I miss the days of interviews like this. Intelligent conversation, where guests were allowed to delve into topics and give their honest thoughts and opinions.
@@matthewharris3898 Welles had always struggled with weight control even before he reached that point of no return and became the heavyset figure we're all familiar with during the last 30 years of his life. Those who knew him said he tended to be sedentary, physically lazy, and enjoy eating too much even during his slimmer days.
Totally agree with you. Dick Cavett had some incredible interviews with Welles where he relates how Winston Churchill helped him get a film financed. Welles talks about sitting at a lunch counter in Europe as a boy. He said that the man sitting next to him was very quiet and had no personality whatsoever. Years later that man came to be very well known. His name was Adolf Hitler. His thoughts on people like Lawrence Olivier, Rita Hayworth, and James Cagney are so worth taking the time to listen to. I have always believed because of his all around brilliance on so many different subjects that Orson Welles was the best interview subject in the world. He is dearly missed by those of us who have a great curiosity for those things that beg for an observer to render some kind of an opinion/perspective. Orson Welles was very special. We won't see his like again. .
@@gregoryphillips3969 Dick Cavett had many great interviews, and luckily, many of them are on Youtoob. When I was younger, early 1970's, I hadn't seen any of Orsons' movies. To me he was this giant of a presence that would appear on Johnny Carson and perform magic. I found out that he narrated just about everything, including "Americans on Everest", which is very a very compelling NGS special from 1963. I finally discovered many of his films on TCM over the years. I became an avid admirer. There is nobody like him. Even in a small part like "The Black Rose", he steals every scene he's in. I've seen just about every documentary on the man. including the few you mentioned here. What drew me to this video was the "Garbo", and "Cagney" also in the title with "Orson Welles". I'm a total Garbo and Cagney fan, too. When I wrote the original comment, I was just a bit envious of the interviewer, to have been able to talk with such a great man, about Garbo and Cagney! I must also mention a thanks to Ted Turner for inventing TCM. It is the best thing he ever did!
Mr Welles. Broke all barriers. Directed an all Black cast in a Shakespearean play in a time when we were stereotyped as being nothing but slaves and maids and during the radio heyday hired Billie Holiday to play a character for a series he broadcasted. Remarkable genius.
Cagney didn't always stay home. Once a week or month he used to have a boys night out get together with some of his close male friends. And I agree with Orson Welles. He was a very exciting, intense actor. When he was on the screen you couldn't take your eyes off him.
Re...the last sentence, “when he was on the screen...” Yes, I never thought about that. Never knew what he’d do. Thanks. You’re broadening my knowledge of the industry.
@Griffith Williams Cagney was definitely the farthest thing from being anything like so many of his colleagues who always sought to put themselves in the spotlight; Edward G. Robinson was much the same in that regard and so were numerous other actors that whose names I can't drop at the moment because... well, I'm gettin' old, what can I say?
Orson Welles interviews keep popping up in my feed and I've watched about 10. Every interview is mesmerizing. Great storyteller. Seems to truly enjoy talking to every interviewer.
The 1987 remix of the Alan Parsons Project album 'Tales of Mystery and Imagination' has some of Welles' narration. I think it was an improvement of the original album.
Cagney wasn't a great singer, and like Rex Harrison in MY FAIR LADY it was "talk-sIng" in YANKEE DOODLE DANDY. But Cagney had the chops to pull it off, for sure!
Don't you hate it when you watch a YT upload that shows footage of someone you deeply admire, and realize the "like/thumb" button is already blue, because you have already watched to content several years ago! The annoyance doesn't come from the fact you have already viewed the footage, but rather that you cannot give a second thumb up! :( Been there, done that. Yeah, but wait... I have more appreciation to show!
Orson Welles could make your jaw drop by simply delivering a reading through a phone book/directory!!! He may have been our last true link to the golden & pioneer age of Hollywood!!!
I will never forget Welles' appearance on the Merv Griffin show when he came onstage, dimmed the lights and read from the King James Bible (the book of Ezekiel--God's vision of the Valley of Dry Bones.) You could have heard a pin drop. WHAT A SHOWMAN.
