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! === ''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. 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