by Rachel Dominic

翻译：海月

电影天才奥逊·威尔斯

Orson Welles: a Potted History

by Rachel Dominic

翻译：海月

奥逊·威尔斯是美国历史上罕见的具有重要文化意义的电影家，集演员、导演、编剧、制片人等多种角色于一身的电影天才。作为演员，他参演了一百多部电影（包括配音）；作为编剧，他写了42个剧本；作为导演，他执导了近40部影片。1975年，美国电影学会授予威尔斯终身成就奖。

Orson Welles was born on the 6thof May,1915, in Wisconsin, far smaller than the 6’1” overweight man he would one day become.His parents were both successful in two very different careers: his father Richard Welles was an inventor and his mother Beatrice Welles was an accomplished concert pianist.However, their relationship did notmimic[模仿]this success and when he was just six, Orson’s parents separated.If notdistressing[使痛苦的]enough to a child so young, Orson lost his mother tohepatitis[肝炎]when he was just nine.Then only three years later, at twelve, his father also died after taking Orson on a trip around the world.

1915年5月6日，奥逊·威尔斯出生于美国威斯康星州。与日后身高达到6英尺1英寸（相当于1.86米）的重量级人物相比，当时的他还只是一个小小的婴儿。威尔斯的父母从事着迥然不同的事业，但都很成功。他的父亲理查德·威尔斯是一位发明家，母亲比阿特丽斯·威尔斯则是一位才华横溢的钢琴演奏家。然而他们之间的关系却不像其事业那样成功。在威尔斯只有六岁的时候，他的父母就分开了。对一个如此年幼的孩子而言，更令他痛心的打击是他在九岁时就失去了被肝炎夺走生命的母亲。而三年后，在他年仅十二岁时，他的父亲也在带他周游世界后去世了。

His love for the arts becameapparent[明显的]at The Todd School and he had the opportunity to write and perform his own plays.It was also the place were he produced his frst flm, a four minute short.This was a bigturnaround[转机]for Welles who up until now, like most children, had disliked school.However, he did not choose to continue in education and after graduating hedeclined[拒绝]offers[提供的工作]from colleges to chase a career in thetheatre[影院].Unfortunately he had a hard timegetting a break[时来运转], but finally did in 1934 through connections.Welles made his stagedebut[初次登台]in New York playing Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet.This role tells of his passion for Shakespeare as he went on to play thetitle roles[剧名角色]in flm versions of Macbeth (1948), Othello (1952), and King Lear (1953).Welles was after all first andforemost[最重要的]an actor, playing close to a hundred roles in hisonscreen[银幕上的]career compared to the 16 films he directed (two of which, Don Quixote and The Other Side of the World were never completed).

在托德学校读书时，有机会撰写和表演自己剧本的威尔斯逐渐表现出对艺术的热爱。他也是在这里拍出了他的第一部电影，一部四分钟的短片。对于像大多数孩子一样不喜欢学校的威尔斯来说，这是一个很大的转机。不过他并没有选择继续深造，同时在毕业后也拒绝了几家学院提供的工作机会，去追逐电影事业。不幸的是他一直时运不济，直到1934年，才终于通过关系得到了崭露头角的机会。威尔斯在纽约上演了他的舞台处女作，在《罗密欧与朱丽叶》中扮演提伯尔特，这个角色体现了他对莎士比亚的热爱。此后他又在电影《麦克白》（1948年）、《奥赛罗》（1952年）和《李尔王》（1953年）中扮演了与作品同名的剧名角色。威尔斯毕竟首先是一名演员，在他的银幕生涯里，他总共扮演过近百个角色，相比之下，他仅仅执导过16部电影（其中《堂吉诃德》和《世界另一边》两部作品仍未完成）。

Welles is best known however for the film Citizen Kane (1941), still today quoted as the “best film ever made” in which he proved hisbrilliance[才华]behind the camera as well as in front of it.Taking on the job of writing, producing, directing and starring in the film certainlypaid off[获得回报]for Welles in what was only his third film to direct.Following the story of a newspaper businesstycoon[大亨], supposedly based on the life of William Randolph Hearst, Welle’streatment[处理]of thescript[剧本]builttension[张力]and an involvingnarrative[叙述], his visuals were pioneering in theirvariation[变化], moving fromcrane shots[升降镜头]to deep focus close ups.Even themake-up[化妆]that aged Kane was impressively pulled off.Perhaps one of the most subtle parts of the film that marks its brilliance is that the wholepremise[铺垫]is to discover what the meaning of his dying words “Rosebud[玫瑰花蕾]” meant.But watch closely, who in the flm actually hears his last words? The nurse only comes running after hearing the snowscenesmash[破碎].The words are in fact only heard by the audience, bringing the viewer subtly in and setting them onto the adventure of discovery.In reality, Welles actually chose todepict[描述]Rosebud as something quite different to what was supposedly Hearst’s reference to his sweetheart’sclitoris[阴蒂].

