," Batman: The Animated Series, 1993
Orson Welles had a life-long love affair with magic, indeed, he often performed tricks as part of his appearances on numerous talk-shows and sitcom cameos (most notably I Love Lucy) throughout his lifetime. He also had a knack for exposing frauds which he explored in the "personal essay film" (part documentary/part fictional narrative) F is for Fake.
In yet another Saturday Morning meta-machination, cartoon creators - this time those behind the legendary Batman: The Animated Series - found a way to bring an animated incarnation of Welles into their universe through the actual Orson's passions, this time in the form of Dr. Kane (get it - again?) a con-man who debunks magicians and then uses their tricks against them to commit crimes.This Kane brings some welcome relief in Orson homages, as it doesn't depict the grizzled grotesque of Welles in his later years, rather the somewhat suave, yet pompous, mustachioed media-personality that he was circa the late 40s/early 50s; and unlike his Beetlejuice counterpart, this Kane at least tries to sound like his namesake by having actor Michael York give a passable Welles impression in the role.
(However, there is one voice-actor who has built most of his career and tons of television memories around what's considered the best impression in the business... but we'll get to that after this Batman episode.)
Orson Welles
Various episodes, The Critic, 1994-95
After a tumultuous career in the cinema, Welles took to commercials using his powerful voice and persona to pitch products such as Paul Masson wines and Findus - a European brand of frozen foods.
During the Masson ads Orson took to sampling the product providing for some interesting drunken outtakes, but, perhaps, his most notable foray into advertising came when he walked into a sound booth one day to record a series of ads for Findus and was less than happy with the copy he was given to read and how the spots' director was handling the session.
The recording became infamous, and in pre-Internet days was passed and traded around the commercial recording community as a form of currency for people who collected such oddities. If fact, the term "Frozen Peas" was coined and used for a time to informally identify such a blooper reel, while the actual tape of Welles was referred to as either "In July" or "Yes, Always" after two of the most quotable lines in the clip.
Former stand-up comedian and voice actor Maurice LeMarche got hold of the recording, memorized it, and used it as the basis of the Orson Welles impression he would perform during vocal warm-ups at the microphone. Writers and producers of The Critic loved the impression so much that Welles - voiced by LeMarche - became a recurring character on the show, often referencing the spite-filled rants from the Findus outtakes in the strangest circumstances.
Various episodes, The Critic, 1994-95
After a tumultuous career in the cinema, Welles took to commercials using his powerful voice and persona to pitch products such as Paul Masson wines and Findus - a European brand of frozen foods.
During the Masson ads Orson took to sampling the product providing for some interesting drunken outtakes, but, perhaps, his most notable foray into advertising came when he walked into a sound booth one day to record a series of ads for Findus and was less than happy with the copy he was given to read and how the spots' director was handling the session.
The recording became infamous, and in pre-Internet days was passed and traded around the commercial recording community as a form of currency for people who collected such oddities. If fact, the term "Frozen Peas" was coined and used for a time to informally identify such a blooper reel, while the actual tape of Welles was referred to as either "In July" or "Yes, Always" after two of the most quotable lines in the clip.
Former stand-up comedian and voice actor Maurice LeMarche got hold of the recording, memorized it, and used it as the basis of the Orson Welles impression he would perform during vocal warm-ups at the microphone. Writers and producers of The Critic loved the impression so much that Welles - voiced by LeMarche - became a recurring character on the show, often referencing the spite-filled rants from the Findus outtakes in the strangest circumstances.
The "go-to guy" for voicing Orson, LeMarche has also performed the role on The Simpsons and Futurama, and provided the vocal track for Tim Burton's depiction of the auteur in the movie Ed Wood looping over a physical performance by Vincent D'onofrio in the movie's climactic meeting of the world's worst and greatest filmmakers. But, his impression had already garnered it's own brand of fame when he tweaked it a bit as the voice of a certain mouse with plans to take over the world...
The Brain
Animaniacs/Pinky and the Brain, 1993-2001
Maurice LaMarche has called his vocal work as the Brain: "65% Orson Welles and 35% Vincent Price," although Orson got most of the love and a lot of shout-outs during the character's near decade long run on the tube.
According to the site Citizen Brain which traces the connections between the actor and the animated rodent, there are no less than ten Pinky and the Brain shorts from either the Animaniacs or the P & B spin-off that directly reference Welles career including: "Pinky and the Fog" in which Brain becomes a radio superstar as a character named "The Fog" who can "befog men's minds" much in the way Welles' Shadow was able to cloud them; "Brain Noir" which included nods to numerous Film Noir masterpieces including Welles' Touch of Evil; and "Yes, Always" a direct spoof of the Findus incident:
Maurice LaMarche has called his vocal work as the Brain: "65% Orson Welles and 35% Vincent Price," although Orson got most of the love and a lot of shout-outs during the character's near decade long run on the tube.
According to the site Citizen Brain which traces the connections between the actor and the animated rodent, there are no less than ten Pinky and the Brain shorts from either the Animaniacs or the P & B spin-off that directly reference Welles career including: "Pinky and the Fog" in which Brain becomes a radio superstar as a character named "The Fog" who can "befog men's minds" much in the way Welles' Shadow was able to cloud them; "Brain Noir" which included nods to numerous Film Noir masterpieces including Welles' Touch of Evil; and "Yes, Always" a direct spoof of the Findus incident:
Happy Belated Birthday, Mr. Welles, and wherever you may be we hope someone is pondering what you're pondering...
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