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King Lear

In March 1948, the Yorkshire Evening Post reported that:

Alfred Hitchcock hopes to produce "King Lear" in England, with Orson Welles in the lead. "Hitch" leaves for England early next month to produce "Under Capricorn," starring Ingrid Bergman.[1]

Welles had just filmed Macbeth and would later be highly dismissive of both Hitchcock and of Rear Window (1954):

I've never understood the cult of Hitchcock. Particularly the late American movies ... Egotism and laziness. And they're all lit like television shows ... I saw one of the worst movies I've ever seen the other night ... Complete insensitivity to what a story about voyeurism could be. I'll tell you what is astonishing. To discover that Jimmy Stewart can be a bad actor ... Even Grace Kelly is better than Jimmy, who's overacting.

Welles eventually played the role of Lear in a 1953 television production for the Columbia Broadcasting System.[2]

Notes & References

  1. Yorkshire Evening Post (27/Mar/1948) - Star Dust
  2. Internet Movie Database.