Our first rivalry is also one of the saddest ones. It pitted a young and talented filmmaker against an insanely rich media titan who abused the tools at his disposal to try to ruin the filmmaker's career. We're talking, of course, about Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst.
Hearst had inherited his father's fortune and turned it into a media empire. In his spare time, he had a lavish castle built in San Simeon, California, stocking it with expensive artwork and lavish amenities. His wife was not a fan of the castle, so he ended up installing his mistress there, entertaining a who's who of Hollywood luminaries and political leaders. The outside world could only wonder about went on inside Mr. Hearst's castle. When screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz was invited up to the castle, he couldn't resist telling everyone about it, including Orson Welles.
Orson decided to make a picture loosely based on Hearst. Using what little information was known about the reclusive yet very public figure, Welles and Mankiewicz made up the rest. Citizen Kane would prove to be something quite special and is often listed as the best film ever made. By all accounts both Welles and the studio- RKO- should have been happy about a sure fire hit that would certainly clean up at the Oscars. But that was before Hearst entered the picture.
Hearst had always seen himself as an icon, someone who the masses should look up to. He also thought of his mistress Marion Davies as a legendary actress, one who should be a super star. He had even built a theater within his San Simeon estate where he and his guests could view Marion's films. When word reached him that Citizen Kane not only dared to fictionalize his life, but also to smear Marion as a lousy actress who only succeeded because of her wealthy benefactor, he flew into a rage. The film had to be stopped.
Mr. Hearst first threatened RKO, who quickly shot him down. While the film might be construed by audiences as being about Hearst, it wasn't close enough to his life to create legal problems for the studio. Hearst then decided to use his newspapers to push back against the film. His editors were advised to accept no ads from RKO and also to refuse advertisements for theaters who dared show the film. He also used his show business connections to get celebrities to publicly denounce the film. RKO and Welles were under siege.
In the end, the film disappointed at the box office and despite its excellence, it was largely shunned at the Oscars. Hearst also arranged for stars to openly boo whenever the film was mentioned during the ceremonies. While Hearst wasn't able to totally kill Welles' career, he did severely injure it. The biggest thing that triggered Hearst's ire- the mocking of Marion Davies- was not even intended by Orson Welles. He later said he liked her and felt bad that she was equated with Kane's girlfriend.
The biggest tragedy to come from this situation was that the film damaged Orson's career at the height of his creative powers. We can only dream of the amazing films that might have been had he not been bullied by Hearst- and that's the biggest shame.
