Beatrice Welles, the daughter of the late great director Orson Welles — auteur of Citizen Kane, commonly considered the greatest film ever made — is making a trove of material related to her famous father, never before offered to the public, available for auction as part of Heritage Auctions’ Entertainment Signature Auction
In all, there are more than 70 lots of Orson Welles-related ephemera, film memorabilia, clothing and personal accoutrements, including script pages and black and white film stills from Citizen Kane, scripts and still photos from The Magnificent Ambersons, a pair of personal scrapbooks relating to War of the Worlds, Welles’ ‘Bell & Howard 240′ 16mm Movie Camera, circa 1957, mainly used by Welles to film home movies while living in Spain in the 1950s, his personally-owned and used Smith-Corona 2200 electric typewriter, circa 1970s, his personal humidor, circa 1960s, gifted to him from director Michael Winner, who worked with Welles on the 1967 film Swinging London, documents from Welles’ famous Mercury Theatre, and a host of other material related to Welles’ legendary career.
For Beatrice Welles, the daughter of the director and actress Paola Mori, putting the material up for auction represents a chance to open up the archives for fans of Orson Welles worldwide, giving them a chance to have something closely related to the great filmmaker, as well as a chance for her to re-connect with her father.