Welles didn't have much of a movie career anymore, so he had little to lose by being so free and candid in his interviews. But almost everything he says in any given interview is informative and filled to the brim with his charm, wit, and wisdom. The few who don't like him because of his private life are throwing out the baby with the bathwater; Welles was no saint and never claimed to be, but his contributions to fine cinema and his thoughts and observations on the industry and his colleagues in later in life are priceless. When new DVD editions are made of classic motion pictures and their stars, some canny editor needs to include pertinent snippets of Welles' old on the air musings in the bonus sections of those DVDs.
" 'Hamming' is not over-acting, it's false acting: It's fakery." Orson Welles (genius), extolling the virtue of James Cagney (genius). (Another nugget of pure gold from the illustrious career of Michael Parkinson.)
Cagney often said that, while he knew some gangsters when living in New York, he never had any desire to portray them in films. He saw himself as a song and dance man. But, he said until YANKEE DOODLE DANDY, he had few chances to play them. When he retired, he became a gentleman farmer in suburban New York. He was nothing like the hard-boiled hoodlums he portrayed.
@@jkt4748 one film that's not generally mentioned when we mention James Cagney is the movie, one two three, where he shows us his amazing timing in comedy, and is yet more proof of what a great overall actor he was
@@Jerseybytes2 Yes, in One, Two, Three, he proved himself an expert farceur...his light comic flair is exhibited in films like The Strawberry Blonde, Lady Killer & Blonde Crazy, Hard To Handle also...
@Solidea75 Davis, in a 1977 interview with Stanley Siegel, that she " idolised" Cagney but lamented that the two pictures they made together were bunk! Bette in an '80s interview said that she hated the marvelous Eddie Robinson, though...i don't think lady McBette fancied playing second fiddle to anyone!
Always fascinating to listen to Welles. A true artist as a storyteller. Beyond the size of his later years, his presence of personality alone always filled the room. He was magnetic with a genius level intelligence and a truly unique outstanding creative artist. We will never again see anyone of his caliber or strength of character.
What he says about Cagney is spot on - the greatest (with, for me, Cary Grant). What a brilliant man Welles was. Still miss Parky - was required viewing in the 70s - so many stars and such a great interviewer; just leads them very gently and it's not all about him, as today.
The Greta Garbo commercials, which are silent and made for a Swedish department store, are on TH-cam. And Welles' observation that she is unrecognizable in them is absolutely accurate. Her transformation into a stunning film star is remarkable.
yeah rubbish , pure rubbish shows... nowadays i hardly turn on my tv...even documentaries are ...'what if and make believe this is what happened 5 thousand years ago, or animation '' pure rubbish
Cagney is by far the greatest actor who ever came in front of a camera. For a little known surprise , check out “Something to Sing About”--a darling song and dance pre-code satire on the movie industry. Cagney is brilliant and a fabulous dancer too.
@@peterbellini6102 Cagney was a talentless urchin who tried to sell his dancing and singing as something of note. Laurence, Charles & Ralph were masters of a difficult medium.
Orson was known to be one of the world's great bullshit artists, but when he wanted to make a point, he was always brilliant and convincing, whether he believed everything he was saying or not. Such a thoughtful and enthusiastic man, all the way to the end, and especially about the arts.
Yeah, I think the part where he talks down about ham is a little naive, but he's definitely one of the all-time greats. He was larger than life in every way you can think of, literally and figuratively.
Love how he tells us most actors were homebodies and only a few went to Mocambo and slugged photographers! When you had to get up for work at 4 am or so, I imagine many working movie actors were homebodies! Love watching Welles.
I remember reading how one of the great Hollywood photographers was so disappointed when he met Garbo for the first time….. and then he said she went in front of the camera and the magic and legend appeared
This man has seen the world with wide open eyes, i could sit there and listen to him all day and night,and a great witness and spokesman to the old school legends unknown to many, i made sure all my children watched and studied the great Cagneys style,charisma,character and grace,no actor could ever compare to james cagney.R:I:P 🍀🌹🌸🌻🌼🌺🌷
It's a synchronicity that TODAY I spoke identical words regarding James Cagney. I did not know that anyone-- much less Orson Welles-- shared my view and later this video pops-up as recommended. I had been asked, who do you think was the best American film actor? And I said, all things considered, Cagney.
Even with the extra weight, this man exuded charisma effortlessly. Not everything he tried succeeded but he loved cinema - not movies, - cinema, the art of "space displacing" the mind on a big screen.
