Making Movies with Orson Welles

In 1958, Gary Graver moved from his hometown of Portland, Oregon to Los Angeles, California with dreams of an acting career in Hollywood. Soon after his arrival, he caught a double bill in a small theater on Hollywood Boulevard, the lower half of which was the recently released Touch of Evil. Upon viewing the B classic, Graver decided he wanted to be a director and spent many years honing his craft, as both a cinematographer and a director, not to mention writer, actor, and producer—much like his idol, Orson Welles.

In 1970, when Graver learned that Welles was in town, he impulsively called up the director and offered him his services as a cameraman. It was only the second time in Welles's career that he had received such an offer from a cinematographer, the other being from Gregg Toland, who worked on one of the greatest films ever, Citizen Kane.

In Making Movies with Orson Welles, Graver recounts the highs and lows of the moviemaking business as he and one of the most important and influential directors of all time struggled to get films produced. The two men collaborated on more than a dozen projects, including F for Fake, Filming Othello, and the still-unreleased The Other Side of the Wind. Their close friendship and creative filmmaking partnership would endure for 15 years, until Welles' death in 1985. Also including a filmography of works and 20 photos from Graver's personal collection, this fascinating memoir recalls what it was like to work with the legendary Welles and offers advice and tales of caution for future filmmakers.