Inspired by the realisation that there is yet another film that features a fictionalised Orson Welles I’m compelled to ask what may not be the most vital question of our age, but a fun parlour game nevertheless for for a drizzly Nashville morning:
In all of Moviedom – who’s the best impersonator of Welles?
Vincent D’Onofrio: Ed Wood/5 Minutes Mr. Welles – 1994/2004
First up we have Vincent D’Onofrio as Orson in Ed Wood. He offers simple, yet profound, words of advice not to spend your life living other people’s dreams thereby inspiring the eponymous hero to complete his masterwork ‘Plan 9 from Outer Space’.
How good is D’Onofrio? Well he’s great – but he’s in just one scene – and there’s a problem in that his voice is dubbed by near-professional Orson impersonator Maurice LaMarche, (one can’t help but think of poor Sam Jones here, (the hero of one of the most silly yet wonderful films ever), as his voice was dubbed in by someone who has yet to be revealed – tough break – maybe he can commiserate with Jeff East from Superman).
But it’s such a wonderful scene - so compelling – that I’ll allow it in this contest. I’ve always wanted to see more of Vince as Orson, so imagine my delight when I discovered just a moment ago that Mr. D’Onofrio has made a 30-minute film (!) starring himself as Mr. Welles.
So he’s No. 1 in the contest so far, not just by virtue of being first but for his obvious enjoyment in impersonating the Great One.
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Photo cropped from an original by Gage Skidmore
Maurice LaMarche: Pinky and the Brain/Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain/Personal Life – 1995-1998/1998-1999/Unknown
Maurice LaMarche – well he’s great of course – he’s got the voice down as much as anybody who isn’t Orson can – here’s Maurice poking fun at Orson’s infamous peas commercial:
The problem with LaMarche’s interpretation, fun as it is, is that we don’t get a real sense that Welles is a talent – it’s missing that spark that says, “you know what – this guy is a GENIUS!”. In ‘Ed Wood’ D’Onofrio’s body language, cigar smoking and that slight mischievous glimpse in his eyes compensated for this lack. So, as much as I groove on Maurice’s voice, Vincent is still in the lead.
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Liev Schreiber: RKO 281 – 1999
Next up we have Liev Schreiber who’s portrayal of Orso. .. .
just a moment.
just a moment.
Hey there Dear Reader – I interrupt this entry as I’ve just discovered that another blog wrote this post a year ago – so rather than spend the next thirty minutes analysing all the Welles out there – I’ll just point you to:
A Birthday Tribute to Orson Welles with 10 Welles Wannabes
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Well, that saved some time. Of course the link above does not answer the question of who I think is the best impersonator of Orson Welles. It’s a trick question. Orson Welles is obviously the best impersonator of Orson Welles.
Orson was impersonating Orson since he was a kid. Take a look at the photo below:
Orson is a teenager in the photo and if you look closely you can see he’s sucking in his cheeks. Sucking in his cheeks for a photo. In the 1930′s. What teenager in the 1930′s does that? Someone impersonating Orson Welles that’s who. Getting just right that mixture of talent too fecund to contain, pomposity and supreme confidence compensating for self-doubt is hard to do for any Welles impersonator – but ‘Teen Orson’ nails it. He was brilliant at impersonating Welles even then.
This brings to mind that interview with Cary Grant where the interviewer mentioned how envious of Cary he was; saying wouldn’t it be fun and fabulous to be Cary Grant. Cary replied that yes it would be fun and fabulous, for you see he too wished he could be Cary Grant.
Orson Welles did his best to be Orson Welles. There’s a common misconception that he did little successful work after ‘Citizen Kane’ but this is nonsensical: here’s just a small sampling of post-Kane Orson-directed films you should see if you can: F for Fake, Touch of Evil, The Lady from Shanghai, The Trial, Othello and Chimes of Midnight. With this in mind, not even including the hundreds of radio dramas and comedies, the numerous stage productions and his work in other films, I would say that Orson did more than his best impersonation – at the end he succeeded. He became Orson Welles.
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Additional thoughts:
1) Is it just me or does our latest Orson, Christian McKay, (at bottom in the first photo of post), bear an uncanny resemblance to John Lithgow? Now, this observation is in no way intended to denigrate him – it’s just that I find it eerie. Anyhew, I like other many other fans of Welles are looking forward to ‘Me and Orson Welles’ – you can follow the film’s progress towards general release by following the film on Twitter here: twitter.com/MeandOrson.
2) If you’d like to hear a prime example of Orson sending up Orson listen to this episode of the The Grape Nuts Flakes Program/The Jack Benny Show in which Mr. Welles guest hosts. It’s brilliant, and gives you a feeling for how Welle’s was perceived, (and just how famous he was), in the 1940′s.
3) And if you’re a real Welles junkie you should see the documentary ‘Prodigal Sons’ – I’m not going to link to it – its connection to Orson is tangential – but should be kept a mystery until viewed.
4) Who’s the Best Impersonator of Orson Welles Bonus Video Feature – Welles on Acting:
20 responses so far.
