Conversations between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles

Filmmaker Henry Jaglom had been long rumored to possess a cache of fifty odd tapes containing luncheon conversations he recorded between himself and his close friend Orson Welles over a three year period from 1983 through 1985. The last lunch occurred just a few days before Welles died. This book divulges for the first time what they contain. Here is Welles unplugged, letting his hair down, chatting intimately with a trusted friend, revealing secrets about his personal life he rarely shared. A lion in winter, Welles reflects on the highs and lows of his fabulous career, as well as the people he knew, everyone from Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill to Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Laurence Olivier, Humphrey Bogart, Jack Warner, Rita Hayworth, and more. 

Welles not only knew everyone who was worth knowing, he also knew everything about anything worth knowing, or if he didn’t, he made a convincing case that he did. The book ranges over movies, theater, politics, literature, in other words, every subject in the known universe. It also provides a fascinating glimpse of Welles in his declining years, and the disappointments he encountered as he and Jaglom tried to launch the many films he was eager to make, only to find that the Welles legend scared off investors. The story was always the same: they were eager to have dinner with him, but refused to finance him.