William Randolph Hearst Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == In fiction == === ''Citizen Kane'' === The film ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' (released on May 1, 1941) is loosely based on Hearst's life.{{sfn|Nasaw|2000|pp=528–56}} Welles and his collaborator, screenwriter [[Herman J. Mankiewicz]], created Kane as a [[composite character]], among them [[Harold Fowler McCormick]], [[Samuel Insull]] and [[Howard Hughes]]. Hearst, enraged at the idea of ''Citizen Kane'' being a thinly disguised and very unflattering portrait of him, used his massive influence and resources to prevent the film from being released—all without even having seen it. Welles and the studio [[RKO Pictures]] resisted the pressure but Hearst and his Hollywood friends ultimately succeeded in pressuring theater chains to limit showings of ''Citizen Kane'', resulting in only moderate box-office numbers and seriously impairing Welles's career prospects.<ref>Howard, James. ''The Complete Films of Orson Welles''. (1991). New York: Citadell Press. p. 47.</ref> The fight over the film was documented in the [[Academy Award]]-nominated documentary, ''[[The Battle Over Citizen Kane]]'', and nearly 60 years later, [[HBO]] offered a fictionalized version of Hearst's efforts in its original production ''[[RKO 281]]'' (1999), in which [[James Cromwell]] portrays Hearst. ''Citizen Kane'' has twice been ranked No. 1 on [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies]]: in 1998 and 2007. In 2020, [[David Fincher]] directed ''[[Mank]]'', starring [[Gary Oldman]] as Mankiewicz, as he interacts with Hearst prior to the writing of ''[[Citizen Kane]]'''s screenplay. [[Charles Dance]] portrays Hearst in the film. === Other works === ====Films==== * In the [[television film]] ''[[Rough Riders (miniseries)|Rough Riders]]'' (1997), Hearst (played by [[George Hamilton (actor)|George Hamilton]]) is depicted as travelling to Cuba with a small band of journalists, to personally cover the [[Spanish–American War]]. * Hearst is mentioned in the Disney movie ''[[Newsies]]'' (1992), directed by [[Kenny Ortega]], which depicts the Newsboys' Strike of 1899. Hearst is never seen onscreen but is referenced by several of the newsies in various musical numbers, and is portrayed as an antagonist engaged in a bitter circulation war with [[Joseph Pulitzer]]. * In the [[HBO]] movie ''[[Winchell (film)|Winchell]]'' (1998), [[Kevin Tighe]] played Hearst. * In ''[[RKO 281]]''(1999), Hearst was played by [[James Cromwell]]. * ''[[The Cat's Meow]]'' (2001), a fictitious version of the death of [[Thomas H. Ince]], takes place in November 1924, on a weekend cruise aboard Hearst's [[USS Oneida (SP-432)|yacht]], celebrating Ince's 44th birthday. The film's fictionalizes Ince's death by suggesting that Hearst shot Ince and covered it up.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2002-06-28|title=Hollywood Confidential|url=http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/2020/06/hollywood-confidential/|website=[[Jonathan Rosenbaum]]|language=en-US|access-date=September 12, 2020|archive-date=September 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923005422/http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/2020/06/hollywood-confidential/|url-status=live}}</ref> Hearst is portrayed by [[Edward Herrmann]]. (Ince actually became severely ill aboard Hearst's private yacht, and the official cause of the filmmaker's death was heart failure.<ref name="Taves">{{cite book |last1=Taves |first1=Brian.|title=Thomas Ince: Hollywood's Independent Producer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H1BRDjArx64C |access-date=10 January 2016 |date=2012 |publisher=The University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-3423-9}} Taves' extensive biography contains a strong rebuttal to the much rumored murder of Thomas Ince; see pp. 1–13.