1 Tweets that mention The Film Talk » Who’s the Best Impersonator of Orson Welles? -- Topsy.com // Oct 12, 2009 at 5:29 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by D.M. Lo and nenadja. nenadja said: RT @moviesforyou Who?s the Best Impersonator of Orson Welles? #movies http://bit.ly/BFmbK [...]
2 Phil // Oct 12, 2009 at 7:15 am
And of course in television, there was Ralph James who was the voice of “Orson” in “Mork & Mindy”.
And you're right about Christian McKay. I thought that was John Lithgow.
3 Jett Loe // Oct 12, 2009 at 7:18 am
Thanks for adding to the list Phil.
I literally have not thought of Mork and Mindy since it went off air.
Did it really exist – a TV show with Robin Williams as alien named 'Mork'? Huh…well, stranger things have happened.
4 DaveyP // Oct 12, 2009 at 9:05 am
From what I've seen it's McKay all the way!!
5 garethhiggins75 // Oct 12, 2009 at 9:19 am
why is there a lightsaber attached to leiv schreiber's left shoulder?
6 Jett Loe // Oct 12, 2009 at 9:22 am
Yes…because of course Orson Welles was Lucas' original choice for the voice of Darth Vader!:
(From IMDB: Welles declined the chance to be the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars (1977) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000080/bio
7 Ana // Oct 12, 2009 at 10:22 am
Great post, fun to spend some time in the world of Orson Welles. I can't tell who the best impersonator was, but I loved the bonus feature, “Welles on Acting” :). Makes you understand why so many people want to pay homage to him.
8 Phil // Oct 12, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Not only that, but a TV show with Robin Williams as an alien named “Mork” spun off from 50's/60's sitcom “Happy Days”.
“Mork calling Orson…”
9 stevenmiosku // Oct 13, 2009 at 8:44 am
Christian McKay definitely takes my vote. He was amazing as Mr. Welles.
10 rackfocus // Oct 13, 2009 at 9:33 am
McKay all the way. He was fantastic.
11 StanleyRumm // Oct 15, 2009 at 3:04 am
Are you ready for a shock? I've just seen the poster for Me and Orson Welles and it's so bad I had to tell somebody.
http://screencrave.com/2009-10-14/official-me-a...
I've never been a big fan of Richard Linklater films, but I respect him as a film maker who knows what he wants -or is willing to experiment with that. But I'm somewhat surprised he allowed this kind of mush into the wild to “sell” his latest one.
If I was Claire Danes I'd sue.
12 StanleyRumm // Oct 15, 2009 at 10:04 am
Are you ready for a shock? I've just seen the poster for Me and Orson Welles and it's so bad I had to tell somebody.
http://screencrave.com/2009-10-14/official-me-a...
I've never been a big fan of Richard Linklater films, but I respect him as a film maker who knows what he wants -or is willing to experiment with that. But I'm somewhat surprised he allowed this kind of mush into the wild to “sell” his latest one.
If I was Claire Danes I'd sue.
13 The Film Talk » ‘The Room’ – Screening at Midnight this Friday and Saturday in Nashville – Is it Right to Laugh at Others Dreams? // Oct 23, 2009 at 12:05 am
[...] Who’s the Best Impersonator of Orson Welles? [...]
14 The Film Talk » Orson Welle’s ‘War of the Worlds’ – Streaming Online Tonight! // Oct 30, 2009 at 10:34 am
[...] Sure it’s a gimmick by the folks over at ‘Me and Orson Welles’ – but I’m a big fan of gimmicks, and Orson Welles. [...]
15 The Film Talk » Tomorrow’s Show: PRINCE OF PERSIA, Some Thoughts on F FOR FAKE and We Say Goodbye to Dennis Hopper // Jun 1, 2010 at 9:50 am
[...] PRINCE OF PERSIA as well debate just why Mr. Higgins can’t bring himself to watch Orson Welles’ masterpiece F FOR [...]
16 Heidi // Jun 3, 2010 at 9:35 pm
I think Leonardo di Caprio resembles a young Orson Welles. Leonardo is a very talented actor, as Orson was, but he does not have that wonderful voice of Orson's.
17 Jett Loe // Jun 3, 2010 at 10:12 pm
i agree – young di caprio could have done Orson – as for the voice – well who does?
18 daveed // Jun 4, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Maybe Vince Vaughn. He also has similar facial features.
19 Pete // Jun 4, 2010 at 10:04 pm
I was going to chime in and say Dennis Hopper should have been given this chance. Then I saw the Vince Vaughn recommendation for Orson and realized how much I liked it. Then I realized I was writing this while I was listening to Tom Ashbrook in Boston & NPR doing 'best of the worst' movie catalog with two reviewers…and they're talking about Ed Wood and 'Plan 9' – http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/06/judging-the... – but sorry I have to go now because someone just compared 'how to stuff a wild bikini' to costner's 'the postman.' Now I'm pulling for 'sex & the city 2' to come into play here, or at least hoping to hear an explanation as to why Jett & Gareth haven't reviewed it yet. Sorry, have to go do a search on documentary flick just out on 'best wost movie' and its glowing tribute to Troll 2.
20 Pete // Jun 4, 2010 at 10:16 pm
John Lithgow? Yes!! And so help me, Christopher Walken's in there too.
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