Orson Welles
From Transformers Wiki
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985), actor and director, was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin and lived a fairly eventful life. In 1938, he convinced a bunch of rubes that Martians were invading the Earth with his The War of the Worlds radio show. In 1941, Welles directed and starred in an obscure movie about some guy who wants a sled; in 1979, he played a highly memorable role in The Muppet Movie, where he gave Kermit the Frog his big Hollywood break.
It wasn't until 1985 that Orson Welles finally fulfilled his true destiny by playing the planet-gobbling Unicron in The Transformers: The Movie. Sadly, Mr. Welles died only a week after recording his lines, and the film's 1986 release marks one of his last acting roles.
Contents |
Voice roles
The Transformers: The Movie
Fiction
2005 IDW continuity
After viewing Starscream: The Movie and learning that Thundercracker had written, directed and starred in the film, J.J. Hackensack described the Seeker as a "Cybertronian Orson Welles", a real triple threat. Misunderstanding, Thundercracker assumed the human was referring to Blitzwing. Starscream: The Movie
Notes
- Apparently, Mr. Welles was tough to work with. He insisted his recording be a closed session with only the director and engineer, didn't take voice direction very well, and his first viewing of the script was on the day he came in to record his lines.
- Then again, Michael Bell joked that Wally Burr was so hard to work with that it contributed to Welles's death.
- In the interviews for its 20th anniversary release, 86 Movie director Nelson Shin claimed Welles was in incredibly poor health at the time he arrived to record his dialogue, mentioning he was so heavyset he required a wheelchair to move. Shin also detailed Welles' recordings as labored and barely usable, requiring a great deal of post-recording modification to use for Unicron's lines.
- As a long time fan of the actor, Maurice LaMarche is famous for his spot-on vocal impersonation of Welles. In the Rescue Bots episodes "The Alien Invasion of Griffin Rock" and "Ghost in the Machine", he even parodies Welles' narration from the radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds.
