Folk of Genius: The 5 unusual habits of Orson Welles

Orson Welles was cinema’s baby-faced virtuoso. He tricked the world into thinking aliens had invaded when he was twenty-three. He directed Citizen Kane at twenty-five. The British Film Institute twice voted him the greatest film director of all time. His genius is undeniable. Scientists suggest creativity and eccentricity go hand-in-hand. Eccentricity is often the by-product of the immense concentration skills creative genius requires. Orson was particularly unusual.

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Sleight of Hand

Welles was fascinated by magic shows. One of his many unfinished projects, The Magic Show, was intended to be a rumination on magical history. Orson performed many of the illusions himself. His interest was not just archival. During World War II, he toured US military facilities with his own performing troupe, The Mercury Wonder Show. It starred Welles, Rita Hayworth and Marlene Dietrich.

Fancy Dress

Welles was an actor and a director. He often appeared in films to help finance his own projects. He was shy about his appearance. He particularly disliked his nose. He once claimed it had not grown one millimetre since infancy. On-screen appearances often involved a series of false noses, heavy make-up and fat-suits.

Voodoo Macbeth

In 1938, well before the Civil Rights movement, Welles defied convention. He directed an all-black version of Macbeth for the WPA’s Federal Negro Theater Project in Harlem. It is known as Voodoo Macbeth. Percy Hammond, a reviewer for the Herald Tribune, panned the performance. One of the cast made a voodoo doll of him. Welles found this funny until Hammond died soon after.

Calorie Counting

Welles was famously hard-working. He often forgot to eat while busy. He was also famously portly. While filming The Other Side of the Wind in 1973, his crew left the set to find lunch. Welles was left alone with cast-member and fellow film-maker Peter Bogdanovich. Welles ripped open an industrial-sized packet of Fritos. He remarked to Bogdanovich that you do not gain weight if nobody sees you eating.