This July, work begins on the Woodstock On Film And Stage mural next to the Classic Cinemas theater. The mural honors, among others, one of Woodstock’s most famous residents – Orson Welles, who spent his childhood years in Woodstock from 1926 to 1931 attending the Todd School for Boys. He became one of the most lauded figures in entertainment, starring and directing in the Mercury Theatre On The Air’s infamous radio broadcast of War Of The Worlds, and most famously, in Citizen Kane, widely regarded as one of the best films ever made. His star, however, burned out quickly – though he starred in and directed other films through the 1950s and 60s, none reached the acclaim of his first masterpiece. His career through the 70s and 80s was a long slide into obscurity, mostly dominated by TV acting and commercials. But a substantial cult following surrounds his final role, performed only five days before his death in October 1985 – Unicron, the Planet-Eating Planet.
Recognized today as Michael Bay’s summer blockbuster series, The Transformers got their start in media as an animated series created by Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. In it, the vehicle-imitating Autobots and Decepticons fight over the fate of the Earth and other planets with an ever-increasing cast of marketable toy characters. Begun in 1984, the first two seasons were wrapped up in 1986’s The Transformers: The Movie, the first big-screen adaptation of an ‘80s toy-cartoon series. Set in the distant year of 2005, it opens on an enormous mechanical planet attacking and eating another planet. That planet (the first one), was voiced by Orson Welles.
According to friends such as director Peter Bogdanovich, Welles was never bitter about the role. He was, to the contrary, fairly amused – “I’m playing an entire planet!,” he remarked to Flint Dille, one of the film’s story consultants. And in another quote, “The Japanese have funded a full-length animated cartoon about the doings of these toys, which is all bad outer-space stuff. I play a planet. I menace somebody called Something-or-other. Then I’m destroyed.” In fact, The Transformers: The Movie was innovative for its star-studded voiceover cast, which included Leonard Nimoy, Casey Kasem, Eric Idle, and Scatman Crothers, with a soundtrack featuring Weird Al Yankovic’s “Dare To Be Stupid” and a fan-immortalized performance of Stan Bush’s “The Touch.” Since then, A-list and celebrity voice work has become a staple feature of animated films.
The production was unfortunately marked by Welles’ declining health – Unicron’s heavily synthesized voice masked labored delivery from Welles, and as voice actor Michael McConnohie remarked, “The irony of [Welles] playing a planet-sized eating machine wasn’t lost on anyone.” But others have made less cynical connections between the actor and his closing role – David Thompson, the author of “Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles,” described him as being attracted to “distorted portraits of grandeur,” and while it might not have been Citizen Kane (to borrow a phrase), fans of ‘80s pop culture will remember him fondly for the most grandiose character he ever portrayed.
Willcockson Wordsmithing 