Orson Welles Performs A Monologue About Noah's Ark | The Dick Cavett Show
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- Orson Welles performs a reading from an untitled show in which he describes the story of Noah's Ark.
Date aired - 7/27/1970 - Orson Welles
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Dick Cavett has been nominated for eleven Emmy awards (the most recent in 2012 for the HBO special, Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again), and won three. Spanning five decades, Dick Cavett’s television career has defined excellence in the interview format. He started at ABC in 1968, and also enjoyed success on PBS, USA, and CNBC.
His most recent television successes were the September 2014 PBS special, Dick Cavett’s Watergate, followed April 2015 by Dick Cavett’s Vietnam. He has appeared in movies, tv specials, tv commercials, and several Broadway plays. He starred in an off-Broadway production ofHellman v. McCarthy in 2014 and reprised the role at Theatre 40 in LA February 2015.
Cavett has published four books beginning with Cavett (1974) and Eye on Cavett (1983), co-authored with Christopher Porterfield. His two recent books -- Talk Show: Confrontations, Pointed Commentary, and Off-Screen Secrets (2010) and Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic moments, and Assorted Hijinks(October 2014) are both collections of his online opinion column, written for The New York Times since 2007. Additionally, he has written for The New Yorker, TV Guide, Vanity Fair, and elsewhere.
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He could read the telephone book and it would sound like a Shakespearean sonnet.
No one could hold an audience like Wells..........a PIN drop, you could hear during his reading......AMAZING
Yep
Goodness gracious... when he transforms into character... it took me by surprise. He was a master!
It's crazy
There's a reason Hollywood rejected this man: his intention and his ability was to elevate our culture.
One of my favorite Orson Welles talk show appearances. Cavett does not press him to do card tricks or tell old Hollywood stories--he just let Welles read and talk. And what a complicated monologue for an actor of any age!
Genius.....was there ever a better story teller....an orator of unbelievable skill
My late father said many a time as an Orator he was as great as the Greek Classicists and foremost should be regarded as an Orator
The greatest speaking voice I ever heard.
He is great. John Huston is another guy I could listen to all day.
James earl Jones as well.
Richard Burton
When he got into character, I swore I was hearing my Great Grandfather again after nearly 30 years. Absolutely amazing, absolutely amazing.
Absolutely. He wasn't Orsin. He was that old man. THAT'S acting.
I read the comments, and I'm really happy to see the return to the research on real cultural values, and Orson, whit no comments is one of its.
The ancient greeks who heard Homer sing his poems most have felt something similar to what we get to feel from seeing this masterful performance.
Being a student of the bible, I have heard, and read this story many times, yet......... hearing it this time I was mesmerized by each word he spoke...... my heart was stirred as I saw the story more from Gods heart. This simple bible story taught to young kids around the word, was now holding the attention of adults of all faith, and I am sure even those without faith. An honor in deed to hear this man speak decades later.
Yeah man, I got absolutely lost. I usually listen to this stuff in the background, but I had to stop everything I was doing and mostly just focus on this
Hearing this reading touched my heart deeply.
And yet he was a non believer. Amazing storyteller and intellectual Mr Wells was. RIP
Remarkable since Welles was agnostic later in life and the story is totally unhistorical (and is refuted by simple geology).
Wow, you are lost. Good luck living in fairy tale land, there is no other life and you have wasted at least part of yours on the bible.
I've never been a massive Welles fan but what becomes very clear to me when watching this is that he was a master storyteller in every sense. And that's all that's required of a director/performer. He knew the moves. And I really like the mature way he handles the applause in the end.
Do a TH-cam search of Orson Welles James Stewart roast for a video about five minutes and forty one seconds. It's from the old Dean Martin Celebrity Roast, and Welles gives a tribute to Jimmy Stewart that is just incredible.
Orson Welles was the embodiment of all the good things of the human spirit. Bravo.
Nice said, and enormous/overwhelming when is addressed to only one simple man ,
I would love to hear Orson Wells read anything. His voice was amazing and he read like he was acting out a character.
He was acting out a character, a Jewish chess champion
Amazing talent- the late, great Orson Welles
He was more self aware than the average. He knew how he was perceived and joked about himself in a self depreciating way. " I started at the top and worked my way down" which is pretty true. On the cover of TIME and a major radio star, consultant to the President all at 21, 22. What man of that age has the authority and power to do what he did? Incredible. But in the 70s, he was just an old guy who turned up on roasts and the Carson show.
Amazing. Absolutely amazing. A master performer being allowed to do his thing by a master interviewer. It's a delight to watch.
First you have to Listen ...than you try to understand. Than you fell in love. Orson Welles is a Genius. Everything He does is pure entertainment.