"There isn't any rule at all that explains it." That is a good summation of the situation, then and now. Extraordinary people are by definition rare, but they do exist, and there is no formula for it. Explanations of how these people do what they do can sometimes give us some insight, but they are never sufficient.
If you think about it , what he said about pop singers is true . The greatest thing to be in entertainment by this interview was not a movie star , but a music star . The last of the film greats existed pre 1970
Loved seeing this. Orson Welles was a v good actor too IMHO, and he had the actors' mask which very few have. Ah! But James Cagney was in a different category. Some of his scenes haunted me as a child when I first saw them, and still give me the shivers! I cite Public Enemy, White Heat, and Angels with Dirty Faces (the closing scene!).
Welles was without doubt the greatest director, actor, raconteur. Watch his performance as Cardinal Woolsley in Zinnemann's "A Man For All Seasons" to get an idea what a towering presence he was.
Every generation thinks the artist of the day are no good, robin williams was of this generation roughly. What a brilliant entertainer he was. So quick we couldn’t keep up!! Stars will always shine ..
Magic happens because Parkinson let people like Orson Welles talk. And you know why they did? Because they had clever things to say and he'd listen! Today it's the other way round.
There's not ONE person I care to watch anymore. The great and interesting ones are all passed. I was 23 working as a file clerk in 1980 for a small insurance brokerage in Newport Beach off PCH, and I nearly dropped my entire pile of files when I saw who was walking slowly towards me using a silver-animal-headed wooden cane. The small elderly Irish elf was dressed in a handsome floor-length woolen coat and matching fedora, grinning at my wide eyes. He winked at me and was obviously tickled with himself that he had shocked me - I couldn't close my mouth - I was in complete shock but did start to smile. He touched the brim of his fedora with the silver tip of his cane and I just couldn't move or stop smiling! James Cagney had just winked and smiled at me! He had flown out from his Martha Vineyard farm to see if he could place a claim with my boss as one of his horses had been hit and killed by lightning - sadly the death was an act of God and couldn't be filed, but Mr. Cagney and my boss, Mr. Renfro, were old friends from Los Angeles days when Mr. Renfro had started his insurance company decades earlier. I will NEVER forget this day, can't WAIT to see Mr. Cagney again when I get to Heaven, and Mr. Cagney did go on to film RAGTIME. He was brilliant as usual. I think I stopped watching anything after Charlton Heston passed. There will NEVER be another group of people in the entertainment industry worthy of watching or listening.
Cagney always was my favorite and is the greatest gangster in film history no question. but....when i list all my favorite films i find jimmy stewert and bogart are in more then any other male actor...bette davis female obviously..
RE: Welles on Gary Cooper, he echoes Akim Tamiroff's observations almost exactly! And director Sam Woods', too. Cooper looked "wooden and unimpressive" to Welles, Tamiroff, and Wood while filming a scene and yet ALWAYS scored big in the rushes. It's because Cooper instinctively knew perhaps better than any of his colleagues how to play to the camera. Cooper himself never thought of himself as anything special, and it's perhaps such modesty on his part that made him an even greater actor yet.
I have to agree with Mr Welles about Mr. Cagney ; his performance as Cody Jarrett in White Heat is as scary as the late Heath Ledger as the Joker in the Dark Knight.
He's before my time I only know him from the Dean Martin roasts and he did a wine commercial I remember his closing line was "We will sell no wine before it's time" but what I did see of him fascinated me
What bothers me about this is over the past 20 years maybe 30 . No one remembers Orson Welles the only remember those people who make idiots of themselves. It's why we have the cancellation culture I think that's what it's called. Hollywood would not be dead or irrelevant if it's still had actors like Orson Welles around but it doesn't.
I watched a few minor films being made and a few TV shows being taped and I confess they can be confusing to watch. You have no idea how the pieces will go together. Both movies and tv are not done in sequence and several tv episodes of the same series are done at the same time. A stage play is done from beginning to end, so I admire actors who can still be convincing in a tv series or film without the continuity of say a stage play.
I miss the days of interviews like this. Intelligent conversation, where guests were allowed to delve into topics and give their honest thoughts and opinions.
pam0626 hopefully with progress in mind.
And were not doing interviews just to pimp their latest movie, play, book, product, or charitable cause,etc.
pam0626 yep. Real talk. Not Morey or Jerry Springer, or divorce court...
Exactly. You will see nothing like this or Dick Cavett these days.
some long form podcasts have great conversational interviews.
