VOA标准英语2010年-Actor-Director Orson Welles Casts Long

Christopher Welles Feder
Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" is considered by many critics to be the greatest film ever made

Actor and director Orson Welles was just 26 years old in 1941 when he wrote and directed his first film, Citizen Kane.  A dark, cinematically daring biopic in which Welles also starred, Citizen Kane is considered by many critics to be the greatest film ever made.  To this day, Orson Welles remains¹ a Hollywood icon².  But according to a new book about Welles by his first-born daughter, there was one role he played inadequately³.  Preoccupied⁴ by his own genius, Welles could not be an ordinary, attentive⁵ father. 

Unusual Name, Uncommon⁶ Relationship

Christopher Welles Feder
Christopher Welles Feder says her father Orson Welles was politically involved and he fought for causes he believed in

Orson Welles' daughter, Christopher Welles Feder, once asked her father about her unusual first name.  He replied, "Your name has a marvelous ring to it!  You're the only girl in the world who is named Christopher!"  That is one of the memories that Chris Welles Feder shares in her book, In My Father's Shadow.  Although she has pursued a career as a writer, Feder says she had to wait many years before writing about her father.

"Because he was such a complicated man and we had a very uncommon relationship, I needed to gain some perspective in order to be able to really do justice to my subject," she says. "This is not really a book I could have written when I was younger.   He died in 1985, so that is quite a few years ago.  While he was alive, I was mainly trying to establish a more normal relationship with him and to be more a part of his everyday life.  Of course that wasn't really possible because he was a man who lived for his work.  He didn't really have time for personal relationships.  I didn't understand this while he was alive."

Disappointment and Happiness

Christopher Welles Feder
Orson Welles' daughter recalls fondly traveling in Europe with her father, who introduced the young Christopher to the arts

As a child, Chris Welles Feder was awed⁷ by her father, wondering where she fit in his life.  They rarely lived under the same roof.  She says there were many moments of disappointment – as when her father would promise to send a car to pick her up so they could have lunch together. It would never arrive.  But she says she also had wonderful times with her dad.

"The times when I traveled with my father in Europe when I was a schoolgirl, those were, I think, our dearest moments together," she says. "And they had a tremendous impact on me and they really influenced me in many ways.  My father was delighted to discover that I was very interested in art at that time.  So he loved to take me around to all the museums and share with me his favorite artists and works of art. And these were just golden moments for me."    

A Man of Principle

Christopher Welles Feder
Feder says she had to wait many years before writing about her father

Chris Feder says that she wrote her book to reveal the true person behind the icon that her father became.  Arrogant⁸ and blustering⁹ on the stage and screen, he was a man of great principle off itin his personal life, she says.

"I don't think this is generally known about him, how politically involved he was, how lacking in prejudices he was, how hard he fought for causes that he believed in, such as promoting African American culture at a time when America was still very racist," she says.

Chris Welles Feder agrees with other Orson Welles biographers that her father was an artistic¹⁰ genius who was years ahead of his time.

'In the United States, only a small portion of his work was ever shown," she says. "Everyone knows 'Citizen Kane.' Everyone knows the 'Magnificent Ambersons' and perhaps 'Touch of Evil' and 'The Lady from Shanghai.' But the films that he made in Europe, which were quite extraordinary – beginning with 'Chimes at Midnight,' which he considered a masterpiece –  these films are almost never shown in the U.S."  Feder adds that many of her father's less-well-known projects, such as "F for Fake," were so-called "art films" that didn't fit the Hollywood standard for theatrical¹¹ releases. "'F for Fake,' his film essay, is an amazing film, very unusual," Feder says. " With this film he was hoping to establish a new type of movie – an essay, not really a documentary but more of a personal essay.  It was very disappointing to him when 'F for Fake' came out, nobody understood what it was.  That was his dilemma¹²; he was just years and years ahead of himself."