What an extraordinary talent.. A masterclass for actors!!
Wonderful. That's not just a story. That is an important message to be heard.
the orson welles episodes were the most pleasurable interviews i've ever come across. this is a interview, these days it all really resembles lesser forms of show and tells.
If you like this check out "Stories from a life in
film. " at least 2 hours, with film clips. Was Melvin Bragg I think.
A few times in my life I have witnessed genius. Each time I realized I was blessed to see it in full display. This man had a burden. He had to know what he was capable of doing, but through his own fault, and the lack of charity by others, he had limits placed on his opportunities to display his full talent. Too bad, really we all lost out on so much that was possible. A waste.
I loved every second of seeing Orson Welles ! He was a unique genius.
What an amazing storyteller Orson was.
You could hear a pin drop in that place while he was reading that. Audience was transfixed!
There is neither the actor nor an audience as skilled, listened or of great respect today, as to you Sir, I salute!
There will never be another like him.
Could you imagine any show today allowing an actor to perform a nearly 9min monologue?
Extraordinary. Welles' brilliance knows no bounds.
The greatest and most dramatic narrator of all time.
He also did some great great Directing and acting too. A true genius of cinema and drama.
This was amazing in every possible way.
this show aired on my 10th birthday .. how much has changed
Can you imagine having Orson as a father or grandfather telling you bedtime stories? How awesome that would have been?
Eleven minutes well spent. My gratitude for Mr. Welles.
Orson you were EXTRAORDINARY
Lots of preachers would kill for that ability to hold an audience.
Welles could have made a fortune as a preacher. Instead, he applied his life to truth and art.
Remarkable reading. I never saw this and I have seen Orson Welles. Amazing!
Somehow, a thumbs up doesn’t seem like enough.
The only time a thumbs up is ever enuf is if it gets one a ride
Marvelous.
He knew this by heart.
His memory was flawless. He starts off on book, and within a couple minutes he has the whole speech up and running
A most worthy presentation
Bravissimo!!
What a brilliant reading. Spellbound.
I literally forgot what I was doing and just stopped everything and stood silent listening to this
Wow wow that voice he could read anything and make it sound great.. What an interesting man bravo orson!!!! Never be anyone like that anymore.
Dear Mr Orson,
in our times, the God must have loved you just as he did Noah !
How could he not ? The Supreme Father creates those like you only once in a lifetime. .......to remind us what we humans are actually capable of.
Fun fact: This man was a candidate for the voice of Darth Vader.
You are correct
I don't think they could have gotten him to play the part. Orson Welles was too big for the part.
@@frusciante3499 George Lucas decided not to go ahead and ask Orson Welles to voice Vader as he believed Welles’s voice was too recognizable.
@@frusciante3499 James Earl Jones was never the man in the Vader suit he only did the voice 🤙
@@YimmyYames513 I think he meant too big as in too famous, important, like the movie would have seemed beneath him. idk.
So much talent. The Best.
That was an exceptional monologue
Now that's a quiet audience
He is mesmerising
What a voice!
What an amazing story. God actually working out his feelings... in the beginning he's angry, but then he can let go of that anger to see the good in man..
The film ended up being named "A Safe Place" (1971). Also has a relatively young Jack Nicholson in it. It is currently available on TH-cam 🙂
He has such an amazing voice. Had he lived in the era of audiobooks he would have brought texts to life unlike any other. I have mixed feelings about audiobooks but when done by an actor who knows how to hit certain words and when to use a dramatic pause. Several audiobooks I have heard sound like HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. It puts me to sleep rather than engaging me in the narrative. I would love a recording of Welles reading Heart of Darkness. He adapted it twice for radio, failed to turn it into a film, but hearing him read the book would be amazing. The only other person I think could do it justice is Werner Herzog.
The master hath spoken!
Just crazy great.
A true renaissance man
Liev Schreiber speaks beautifully as well.
Brilliant, extraordinary talent.
"I thought for a while that maybe there'd been enough Shakespeare inflicted on talkshows." - DAMN MR WELLES sir, you're so lucky not to be alive in 2024!!!
The monologue is a powerfull message about the danger of a nuclear war, and the possibility of destroying every living creature in this world "Only we can destroy it"
Very powerful and very moving!
The greatest genius in motion picture history and that’s that
Amazing performance!..
That .... Was amazing.
That was amazing!
He and Ustinov the kings of story telling and character.
Imagine just going through the few channels around back in 1970 and hitting on this.
Dunno about you, but I'd stop dead and watch. No context needed.
When Orson delivers the monologue he sounds uncannily like Czech director Milos Forman...
