Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane, motion picture based on the life of newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst. Released in 1941, this Academy Award-winning film stars Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane, a dynamic young man who rises from rags to riches in the newspaper business by using increasingly unscrupulous tactics. Kane’s quest for power extends to his personal life, leading to the eventual dissolution of his marriage and the loss of his friends. Citizen Kane is widely considered by critics to be one of the great films of all time for its storytelling, as well as its innovative camera work by Gregg Toland. The film was awarded registration in the National Film Preservation Board in 1989.

Director

• Orson Welles

Cast

• Orson Welles (Charles Foster Kane)
• Joseph Cotten (Jedediah Leland)
• Dorothy Comingore (Susan Alexander)
• Everett Sloane (Mr. Bernstein)
• Ray Collins (Boss J. W. 'Big Jim' Gettys)
• George Coulouris (Walter Parks Thatcher)
• Agnes Moorehead (Mary Kane)
• Paul Stewart (Raymond)
• Ruth Warrick (Emily Norton Kane)
• Erskine Sanford (Herbert Carter)
• William Alland (Jerry Thompson)
• Fortunio Bonanova (Matisti)
• Gus Schilling (Head waiter)
• Philip Van Zandt (Mr. Rawlston)
• Georgia Backus (Miss Anderson)
• Harry Shannon (Jim Kane)
• Sonny Bupp (Kane III)
• Buddy Swan (Kane at age 8)
• Alan Ladd (Reporter)
• Arthur O'Connell (Reporter)

Awards

• Academy Award for Best Writing—Original Screenplay (1942): Herman J. Mankiewicz

Trivia

• Citizen Kane suffered from its unfavorable portrayal of the publishing giant Hearst. Hearst’s monopoly of newspapers and media outlets not only refused to mention Welles’s film, but all other films released by his studio, R.K.O (Radio-Keith-Orpheum). Released as a “new screen attraction,” the film garnered enough critical success to prevent RKO from selling it to Hearst for destruction. Although Citizen Kane was nominated for nine Academy Awards, it only won one.

Quotes

• Kane (dying words): “Rosebud.”
• Kane (to reporters): “I am, have been and only will be one thing—an American.”
• Kane: “Mr. Carter, if the headline is big enough, it makes the news big enough.”