Orson Welles: The Road to Xanadu

Insightful, incisive & enlightening, the first volume of Simon Callow's comprehensive biography of Orson Welles.


Now in abridged audio, Callow's vastly entertaining chronicle of Welles's first 26 years seems even finer than it did in 1995. The author's ability to skewer his subject's evasions and lies while retaining critical affection for him is perhaps explained by the fact that Callow, an actor himself, understands the need to mythologise. Welles's innovative theatrical work in the 1930s has never been better described or analysed.