It is sad that most people under 40 will, perhaps, never experience the charm, grace and sheer genius of man like Orson Welles. I would highly recommend that they listen to the radio show he produced and narrated in 1938 on Mercury Theater, The War of the Worlds. It was broadcast on Halloween by CBS and through his powerful and convincing voice caused panic among the listeners because they actually believed that Martians had landed in New Jersey. He possessed a wonderful voice and had he been born much later, could have made millions just narrating audio books. The only other voice that is as universally recognized is James Earl Jones.
I'm from the town in NJ (Grover's Mill) where the Martians supposedly landed. Every Halloween reporters would come and write stories about it.
I'm 37 and a Welles fan. British at that. Been watching his films etc for over 10 years. His sketchbook series hooked me.
I stood up like Citizen Kane clapping.
The film (A Safe Place) was apparently pretty awful. But here Wells, in character as the old magician, is free to deliver his contribution without interference, and, as a standalone monologue, it is unexpectedly moving--partly because of his chosen text (the Rainbow Covenant from Genesis 9, the only unconditional covenant in the Tanakh, and only one that God makes with all life on earth, indeed with the earth itself) and partly because of what Welles does with it, humanizing the characters of both Noah and (strange to say) God himself, and drawing the inescapable implication at the end, that places the burden of continuing His creation, fully on the shoulders of humanity. Wonderful stuff.
Amazin'!
The greatest!
EPIC delivery.
Wow, fantastic
he is an actors / ACTOR.
...only we...can destroy it.
Words to live by.
Best to all,
Mr. Brown
I would have given a lot to see Orson Welles to play Brando's role in The Godfather.
True talent and genius.
Brilliant !!
Amazon would give him millions and stock options, to narrate audiobooks.
If he were still alive today I would hope that he would turn that offer down, because that's like selling out to the devil - and Jeff Bezos is worse than the devil.
He did, in fact, narrate a handful. I believe The Secret Sharer can be found on youtube
Marvelous !
A master of story telling
Brilliance
This is so good. I adore this dude very much.
God's preeminent vessel for vocal expression. Orson Welles could do a commercial for wart removal. Making it seem like a black tie affair!! I love how he takes that glorious voice and injects a Jewish accent into it for authenticities sake. No Actor or Narrator measured his words for impact like Orson Welles. Like a Gourmet Cooks perfect recipe. Each pinch of this and dab of that are precisely what's required. All rendered with an Aw Shucks modesty that makes it that much more endearing. Imagine had Welles done voice overs for books. GREEN EGGS AND HAM WOULD SOUND LIKE GONE WITH THE WIND!! What Marlon Brando did for Method Acting, Orson Welles did for Shakespearean style Performances. The pure, undistilled beauty of the human voice. Exactly what The ALMIGHTY intended when he endowed man with vocal cords.
Only we can destroy it.
***No one can or will.***
*What an arrogant statement. Only we can destroy it. No, but thats the arrogance that will do its damned well best to try*
@@MJAP123 if you wish to believe that your family, friends and loved ones are a virus go ahead, but that is certainly what I think.
Truth.
Genius, genius.
OW was an epic talent
Wonderful.
Imagine getting to sit down and have a glass of scotch with man. Through the night running through a bottle.
Seriously though...and despite his correct disdain for modernity...he would have shined in the long form podcast format.
The man was a genius!
Scripture on a talk show. Wow. And read by Orson Welles. [Edit: With tears in my eyes listening, like hearing this story for the first time.]
Damn, he does a spot on Eastern European accent.
I always love Welles and I did enjoy this performance but when I was 5 I was sent to a Catholic school where the priests and nuns tried to intimidate me into accepting that every word in the Bible was true. Even at that young age, I knew enough about animals to know that the story of Noah was nothing but a ridiculous fairy tale. It made me sceptic at a young age and for that I am grateful,
I felt as though Jesus swept through the torrent of his words to reach my soul and warn me of the ongoing Martian invasion
0:38 He's talking about A Safe Place with Tuesday Weld and Jack Nicholson.
Peter Ustinov was a great narrator !
i stopped breathing about a minute in and had to remind myself to start again. the man was pure genius when he took on a role. welles, freeman and james earl jones could read a prison sentence handed down in court and make it palatable. i could imagine them playing the 3 wise men heading to bethlehem.
Two Balthasars then? 😃
Wow.
Was this guy Robin Masters on Magnum P.I?
No
@@bobkohl6779 I'm pretty sure he was.
The voice of Robin Masters, heard only in five episodes, was provided by Orson Welles.
@@TT_1221 So I'm right...as usual.
I think this is case for Columbo.
Does anyone know the name of the film this was supposed to be in? I am looking up "Orson Welles chess player" and getting nothing. Was it unfinished?
A Safe Place
@@SubRosaUSA Thank you!
Wow