In 1939, when he arrived in Hollywood as the brains behind a succession of Broadway smashes and radio sensations (each evoked wondrously in Patrick McGilligan’s granularly detailed Young Orson), he so awed the studio bosses that they granted him what they had never granted any director: carte blanche. Anyone unhappy being a cog won’t fit in.Ĭertainly Welles didn’t.

Who could demur? Welles had an IQ of 185 (well on to genius terrain), but he never understood that the cinema isn’t first and foremost an art. If, on the other hand, you wanted a picture brought in on time and under budget - steer well clear. If you wanted an aesthetic visionary, bursting with last-minute, off-the-wall ideas, Welles was your go-to guy. Men like him are ‘too involved with creating to be bothered by such minor matters as paying’.Īnd there you have him, the Hollywood big boys would say. ‘It’s OK lady,’ a waiter comforted the weeping Ribolla. When it arrived Welles passed it over, saying, ‘Leave a large tip for these nice waiters.’ ‘But Mr Welles, I can’t afford meals like this.’ Welles turned sulphurous: ‘How dare you go out with me with not enough money?’, he said as he stormed out. Ribolla smiled and waited for him to get the bill. After eating enough food for ‘a dozen hungry people’ and sinking ‘one glass of wine after another’, all the while enchanting his guest with gossip and conjuring tricks, Welles downed his coffee and said it was time to go. The First King of Hollywood is a royal read.One day in May 1948 in the Frascati hills southeast of Rome, Orson Welles took his new secretary, Rita Ribolla, to lunch. (The celebrated couple were the first to place their hand and foot prints in wet cement at the then newly opened Grauman's Chinese Theatre.) With exclusive access to Fairbanks' love letters to Pickford, Goessel illuminates how Fairbanks conquered not just the entertainment world but also the heart of the most famous woman on earth. Fairbanks also married 'America's Sweetheart,' film's first superstar, Mark Pickford. He also helped organize the Motion Picture Fund to assist those in the industry who could not work, was a founding member of The Motion Picture Academy, was elected the first President of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, and hosted the first Oscars ceremony.

This actor, screenwriter, director, and producer co-founded United Artists, a turning point in Hollywood history. Fairbanks not only pioneered the swashbuckling adventure film- The Mark of Zorro (1920), Robin Hood (1922), The Thief of Bagdad (1924), The Black Pirate (1926)-he also helped shape Hollywood itself. With graceful prose, Tracey Goessel's The First King of Hollywood: The Life of Douglas Fairbanks (Chicago Review Press) recounts the life of the actor who became an icon of his age.

Young Orson by Patrick McGilligan