Considered by many to be the most influential and innovative filmmaker of the twentieth century, Orson Welles made movies that were ambitious, original, and epic. This alone would qualify him as a popular culture icon. But add to his genius his notorious life history, and Welles becomes a singular legend. Child prodigy at seven, Broadway's boy wonder at 22, radio's enfant terrible at 23, Holly-wood's hottest director at 25, husband of sex symbol Rita Hayworth, Hollywood failure at 30, and 40 more years of attempted comebacks, obesity, and maverick films, the life of Orson Welles uniquely embodied the modern era.

Born on May 6, 1915, George Orson Welles, the second son of a successful inventor and his pianist wife, spent his first six years in provincial Kenosha, Wisconsin, before moving to Chicago. Shortly thereafter, his parents separated and Orson's older brother, Richard, was sent to boarding school, leaving Orson alone with...