Orson Welles a brilliant man.
Don Clark brilliant and wise!
I wish someone had asked why he claimed the Oscar that Dalton Trumbo won using the assumed name he took in order to work during the Black list.
annnnnnnd enorrrrrrmous!
@@matthewharris3898 Welles had always struggled with weight control even before he reached that point of no return and became the heavyset figure we're all familiar with during the last 30 years of his life. Those who knew him said he tended to be sedentary, physically lazy, and enjoy eating too much even during his slimmer days.
He's also very likable and unpretentious.
Gawd, can you imagine having a nice long chat with Orson Welles? The man was a true Icon. Thanks!
Totally agree with you. Dick Cavett had some incredible interviews with Welles where he relates how Winston Churchill helped him get a film financed. Welles talks about sitting at a lunch counter in Europe as a boy. He said that the man sitting next to him was very quiet and had no personality whatsoever. Years later that man came to be very well known. His name was Adolf Hitler. His thoughts on people like Lawrence Olivier, Rita Hayworth, and James Cagney are so worth taking the time to listen to. I have always believed because of his all around brilliance on so many different subjects that Orson Welles was the best interview subject in the world. He is dearly missed by those of us who have a great curiosity for those things that beg for an observer to render some kind of an opinion/perspective. Orson Welles was very special. We won't see his like again. .
@@gregoryphillips3969 Dick Cavett had many great interviews, and luckily, many of them are on Youtoob. When I was younger, early 1970's, I hadn't seen any of Orsons' movies. To me he was this giant of a presence that would appear on Johnny Carson and perform magic. I found out that he narrated just about everything, including "Americans on Everest", which is very a very compelling NGS special from 1963. I finally discovered many of his films on TCM over the years. I became an avid admirer. There is nobody like him. Even in a small part like "The Black Rose", he steals every scene he's in. I've seen just about every documentary on the man. including the few you mentioned here. What drew me to this video was the "Garbo", and "Cagney" also in the title with "Orson Welles". I'm a total Garbo and Cagney fan, too. When I wrote the original comment, I was just a bit envious of the interviewer, to have been able to talk with such a great man, about Garbo and Cagney! I must also mention a thanks to Ted Turner for inventing TCM. It is the best thing he ever did!
Mr Welles. Broke all barriers. Directed an all Black cast in a Shakespearean play in a time when we were stereotyped as being nothing but slaves and maids and during the radio heyday hired Billie Holiday to play a character for a series he broadcasted. Remarkable genius.
Absolutely
And wrote some awesome scripts and book 📚
Welles was Lamont Cranston on "The Shadow" starting when he was 22 years old.
Cagney didn't always stay home. Once a week or month he used to have a boys night out get together with some of his close male friends. And I agree with Orson Welles. He was a very exciting, intense actor. When he was on the screen you couldn't take your eyes off him.
Yep. The press dubbed Cagney and his gang as The Irish Mob.
Even though several were not Irish.
@@bigjake2295 Cagney himself was half Irish.
Re...the last sentence, “when he was on the screen...” Yes, I never thought about that. Never knew what he’d do.
Thanks. You’re broadening my knowledge of the industry.
@Griffith Williams Cagney was definitely the farthest thing from being anything like so many of his colleagues who always sought to put themselves in the spotlight; Edward G. Robinson was much the same in that regard and so were numerous other actors that whose names I can't drop at the moment because... well, I'm gettin' old, what can I say?
Orson Welles interviews keep popping up in my feed and I've watched about 10. Every interview is mesmerizing. Great storyteller. Seems to truly enjoy talking to every interviewer.
Interviews with film veterans and film experts like Welles are priceless and deserve preservation.
Welles was a genius. This man conquered radio, theatre, and cinema by the age of 25.
after Citizen Kane his career went south. He once said: "I started at the top and I worked my way back down year by year."
Rose the best line
everything he said about Cagney is so true.
Your right Allison
I also recall Kubrick saying that Cagney was his favorite motion picture actor.
He was very down to earth , he had no time for celebrity nonsense
Shirley Bailey Wales is part of the uk.
Just saying.
@Shirley Bailey Malcom McDowell once said..." everything i do is an ode to Cagney...the greatest screen actor...bar none"...
This mans voice if you remember made the earth stand still...for a few short hours. To hear him recite Edgar Allen Poe is chilling to say the least.
