I Love the Illusion: The Life and Career of Agnes Moorehead (13 page)

The scene concludes outside in the snow with Mrs. Kane introducing
her son to his guardian and Thatcher telling Charles about how much fun
they will have and all the different places they are going to travel. But
Charles wants to know if his mother is going with him. He clings to her.
“Why aren’t you coming?” he asks. He, nor the audience, get a satisfactory
answer. The scene dissolves with Mary Kane holding her bewildered son
and attempting to reassure him. “You won’t be lonely, Charles.”

Frank Brady writes in his superb biography of Orson Welles “Although
Agnes Moorehead appeared on the screen for only a few moments in
Citizen Kane
it was obvious that she was born to the medium.” She gives a
performance so assured that it is hard to believe it is her first film. Her
acting in this film secured her future as one of the most important and
influential character actresses in Hollywood. With her first two films for
Welles it is not surprising that Agnes would go on to have the most enduring
career in films of any of the Mercury actors.

When the film was completed, it was hinted that the story was thinly
based on Hearst. He wanted confirmation of this and assigned his star
Hollywood reporter, Louella Parsons to discover the truth. Louella attended
a private screening and before the screening was over, she went to the brass
at RKO and told them in effect that they better shelve the film or Hearst
would put them out of business. She reported back to Hearst and he put
his considerable newspaper chain on notice to ignore the film and if they
were to publish anything regarding Welles, it was to be of a negative nature
— no more “boy genius” fluff pieces. He also made it clear to RKO that
unless they shelved the film he wouldn’t publish anything in his papers
regarding any future RKO productions. Hearst also arranged for Louis B.
Mayer to offer RKO a sum of money to buy the film print and then destroy
it. To his credit, RKO studio head Schaefer stood his ground and didn’t give
in; he released the picture. Thanks to that gutsy move — one of the greatest,
and in many critics and movie lover’s opinions
the
greatest film of all time,
was released. It certainly is the most influential.

Years later, probably in the early 1970’s, Agnes was attending a cocktail
party at a friend’s home. The party host’s teenage son and a group of his
friends arrived home, not realizing a party was going on. The host
introduced the kids to Agnes, and while they were well-mannered, they
were not particularly in awe of meeting her. The host thought that they
were a bit rude and took them aside to tell them so. One teenager was used
to meeting celebrities since his father worked in the industry and told the
host he didn’t think it was a big deal “to meet Endora” from
Bewitched,
adding, “It’s not like she was in
Citizen Kane!”
Suddenly, behind him, he
heard “one of the most cutting laughs I’ve ever heard from a woman’s
throat.” The boy turned to the host and slowly questioned, “She . . . was . . .
in . . .
Citizen Kane?”
The host was now laughing and nodding his head
“yes.” The boy and his friends apologized to Agnes, who graciously told
them it was okay, as their “awe” level increased.

Following
Citizen Kane,
Agnes went back to New York “and did a lot of
little things,” she would recall, “but nothing spectacular.” About a year after
completing
Kane
Welles called her back to Hollywood. He had another film
role for her and believed that she was the only actress who could do this
pivotal role justice.

Orson Welles had presented an adaptation of Booth Tarkington’s famous
novel,
The Magnificent Ambersons
on his radio show in 1939. He loved
Tarkington’s work and did radio adaptations of several of his books including
Seventeen, Clarence
and
Alice Adams
. Interestingly, none of Orson’s radio
adaptations of Tarkington’s work featured Agnes. In the radio version, the
character of Aunt Fanny, who is so prominently featured in both the novel
and the later Welles film, is not utilized at all.

Orson’s original contract with RKO called for four pictures; he delivered
his first,
Citizen Kane,
which became one of the most celebrated and
maligned films of its time. But outside of New York City it didn’t deliver in
box office potential. The Hearst boycott was effective, but even in large
cities like Chicago, Boston and San Francisco, which supposedly had more
sophisticated audiences, it didn’t match box office expectations. Was it too
different for contemporary audiences? In an effort to sell the picture, RKO
put the actors in contemporary clothing and filmed a trailer that seemed to
be trying to sell the film as a love story. Even Agnes, who plays a withered
frontier mother in her five-minute sequence in the film, is shown in the
new trailer wearing a sophisticated outfit and glamorous hairdo talking on
the phone (to whom?). “Of course I love him, I gave him $60,000,000.” It
didn’t help box office receipts. They would have been wiser to try and cash
in on the controversy and sell the film as “The Must See picture that they
tried to stop,” or more effectively utilize the overwhelmingly favorable
critical reaction to the film.

RKO studio head, and Orson’s main booster, George Schaefer was under
pressure. Some studio executives felt that they should cut their losses and
do away with Orson all together. Others felt that for Orson’s next picture
the studio must have tighter control and the right to a final cut. After
months of indecision Orson finally determined that the next two pictures
he would make would be
The Magnificent Ambersons
and
Journey Into Fear
.
He would direct, but not act in,
Ambersons
and, if he got his way, he would
co-write (with Joe Cotten), produce and not direct or act in
Journey.
Orson
convinced Schaefer to give a green light to
Ambersons
after he played the
studio head a recording of the 1939
Mercury Theatre of the Air
version.

Orson also allowed himself to sign a new contract dated July 7, 1941,
which called for him to make
Ambersons
and
Journey Into Fear,
but with
RKO getting script and casting approval. They also insisted that Welles
keep within a reasonable budget — $850,000. Also, and most important,
RKO would get the
right of final cut
(though the studio would allow a cut
of Orson’s choosing to be shown at the first preview). Orson wrote most of
the script, dictated to a secretary, while on director King Vidor’s yacht off
of Catalina. Orson’s script follows the novel with great fidelity, but he did
write an original ending — an ending he felt best wrapped the story up.

