The first volume of Simon Callow’s magisterial biography of Orson Welles was praised as a “splendidly entertaining, definitive work” by Entertainment Weekly. Now, this eagerly anticipated second volume examines the years following Citizen Kane up to the time of Macbeth, in which Welles’s Hollywood film career unraveled. In close and colorful detail, Callow offers a scrupulous analysis of the factors involved, revealing the immense and sometimes self-defeating complexities of Welles’s temperament as well as some of the monstrous personalities with whom he had to contend.
“Animated by a brisk intelligence . . . He shapes and interprets his material and with panache places his story in rich context.” —The Atlantic Monthly
“Mr. Callow, a divine and witty actor, is also a gifted writer . . . the sparkling second volume is a rollercoaster.” —The Wall Street Journal
“Unfailingly intelligent and well written . . . Callow’s portrait is so vivid and three- dimensional.” —Variety