The 1987 remix of the Alan Parsons Project album 'Tales of Mystery and Imagination' has some of Welles' narration. I think it was an improvement of the original album.
great story tellers voice. he also did the voice over intro fot the vikings film, ft, kirk douglas. tony curtis,
He's right about Cagney. The guy did comedies and dramas and could dance and sing!
Cagney wasn't a great singer, and like Rex Harrison in MY FAIR LADY it was "talk-sIng" in YANKEE DOODLE DANDY. But Cagney had the chops to pull it off, for sure!
Don't you hate it when you watch a YT upload that shows footage of someone you deeply admire, and realize the "like/thumb" button is already blue, because you have already watched to content several years ago! The annoyance doesn't come from the fact you have already viewed the footage, but rather that you cannot give a second thumb up! :(
Been there, done that. Yeah, but wait... I have more appreciation to show!
Munin Raven xxx
Well said, Munin!! I wonderfully agree!!!! 😊
How wonderful! How I love to listen to this man! Everything makes sense! Thanks for sharing!
Orson Welles could make your jaw drop by simply delivering a reading through a phone book/directory!!! He may have been our last true link to the golden & pioneer age of Hollywood!!!
I will never forget Welles' appearance on the Merv Griffin show when he came onstage, dimmed the lights and read from the King James Bible (the book of Ezekiel--God's vision of the Valley of Dry Bones.) You could have heard a pin drop. WHAT A SHOWMAN.
Orson is so likeable in this interview. I really like his rawness and honesty
Welles didn't have much of a movie career anymore, so he had little to lose by being so free and candid in his interviews. But almost everything he says in any given interview is informative and filled to the brim with his charm, wit, and wisdom. The few who don't like him because of his private life are throwing out the baby with the bathwater; Welles was no saint and never claimed to be, but his contributions to fine cinema and his thoughts and observations on the industry and his colleagues in later in life are priceless. When new DVD editions are made of classic motion pictures and their stars, some canny editor needs to include pertinent snippets of Welles' old on the air musings in the bonus sections of those DVDs.
I love catching these interviews with Orson Welles! He ALWAYS had a lot of astute and spot-on observations to offer!
Old Welles' laugh is the most heart-warming thing in the world.
Everyone here, you must see the year 1960; hour long interview in Paris with Orson Welles. Timeless and so revealing of his genius.
" 'Hamming' is not over-acting, it's false acting: It's fakery."
Orson Welles (genius), extolling the virtue of James Cagney (genius).
(Another nugget of pure gold from the illustrious career of Michael Parkinson.)
tuxguys Nowadays you'd have the third runner up of celebrity big brother talking about Justin bieber
Probably...
...but I wouldn't watch it.
Tom Cruise comes to mind
@@lisag18 Cruise had his "touching on greatness" moments but I think he's all washed-up today. Same with John Travolta.
So brilliant. They don't make em like Orson anymore
Or Kate Hepburn.
If I could have ten people out of all of history to dinner, Welles would have to be among them.
Better make it a buffet.
I could listen to Orson for weeks on end.
Cagney often said that, while he knew some gangsters when living in New York, he never had any desire to portray them in films. He saw himself as a song and dance man. But, he said until YANKEE DOODLE DANDY, he had few chances to play them. When he retired, he became a gentleman farmer in suburban New York. He was nothing like the hard-boiled hoodlums he portrayed.
A wonderful
Damn, Cagney was one of the good guys. Rip.
@@jkt4748 one film that's not generally mentioned when we mention James Cagney is the movie, one two three, where he shows us his amazing timing in comedy, and is yet more proof of what a great overall actor he was
@@Jerseybytes2 Yes, in One, Two, Three, he proved himself an expert farceur...his light comic flair is exhibited in films like The Strawberry Blonde, Lady Killer & Blonde Crazy, Hard To Handle also...
@Solidea75 Davis, in a 1977 interview with Stanley Siegel, that she " idolised" Cagney but lamented that the two pictures they made together were bunk! Bette in an '80s interview said that she hated the marvelous Eddie Robinson, though...i don't think lady McBette fancied playing second fiddle to anyone!
Always fascinating to listen to Welles. A true artist as a storyteller. Beyond the size of his later years, his presence of personality alone always filled the room. He was magnetic with a genius level intelligence and a truly unique outstanding creative artist. We will never again see anyone of his caliber or strength of character.