The Magnificent Ambersons
tells the story of a wealthy and powerful
Indiana family which has lived in this Midwestern city (probably
Indianapolis) for generations. The patriarch of the family is Major
Amberson, who has a lovely daughter, Isabel. Isabel is courted by two suitors,
Wilbur Minafer and Eugene Morgan. But Eugene loses Isabel when he
shows up on her doorstep to serenade her drunk — embarrassing her. She
marries the steady but mundane Wilbur. They all live together in the
fabulous Amberson mansion.

Other family members include Isabel’s brother, Jack, and Wilbur’s
unmarried sister, Fanny. Isabel and Wilbur have a son, George, who is
doted on by Isabel. Stuck in a loveless marriage, she overindulges “Georgie“
and only sees his fine qualities as he grows up to be an arrogant and obnoxious
young man. Georgie is sent away to school, but returns after graduation.
There is a glittering party in his honor held at the Amberson mansion with
everybody who is anybody in town invited. Among those invited are the
widowed Eugene Morgan and his pretty young daughter, Lucy. Georgie is
taken by Lucy, who, despite Georgie’s arrogant manner, is also smitten. At
first, Georgie doesn’t realize that Lucy is Eugene’s daughter, and he deeply
resents Eugene’s obvious attention to his mother.

Eugene is an inventor and intent on opening a factory to produce
automobiles — an idea which Georgie scoffs at. Meanwhile, Aunt Fanny is
hoping that Eugene will become reacquainted with her — after all, Isabel
is a married woman. Soon afterward, Wilbur dies and it becomes apparent
to everyone, including Fanny, that Eugene is interested in Isabel. While
Georgie is still interested in Eugene’s daughter, he opposes Eugene’s courting
of his recently widowed mother. Aunt Fanny doesn’t help the situation by
telling Georgie that “people are talking” about Eugene and Isabel. Georgie
tells Eugene to stay away from his mother. Fanny, seeing the damage she has
done, tells Georgie that she was a “fool” and that “Eugene never would have
looked at me even if he’d never seen Isabel.” But Georgie remains opposed
to his mother seeing Eugene. Isabel, who worships the ground her son
walks on, accepts this. Georgie loses Lucy, and he and Isabel decide to take
a long trip abroad. By the time they return Isabel is very ill, and soon dies
without seeing Eugene one last time. Because of a bad investment, the
Ambersons go broke and lose their home. Fanny and Georgie move into a
seedy rooming house, Uncle Jack moves away to find work, Eugene is a
wealthy automaker, but Lucy, still in love with Georgie, despite everything,
is unmarried. Georgie must find work to support himself and Fanny. In an
ironic turn of events Georgie is seriously injured after being struck by an
automobile — George Amberson Minafer finally gets what the town has
been hoping for since he was a young boy — his comeuppance.

Casting would not be a problem for Welles and RKO. Though the
studio probably would have preferred a top name star, they accepted the
fact that with the budgetary limits imposed on Orson, that would not be a
possibility. They also believed that Orson’s Mercury stock players were very
fine actors indeed. Some of the Mercury players in the months since the
end of
Kane
had moved onto other projects and couldn’t appear in
Ambersons
. But returning in the lead role was Joseph Cotten, ideal as
Eugene Morgan. Ray Collins is Uncle Jack and Agnes would play Aunt
Fanny. Welles toyed with the idea of playing Georgie (as he had in the radio
version) but decided that due to his age and girth that another actor should
be selected. He chose Tim Holt, who up to this time had mainly appeared
in B westerns. It was an inspired choice. For the role of Isabel, he brought
out of retirement Dolores Costello, who had appeared in silent films and
had the kind of fading beauty essential to the part. As Lucy, 18-year-old
Anne Baxter was selected and her beauty and vivaciousness are huge assets
to the film. As Major Amberson, Orson cast 68-year-old Richard Bennett,
whose career had hit a patchy stretch and was, by this time, quite ill (he
would die soon after completion of the picture).

That Agnes would play
Fanny Minafer was never
in doubt. Orson wrote
the part with her in
mind. “There was never
any question about it,”
Welles would recall to
Peter Bogdanovich years
later. “How could there
be? She’d been all those
years with us — it was
going to be her great part,
and indeed it was.”

Orson decided that,
prior to filming, the cast
should get acquainted with
the elegant set and the
feel of their characters, so
they spent several weeks
rehearsing and just roaming
the massive set of the
Minafer mansion, becoming
familiar with its rooms.
This house is as much a
character in this film as
any. It is usually seen in
dark tones — some have
suggested it has the look of a haunted house. Indeed the house is haunted
by its past — a glorious past, but as the money runs out it becomes darker
and falls into decay.

Orson decided that as an economy measure the actors would record their
lines and, when shooting began, they would simply mouth the words. He
felt that by recording the soundtrack in this way it would eliminate the
need to stifle the usual studio noise which might cause scenes to be reshot.

In a lecture delivered on December 3, 1945 at the Actors Lab, Agnes spoke
about the elaborate rehearsing which preceded filming: “. . . Before we started
shooting we studied and read aloud around the table for a month. A lot of
the lines that weren’t comfortable for the actor were changed — Mr. Welles
is always very kind to the actor. We knew the story and the script
thoroughly, from beginning to end. Then, we memorized our parts and
recorded the scenes, then played them back. This, of course, isn’t necessary,
but it is a wonderful thing because there is nothing like hearing yourself,
although I do think that an actor loses something when he tries to be
critical of himself. Then we went on the set and became acquainted with
the sets. We went upstairs and downstairs, through all the rooms. When we
actually started shooting, it took very little time; during the whole production
we only had to stop for fluffing of lines three times; because we knew our
parts so well and we only had to stop for technical things.”