Film actor, born in Los Angeles, California, USA. A member of Orson Welles Mercury Theater radio ensemble from 1937, he appeared in the Broadway production of The Philadelphia Story (193940), before starring in Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), and Journey into Fear (1942). His many later films include Gaslight (1944), The Third Man (1949), and Heaven's Gate (1980).
| Joseph Cotten | |
|---|---|
| Born |
15 May 1905 Petersburg, Virginia, USA |
| Died |
6 February 1994 Westwood, California, USA |
Joseph Cheshire Cotten (May 15, 1905–February 6, 1994) was an American stage and screen actor. He is perhaps best known for his collaborations with Orson Welles, which included Citizen Kane, The Third Man, and Journey Into Fear, which Cotten wrote. He received his start on Broadway, starring in the original productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair, and became a recognizable Hollywood star in his own right with films such as Shadow of a Doubt and Portrait of Jennie.
Biography and Career
Early life and career
Born in Petersburg, Virginia, Cotten worked as an advertising agent after graduating from the Washington, D.C., Hickman School, where he studied acting.
Cotten made his film debut in the Welles-directed short Too Much Johnson, a comedy based on William Gillette's 1890 play.
In mid 1940 filming began on Citizen Kane, which portrayed the life of a brilliant media mogul (played by Welles) who starts out as an idealist but eventually turns into a corrupt, lonely old man.
Collaborations with Welles
Despite Welles' reputation of being difficult to get along with, he and Cotten remained good friends. Cotten starred a year later in Welles' adaptation and production of The Magnificent Ambersons, supported by Moorehead.
The last collaboration between Welles and Cotten is widely considered as Cotten's best performance. In The Third Man, Cotten portrays a writer of pulp fiction who travels to post-war Vienna to meet his friend Harry Lime (Welles).
The Forties and Fifties
Cotten proved himself a versatile actor in Hollywood following the success of Citizen Kane. Cotten starred with Jennifer Jones in four films: the wartime domestic drama Since You Went Away (1944), the romantic drama Love Letters (1945), the western Duel in the Sun (1946) and later in the critically acclaimed Portrait of Jennie (1948), in which he played a melancholy artist who becomes obsessed with a girl who may have died long ago.
Cotten's career cooled in the 1950s with a string of less high-profile roles in films such as the dark Civil War epic Two Flags West, the Joan Fontaine romance September Affair, and the Marilyn Monroe vehicle, Niagara. In 1956, Cotten left film for several years in exchange for a string of successful television ventures, such as the series On Trial, which was later called The Joseph Cotten Show. He was also featured in the successful series "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and the "General Electric Theater."
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Legacy
Today, Cotten is known as one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood. The only notable acting award Cotten received throughout his career was a Venice Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his work in Portrait of Jennie.
Quote
" Orson Welles lists Citizen Kane as his best film, Alfred Hitchcock opts for Shadow of a Doubt and Sir Carol Reed chose The Third Man - and I'm in all of them."
Filmography
Too Much Johnson (1938) (short subject) Citizen Kane (1941) Lydia (1941) The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) Shadow of a Doubt (1943) Journey Into Fear (1943) Hers to Hold (1943) Gaslight (1944) Since You Went Away (1944) I'll Be Seeing You (1945) Love Letters (1945) Duel in the Sun (1946) The Farmer's Daughter (1947) Portrait of Jennie (1948) The Third Man (1949) Under Capricorn (1949) Beyond the Forest (1949) Two Flags West (1950) Walk Softly, Stranger (1950) September Affair (1950) Half Angel (1951) Peking Express (1951) The Man with a Cloak (1951) The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice (1952) The Wild Heart (1952) (narrator) Untamed Frontier (1952) The Steel Trap (1952) Egypt by Three (1953) (narrator) Niagara (1953) A Blueprint for Murder (1953) Vom Himmel gefallen or Special Delivery (1955) The Bottom of the Bottle (1956) The Killer Is Loose (1956) The Halliday Brand (1957) Touch of Evil (1958) From the Earth to the Moon (1958) The Angel Wore Red (1960) The Last Sunset (1961) Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) The Great Sioux Massacre (1965) The Money Trap (1965) The Oscar (1966) The Tramplers (1966) The Cruel Ones (1967) Brighty of the Grand Canyon (1967) Jack of Diamonds (1967) Days of Fire (1968) Gangster '70 (1968) Petulia (1968) White Comanche (1968) Keene (1969) Latitude Zero (1969) The Grasshopper (1970) Tora! Tora! (1970) The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) Lady Frankenstein (1971) Baron Blood (1972) Doomsday Voyage (1972) The Scientific Cardplayer (1972) A Delicate Balance (1973) Soylent Green (1973) Syndicate Sadists (1975) Timber Tramps (1975) A Whisper in the Dark (1976) F for Fake (1976) (documentary) Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977) Airport '77 (1977) Last In, First Out (1978) Caravans (1978) Concorde Affair (1978) Something Waits in the Dark (1979) Concorde Affair '79 (1979) Guyana: Crime of the Century (1979) The Hearse (1980) Delusion (1980) Heaven's Gate (1980) The Survivor (1981)
References
Cotten, Joseph (1987).
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