What he says about Cagney is spot on - the greatest (with, for me, Cary Grant). What a brilliant man Welles was. Still miss Parky - was required viewing in the 70s - so many stars and such a great interviewer; just leads them very gently and it's not all about him, as today.
If there has ever been a more insightful, amusing, and intense observer of human behavior than Orson Welles then I have yet to encounter them.
Aaw, I've always loved James Cagney too.
You're an idiot.
@@susanb2015 Why ?
@@MOGGS1942 I have no idea. Maybe someone deleted a comment.
@@susanb2015 That happens sometimes, and threads then make little sense.
@@MOGGS1942 I don't think I would have called someone an idiot for liking Cagney.
There were some movie stars who the camera just fell in love with. I have to agree about Cagney he was a powerhouse.
With all due respect, Mr. Welles, the greatest actor to ever appear before (and behind) the camera was you.
I agree with you Jupiter Orson Welles was one of the finest actors ever along with Spencer Tracy
You have to have a modest level of intelligence to appreciate this interview.
The Greta Garbo commercials, which are silent and made for a Swedish department store, are on TH-cam. And Welles' observation that she is unrecognizable in them is absolutely accurate. Her transformation into a stunning film star is remarkable.
She lost weights and fixed her teeth. She might had removed the wisdom teeth.
She is unrecognizable in that commercial
She was at the time a sales clerk in that very store, not yet an actor, and her origins were very, very humble.
I just watched The Stranger for the first time last night. This man was as good an actor as he was a director!
Fine screen pairing in THE STRANGER with the great Edward G. Robinson, too.
Some people just have it;
The ability to make you hang on their every word.
Simply wonderful.
How absolutely fascinating!
Better than current tv hands down
It's 2017 and the greatest thing to be is a "reality star". Ugh...
Still? I thought that died out 15 years ago.
lol unless you've been living on another planet for the past 15 years.
yeah rubbish , pure rubbish shows... nowadays i hardly turn on my tv...even documentaries are ...'what if and make believe this is what happened 5 thousand years ago, or animation '' pure rubbish
its 2021 and we are at war!
@Pat Smith maybe you’re not so far off.
He's right about Cagney, the absolute greatest!
YES
@1:50 Orson was correct on Cagney. And the skill, versatility and command he owned as an actor. He was sensational.
Cagney is by far the greatest actor who ever came in front of a camera.
For a little known surprise , check out “Something to Sing About”--a darling song and dance pre-code satire on the movie industry. Cagney is brilliant and a fabulous dancer too.
Welllll, where does that leave Larry Olivier!!!! or Laughton, Ralph Richardson ?
@@richardthelionheart5594 Behind him
@@peterbellini6102 Cagney was a talentless urchin who tried to sell his dancing and singing as something of note. Laurence, Charles & Ralph were masters of a difficult medium.
Orson was known to be one of the world's great bullshit artists, but when he wanted to make a point, he was always brilliant and convincing, whether he believed everything he was saying or not. Such a thoughtful and enthusiastic man, all the way to the end, and especially about the arts.
Yeah, I think the part where he talks down about ham is a little naive, but he's definitely one of the all-time greats. He was larger than life in every way you can think of, literally and figuratively.
You must see the hour long 1960 interview in Paris with Orson Welles. Timeless and so revealing of his genius.
Too bad Cagney never worked with Welles. two combustible, expressionistic mavericks.
Too bad Welles got black balled in hollywood , it would have been incredible for him to work with Cagney .
Sadly Pat, Hollywood is a crass market town. Individualistic genius will always be stifled. Look what they did to Buster Keaton!
Yes the Zionist run the show in Hollywood, they eat the young n skin the old, pure evil
@@darrenwalshe8513 Hearst wasn't a zionist
I don't recall any movies where Cagney and Welles collaborated, either as co-stars or as actor-director.
@@Bubbles99718 wrong
Surprised by how thrilling the end of this clip is. It’s rare that anyone can talk about magic believably.
He's right about Cagney. Amazing performances.
Great interviews , great man....quality man
Silent pictures taught the greats much. To not only speak but to express in a real way, our body, eye, facial language. Emotion.
Brilliant man Orson Welles and he was spot on about Cagney.
Cagney is my favorite, to.
one of the many many reason I respected & loved Orson Welles so much!!
