Orson Welles, Volume 1

Simon Callow is an actor, director and writer. He has appeared on the stage and in many films, including the hugely popular Four Weddings and a Funeral. His books include Being an Actor, Shooting the Actor, Love is Where it Falls, the first two volumes of his four-volume life of Orson Welles, his theatrical memoir My Life in Pieces, and, most recently, the highly acclaimed Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World.

"Callow is not just that rare phenomenon, an actor who can write. He is a superb biographer. His description of the making of Kane is masterly... This is an extraordinary book with extraordinary insights" -- Godfrey Hodson Independent "A knock-down, brass-bound, copper-bottomed triumph...tremendous fun to read... It is Simon Callow's triumph that at the end of this book Orson Welles comes before us just as Oscar Wilde did at the end of Richard Ellmann's superb biography" -- Keith Baxter Daily Telegraph "Welles might seem a difficult subject for a new biography. The legend is already pretty much written in stone. Callow's achievement is threefold: he embraces his subject with such gallumphing energy that the extraordinary power of his subject is conveyed as if for the first, fascinating time; he attempts a sober reassessment, trying to get an honest measure of someone who seemed larger than life...and he provides a genuinely interesting actor's view of the actor" -- Nigella Lawson The Times "Simon Callow's brilliant account of the early years is the best Welles book yet" -- David Hare "A book of titanic achievement" Daily Telegraph