Actors - Joseph Cotten

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	Actors - Joseph Cotten

Joseph Cheshire Cotten (May 15, 1905–February 6, 1994) was an American stage and screen actor. He is perhaps best known for his collaborations with Orson Welles, which included Citizen Kane
, The Third Man
, and Journey Into Fear
, which Cotten wrote. He received his start on Broadway, starring in the original productions of The Philadelphia Story
and Sabrina Fair, and became a recognizable Hollywood star in his own right with films such as Shadow of a Doubt
and Portrait of Jennie
.

Biography and Career

Early life and career

Born in Petersburg, Virginia, Cotten worked as an advertising agent after graduating from the Washington, D.C., Hickman School, where he studied acting. His work as a journalist, specifically a theatre critic, inspired him to become more involved in theatre productions, first in Virginia, and later in New York. Cotten made his Broadway debut in 1930, and soon became friends with up-and-coming actor/director/producer Orson Welles. In 1937 he joined Welles' Mercury Theater Company, with which he starred in productions of Julius Caesar and Shoemaker's Holiday.

Cotten made his film debut in the Welles-directed short Too Much Johnson
, a comedy based on William Gillette's 1890 play. The short was occasionally screened before or after Mercury productions, but never received an official release. Cotten returned to Broadway in 1939, starring as C.K. Dexter Haven in the original production of Philip Barry's The Philadelphia Story
as well as the 1953 production of Sabrina Fair.

Citizen Kane

After the success of Welles' infamous War of the Worlds
radio broadcast, Welles received inked an impressive contract with RKO Pictures. The two-picture deal promised full creative control for the young director, and Welles made sure to feature his Mercury players in whatever production he chose to bring to screen. However, after a year, production hadn't yet started on any of Welles' prospective projects. It took a meeting with writer Herman J. Mankiewicz for Welles to find a story to bring to the screen.

In mid 1940 filming began on Citizen Kane
, a back-handed jibe at media mogul William Randolph Hearst, which portrayed the life of a flawed genius, played by Welles, who starts out as an idealist but eventually turns into a corrupt, lonely old man. The film featured Cotten prominently in the role of Kane's friend, a drama critic for Kane's print empire.

Thanks to Orson Welles' attention to detail and cinematography, Gregg Toland's innovation, Citizen Kane revolutionized many new technical standards. The film utilized “deep focus”, use of a camera lens that allowed to for the entire viewing field to appear crisp and in focus, as well as long takes, that allowed action to unfold in one long take rather than quick cuts.

Despite its technical mastery and the quality of Welles' and Cotten's performances, the film almost never made it to screens. Hearst railed against the film, complaining that it portrayed him and his mistress, Marion Davies, in a less than flattering light. Fearful of retribution by the powerful man, MGM offered $800,000 to buy the negatives of the film (to the destroy the film and prevent any problems created by it.) Fortunately, RKO continued with the release of the film, despite the objections of Hearst, his newspapers, and other studios.

When released on May 1, 1941, Citizen Kane found little attention at theaters, due to the fact that the majority of the country's press outlets, Hearst-owned, would not run advertisements for the film. The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards in 1942, but was largely ignored by the Academy, only winning for Best Screenplay, for Welles and Mankiewicz. In addition to Cotten, Citizen Kane featured the talents of many other Mercury players, many of them newcomers to the screen. The film helped launch the careers of Agnes Moorehead (who played Kane's mother), Ruth Warrick (Kane's first wife), and Ray Collins (Kane's chief employee). However, Cotten was the only of the four to find major Hollywood success outside of Citizen Kane.

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Actors - Joseph Cotten

Biography and Career

Early life and career

Citizen Kane

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