This one body of work led to Welles being considered anauteur[电影导演]as Truffaut, a founder of the auteur theory, gavetestement[证明]to, calling Welles: “acapricious[任性的]genius[天才]”.He certainly wanted control over all aspects of his films, taking on roles of producer, director, editor andcinematographer[电影摄影师].Despite being acritical[关键性的]success, Citizen Kane failed at thebox office[票房]losing over $150,000.And his successive projects followedin a similar vein[同样的]: The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) was his next directorial role after Citizen Kane, telling the tale of adysfunctional[不正常的]family.Again

威尔斯最为人熟知的作品是电影《公民凯恩》（1941年）。这部电影至今仍被称为“有史以来最好的电影”，它证明了威尔斯站在摄像机后执导以及站在镜头前表演的杰出能力。这部电影仅仅是他执导的第三部作品，他在其中兼任编剧、制作、导演及主演，必定受益匪浅。此片据说是以威廉·伦道夫·赫斯特的故事为蓝本，讲述了一位报界大亨的故事。威尔斯对剧本的处理层层推进，叙述手法有张力且扣人心弦。他运用了升降镜头和深焦特写，多元化的视觉效果极富开创性。就连让凯恩变老的妆容也十分令人难忘。最能标志这部电影卓越之处的，也许是前面的一切铺垫都是为了揭示他的遗言“玫瑰花蕾”的深意。但再仔细看，片中到底有谁听到了他最后的遗言呢？护士是在听到那个雪景玻璃球破碎的声音之后才跑到凯恩病榻前的，所以这句话其实只有观众听到了。于是观众被悄悄带入并由此开启了一段探索之旅。据说，赫斯特提到的“玫瑰花蕾”是指他心上人的阴蒂，而实际上威尔斯却选择把它描绘成完全不同的东西。

这一作品使威尔斯成为人们眼中像特吕福（“电影创作论”创始人之一）所称的那种“电影导演”。他称威尔斯为“一个任性的天才”。威尔斯显然想一手掌控电影的各个方面，从制片人、导演、剪辑到摄影师等各种角色，都由他亲自操刀。尽管《公民凯恩》好评如潮，但电影的票房却极为惨淡，亏本逾15万美元。他接下来的其他影片也是如此。《伟大的安巴逊》（1942年）是他继《公民凯恩》之后导演的下一部电影，影片讲述了一个失常家庭的故事。这部电影再次广受好评，但它惨淡的票房却令雷电华电影公司的老it was a critical success, but disappointedchiefs[领导]atRKO注1注1： Radio Keith Orpheum，即雷电华影业股份有限公司。注2： American Film Institute，即美国电影学会。with it’s poor showings at the box offce.Welles’ A Touch of Evil (1958), and itsflm noir[具有悲观色彩的影片]style, were seen as an infuence on Hitchcock’s Psycho released two years later, but again it failed to bring audiences in.However, Welles wascomical[戏谑的]about his success, as he put it:” I started at the top and worked my way down.”

Welles always hada steady flow of[源源不断的]acting jobs taking good roles such as Mr.Rochester in Jane Eyre (1944) which saw him through the difficult periods.He also took on a number of narrative roles including Battle for Survival (1947), butturned down[拒绝]the offer to voice Darth Vader in Star Wars: A New Hope.His voice was even heard a year after his death in Transformers the Movie, playing the role ofUnicron[宇宙大帝].Welles received many impressive awards throughout his career including an Oscar (for Citizen Kane in 1941), Best Actor (Compulsion 1959) and a Lifetime Achievement Award atCannes[戛纳](1984), as well as anAFI注2注1： Radio Keith Orpheum，即雷电华影业股份有限公司。注2： American Film Institute，即美国电影学会。Lifetime Achievement award andnominations[提名]at the Berlin Festival.

Throughout his career, and still today, Welles has inspired directors and actors alike.When Welles died in 1985 from a heart attack, it was at his typewriter.He left behind a daughter, three failed marriages (including one to Rita Hayworth) and alegacy[遗产]of flm work that will live on for years to come.板们大失所望。据称威尔斯的《历劫佳人》（1958年）及其黑色电影风格对两年后上映的希区柯克的《惊魂记》有所影响，但这部电影同样未能吸引观众。不过，威尔斯对自己的成功也是抱着一种戏谑的态度，正如他所说：“我是从山顶起步，然后一步步往下走的。”

威尔斯源源不断地接演了一些不错的角色，如《简·爱》（1944年）里的罗切斯特先生，这一角色见证了他如何熬过困难时期。他也接过一些配音角色，如《生存之战》（1947年），但他拒绝给《星球大战：新希望》里的黑武士配音。在他逝世一年后，还能在电影《变形金刚》里听到他给宇宙大帝配音的声音。威尔斯在其整个职业生涯中获得了多个让人印象深刻的奖项，包括奥斯卡金像奖（1941年的《公民凯恩》）、最佳男演员奖（1959年的《朱门孽种》），以及戛纳电影节终身成就奖（1984年）、美国电影学院终身成就奖，并在柏林电影节获得过数次提名。

贯穿其整个职业生涯，直到今天，威尔斯一直都激励着众多导演和演员们。1985年，威尔斯因心脏病发作去世，当时他正坐在打字机旁。他留下了一个女儿、三段失败的婚姻（其中一任妻子是丽塔·海华斯）以及流芳百世的电影遗产。