Looked forward to the show every Saturday.
Cagney : the only man capable of portraying the Man of a Thousand Faces
James Cagney is my most favorite actor ever!
He forgot himself. I'm glad he did so many interviews, just great to listen to.
Love how he tells us most actors were homebodies and only a few went to Mocambo and slugged photographers! When you had to get up for work at 4 am or so, I imagine many working movie actors were homebodies! Love watching Welles.
I remember reading how one of the great Hollywood photographers was so disappointed when he met Garbo for the first time….. and then he said she went in front of the camera and the magic and legend appeared
Great interview!
This man has seen the world with wide open eyes, i could sit there and listen to him all day and night,and a great witness and spokesman to the old school legends unknown to many, i made sure all my children watched and studied the great Cagneys style,charisma,character and grace,no actor could ever compare to james cagney.R:I:P 🍀🌹🌸🌻🌼🌺🌷
That does you Credit 👍
Orson Welles really could charm the birds out of the trees, when he was sober.
RIP Sir Michael Parkinson.. the greatest interviewer of them all.
It's a synchronicity that TODAY I spoke identical words regarding James Cagney. I did not know that anyone-- much less Orson Welles-- shared my view and later this video pops-up as recommended. I had been asked, who do you think was the best American film actor? And I said, all things considered, Cagney.
Orson Welles: Such an interesting man.
Love these interviews with the stars from the old movies !!💞💞
All we have today is mousy theater students and pop stars who want to be in movies.
Parkinson's face, when they show it, screams "This guy is f***ing amazing." And he was.
With all due respect this Orson Wells knows exactly what he's talking about. Look at his eyes and u see passion when he talks about Cagney.
Spare me. You're projecting.
Even with the extra weight, this man exuded charisma effortlessly. Not everything he tried succeeded but he loved cinema - not movies, - cinema, the art of "space displacing" the mind on a big screen.
I'm glad he extolled the virtues of James Cagney, as he was anything but a 'method' actor - very instinctive & always utterly believable.
I like the tale that Orson Welles told of Winston Churchill. It was extremely funny
A great man very cultured& interesting rip Orson Welles 🙏
1:45 Cagney. “The greatest actor who ever appeared in front of a camera.” Cagney broke all the rules. He played at the “top of his bent” every minute.
I consider Gary Cooper to be one of Cagney's few peers. Cooper was great in even his worst movies.
"There isn't any rule at all that explains it." That is a good summation of the situation, then and now. Extraordinary people are by definition rare, but they do exist, and there is no formula for it. Explanations of how these people do what they do can sometimes give us some insight, but they are never sufficient.
In today's world, what corresponds to a 'star' in entertainment? A rapper? A tv actor? An 'influencer'?
If you think about it , what he said about pop singers is true . The greatest thing to be in entertainment by this interview was not a movie star , but a music star . The last of the film greats existed pre 1970
Loved seeing this. Orson Welles was a v good actor too IMHO, and he had the actors' mask which very few have.
Ah! But James Cagney was in a different category. Some of his scenes haunted me as a child when I first saw them, and still give me the shivers! I cite Public Enemy, White Heat, and Angels with Dirty Faces (the closing scene!).
Beautiful interview
Welles was without doubt the greatest director, actor, raconteur. Watch his performance as Cardinal Woolsley in Zinnemann's "A Man For All Seasons" to get an idea what a towering presence he was.
Every generation thinks the artist of the day are no good, robin williams was of this generation roughly. What a brilliant entertainer he was. So quick we couldn’t keep up!! Stars will always shine ..
Brilliant coming from OW wow!!! Cagney is the king no 1 actor can do any part
MR Roberts and Yankee doodle Dandy = Can't be beat = Nothing before or after comes close to these two great films and great Cagney performances.
Garbo was in a class by her self the most beautiful and equally talented as an actress.
greateststarbyfar you mean ACTOR
Must see her in Candide
Correction: must see her in Camille
Correct. Garbo was definitely the greatest of all Hollywood actresses.
Magic happens because Parkinson let people like Orson Welles talk. And you know why they did? Because they had clever things to say and he'd listen! Today it's the other way round.