</ref>) * He was portrayed by [[Matthew Marsh (actor)|Matthew Marsh]] in [[Agnieszka Holland]]'s 2019 film, ''[[Mr Jones (2019 film)|Mr Jones]]''. * He was portrayed by [[Charles Dance]] in [[David Fincher]]'s 2020 film, ''[[Mank]]''. * He was portrayed by [[Pat Skipper]] in [[Damien Chazelle]]'s 2022 film, ''[[Babylon (2022 film)|Babylon]]''. ====Literature==== * [[John Dos Passos]]'s novel ''[[The Big Money (novel)|The Big Money]]'' (1936) includes a biographical sketch of Hearst. * [[Jack London]]'s futuristic, dystopian novel of 1907, ''[[The Iron Heel]]'', refers to Hearst by name; and the plot "predicts" the destruction of his publishing empire (along with the Democratic Party) in 1912, by means of an oligarchy of plutocrats and industrial trusts engineering the cessation of his advertising revenue. * In [[Ayn Rand]]'s novel ''[[The Fountainhead]]'' (1943) and its eponymous [[The Fountainhead (film)|1949 film adaptation]], the character [[Gail Wynand]], a newspaper magnate who thinks he can control public sentiment but in reality is only a servant of the masses, is inspired by and modeled after the life of Hearst.<ref>[[Jennifer Burns (writer)|Burns, Jennifer]]. (2009). ''Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right''. Oxford. pp. 44ff.</ref> * In [[John Steinbeck]]'s novel ''[[The Grapes of Wrath]]'' (1939), Hearst is anonymously described as the "newspaper fella near the coast" who "got a million acres" and looks "crazy an' mean" in pictures (ch. 18). * In [[Gore Vidal]]'s [[historical fiction|historic novel]] series, ''[[Narratives of Empire]]'', Hearst is a major character. * [[Cormac McCarthy]]'s novel ''[[The Crossing (McCarthy novel)|The Crossing]]'' (1994) refers to Hearst by name and workers at his million-acre ranch in [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]], La Babícora, act as antagonists in the story. * [[Scott Westerfeld]]'s novel ''[[Goliath (Westerfeld novel)|Goliath]]'' (2011) depicts Hearst in World War I. * In [[Charlaine Harris]]' ''[[The Russian Cage]]'' (2021) Hearst was the ruler of the HRE (formerly west coast states of US) who permitted the tsar and his entourage to settle in the defunct Navy base at San Diego. ====Television==== * The rivalry between Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer has been documented on [[National Geographic Channel|National Geographic Channel's]] series ''[[American Genius]]'' (2015). * In the [[TNT (American TV network)|TNT]] series ''[[The Alienist (TV series)|The Alienist]]'', in the second season played by [[Matt Letscher]]. * In "The Paper Dynasty" (1964) episode of the [[Television syndication|syndicated]] [[Western (genre)|Western]] television series, ''[[Death Valley Days]]'', hosted by [[Stanley Andrews]]. In the story line, Hearst (played by [[James Hampton (actor)|James Hampton]]) struggles to turn a profit despite increased circulation of ''The San Francisco Examiner'', featuring James Lanphier (1920–1969) as [[Ambrose Bierce]] and [[Robert O. Cornthwaite]] as Sam Chamberlain.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0556854/|title=The Paper Dynasty on ''Death Valley Days''|website=[[IMDb]]|date=March 1, 1964|access-date=August 7, 2015|archive-date=September 9, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909014750/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0556854/|url-status=live}}</ref> * In "The Odyssey", a 1979 episode of the television series ''[[Little House on the Prairie (TV series)|Little House on the Prairie]]'', Hearst (played by [[Bill Ewing]]) is depicted as a friendly and talented young San Francisco journalist. * Hearst (portrayed by [[Timeless (TV series)#Finale (2018)|John Colton]]<ref>{{cite web|website=IMDb|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6885524/fullcredits/|title=''Timeless'' (TV Series): "Hollywoodland" (2018): Full Cast & Crew: Full Credits|access-date=July 29, 2019|archive-date=December 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205165039/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6885524/fullcredits/|url-status=live}}</ref>) appears in the season 2 episode "[[Timeless (TV series)#Finale (2018)|Hollywoodland]]" of the NBC series ''[[Timeless (TV series)|Timeless]]''. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page