Young Orson

Reviews

“A much-needed view of his subject’s early days in school, theater, and radio…Welles’ native brilliance and his ascent from producing plays as a boy at the Todd School to his conquest of New York theater and radio as an adult has seldom been documented with more clarity.”

“Must reading for anyone interested in the history of film.”

“Engrossing…Exhaustively researched but well-paced and stuffed with beguiling detail, this is a vivid, sympathetic portrait of Welles’ youthful promise and achievement, before the misfires and compromises of his later years.”

“McGilligan’s Orson is a Welles for a new generation…[The] book vibrates with uncertainty and risk, and it hums with the possibility that talented people actually can realize their dreams in the forms they choose.”

“Orson Welles’ youth is a truly astonishing story. And every biographer before Patrick McGilligan has missed the true story. An indefatigable reporter and masterful biographer, McGilligan did the hard research others had not bothered to do, and he has unearthed endless revelations that will change our view of Welles’ development as a man and an artist. The portrait of Welles’ fascinating parents is among the book’s finest achievements, and McGilligan puts the whole saga into a rich social and cultural context. This book is a constant joy to read, showing that the truth about Welles’ upbringing and youthful artistic triumphs is even more remarkable than the legend.”

“In many ways, Patrick McGilligan’s Young Orson is my favorite of all the Welles biographies to date. Not only because he’s read all the others, and makes judicious calls about how far we should trust them, but because his own prodigious research has turned up so much rich, fresh, and clarifying material. The overall portrait of Welles’ character and background that emerges, uncharacteristically sympathetic, is both dense and persuasive—and a page-turning pleasure to read.”

“The front rank of film biographers.”

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