There's not ONE person I care to watch anymore. The great and interesting ones are all passed. I was 23 working as a file clerk in 1980 for a small insurance brokerage in Newport Beach off PCH, and I nearly dropped my entire pile of files when I saw who was walking slowly towards me using a silver-animal-headed wooden cane. The small elderly Irish elf was dressed in a handsome floor-length woolen coat and matching fedora, grinning at my wide eyes. He winked at me and was obviously tickled with himself that he had shocked me - I couldn't close my mouth - I was in complete shock but did start to smile. He touched the brim of his fedora with the silver tip of his cane and I just couldn't move or stop smiling! James Cagney had just winked and smiled at me! He had flown out from his Martha Vineyard farm to see if he could place a claim with my boss as one of his horses had been hit and killed by lightning - sadly the death was an act of God and couldn't be filed, but Mr. Cagney and my boss, Mr. Renfro, were old friends from Los Angeles days when Mr. Renfro had started his insurance company decades earlier. I will NEVER forget this day, can't WAIT to see Mr. Cagney again when I get to Heaven, and Mr. Cagney did go on to film RAGTIME. He was brilliant as usual. I think I stopped watching anything after Charlton Heston passed. There will NEVER be another group of people in the entertainment industry worthy of watching or listening.
that's true, either the camera loves you or the camera doesn't. And there isn't anything to explain it.
Cagney always was my favorite and is the greatest gangster in film history no question.
but....when i list all my favorite films i find jimmy stewert and bogart are in more then any other male actor...bette davis female obviously..
good point, the hit rates of good or better films for bogie and stewart were amazing
My favourite was Yul Brynner. Incredibly magnetic and unique man.
Edward G. Robinson was no slouch either.
Great interviewee. Imagine him with little Graham Norton?
he's right about cagney
RE: Welles on Gary Cooper, he echoes Akim Tamiroff's observations almost exactly! And director Sam Woods', too. Cooper looked "wooden and unimpressive" to Welles, Tamiroff, and Wood while filming a scene and yet ALWAYS scored big in the rushes. It's because Cooper instinctively knew perhaps better than any of his colleagues how to play to the camera. Cooper himself never thought of himself as anything special, and it's perhaps such modesty on his part that made him an even greater actor yet.
Charles Laughton & George C. Scott revered Cooper also...
James Cagney, the best of the best!! Thank you Orson Wells. You intelligent man...
In a century people would be talking about legendary tiktokers …
Orson is spot-on. Cagney is the best ever.
I have to agree with Mr Welles about Mr. Cagney ; his performance as Cody Jarrett in White Heat is as scary as the late Heath Ledger as the Joker in the Dark Knight.
It's clear that Joe Pesci's demonic turn in Goodfellas is in the tradition of Cagney's unbalanced mama's boy, Cody Jarrett, Gerald...
And, lest we forget, Richard Widmark's creepy, unhinged gangster role in KISS OF DEATH (1947.)
He's before my time I only know him from the Dean Martin roasts and he did a wine commercial I remember his closing line was "We will sell no wine before it's time" but what I did see of him fascinated me
At some point in your life you're going to have to watch Citizen Kane.
My fathers favorite actor was Cagney …my father was a poet …..I think he was spot on
Social media stars are starting to take over now.
It is Vey Sad Times We are living in 2019..When ..Buddy Mercury is Considered a Top 2 Musical Talent in The World..
Orson on Cagney ... brilliant!
I agree. James Cagney was the greatest actor of his time!!!
Brando said the same in his memoir Songs My Mother Taught Me, Glenda...
He’s right about Cagney
Love what he said about Cagney. A great talent.
What bothers me about this is over the past 20 years maybe 30 . No one remembers Orson Welles the only remember those people who make idiots of themselves.
It's why we have the cancellation culture I think that's what it's called.
Hollywood would not be dead or irrelevant if it's still had actors like Orson Welles around but it doesn't.
I watched a few minor films being made and a few TV shows being taped and I confess they can be confusing to watch. You have no idea how the pieces will go together. Both movies and tv are not done in sequence and several tv episodes of the same series are done at the same time. A stage play is done from beginning to end, so I admire actors who can still be convincing in a tv series or film without the continuity of say a stage play.
Ladies and gentlemen, The Most Interesting Man in the World -- then, now, and quite possibly forevermore.
PS: How right he was about Cagney and Garbo. See "White Heat" and "Queen Christina" for confirmation.
@@ironduke2000 & the peerless Buster Keaton who's genius still dazzles the imagination today!