The Tough Times

Christopher Welles Feder
"Don't feel sorry for me because they are going to love me when I'm dead," Welles once said to his daughter

It was in his later life, Feder says, that Orson Welles endured the toughest times of his career.

"It was almost impossible for him at that point to find financial backing for his many projects," she says. "He had lived in Europe for much of his middle years, and then he returned to the United States in the hope that he could work in television.  He saw that as a great new medium for his art.  But again what he was doing in television was so far ahead of itself that nobody understood it. So that never came to pass.  He was reduced to doing things like voice-overs, narrating¹³ other people's documentaries, appearing on talk shows and commercials, all these things he did to pay the rent, to keep himself going.  But he couldn't do what he most loved, which was to make movies."

In spite of these disappointments, Feder says, her father never lost his positive outlook. 

"He had a very upbeat, hopeful, optimistic personality, and especially when he was very much at the top of his game - and even when I knew him later, as an old man when he had to deal with ill health," she says. "A lot of people don't realize how ill he was towards the end of his life.  And he had to deal with a lot of disappointments.  He never became bitter.  He retained his hopeful nature and hoped tomorrow would be better.  He would say, 'Don't feel sorry for me because they are going to love me when I'm dead.'"

And that's what's happened.  Decades after his death in 1985 at the age of 70, Welles is still remembered, and his works revered¹⁴.  Chris Feder says she's proud of her father and hopes her book can inspire a younger generation to explore Orson Welles' artistic legacy¹⁵. 

In My Father's Shadow: A Daughter Remembers Orson Welles, by Chris Welles Feder, is published by Algonquin Books.

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

3 inadequately   

ad.不够地；不够好地

参考例句：

• As one kind of building materials, wood is inadequately sturdy. 作为一种建筑材料，木材不够结实。
• Oneself is supported inadequately by the money that he earns. 他挣的钱不够养活自己。

4 preoccupied   

adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式)

参考例句：

• He was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice anything wrong. 他只顾想着心事，没注意到有什么不对。
• The question of going to the Mount Tai preoccupied his mind. 去游泰山的问题盘踞在他心头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 attentive   

adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的

参考例句：

• She was very attentive to her guests.她对客人招待得十分周到。
• The speaker likes to have an attentive audience.演讲者喜欢注意力集中的听众。

6 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

7 awed   

adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The audience was awed into silence by her stunning performance. 观众席上鸦雀无声，人们对他出色的表演感到惊叹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was awed by the huge gorilla. 那只大猩猩使我惊惧。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 arrogant   

adj.傲慢的，自大的

参考例句：

• You've got to get rid of your arrogant ways.你这骄傲劲儿得好好改改。
• People are waking up that he is arrogant.人们开始认识到他很傲慢。

9 blustering   

adj.狂风大作的，狂暴的v.外强中干的威吓( bluster的现在分词 )；咆哮；（风）呼啸；狂吹

参考例句：

• It was five and a half o'clock now, and a raw, blustering morning. 这时才五点半，正是寒气逼人，狂风咆哮的早晨。 来自辞典例句
• So sink the shadows of night, blustering, rainy, and all paths grow dark. 夜色深沉，风狂雨骤；到处途暗路黑。 来自辞典例句

10 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

11 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。

12 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

13 narrating   

v.故事( narrate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She entertained them by narrating her adventures in Africa. 她讲述她在非洲的历险来使他们开心。
• [Mike Narrating] Worm and I fall into our old rhythm like Clyde Frazier and Pearl Monroe. [迈克叙述] 虫子和我配合得象以前一样默契我们两好象是克莱德。弗瑞泽和佩尔。门罗。 来自电影对白

14 revered   

v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of institutions revered and respected in earlier times have become Aunt Sally for the present generation. 一些早年受到尊崇的惯例，现在已经成了这代人嘲弄的对象了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Chinese revered corn as a gift from heaven. 中国人将谷物奉为上天的恩赐。 来自辞典例句

15 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。