Orson shmoozes about Winston Churchill

Of course, I was immensely impressed with Churchill, but he was quite another thing, you know. He had great humor and great irony. He went to see me when I played Othello on the stage in London, and I heard a low murmuring in the front row. I thought he was talking to himself. Then he came backstage afterwards and sat down in the dressing room and said, and began the whole of Othello's part, which he had memorized, including the cuts which I had made, which he read with a good deal of extra emphasis. Then a few years afterwards, I happened to be in Venice trying to get some money for a movie during the festival. Poor Churchill had been, right after the war, at the crest of the greatest victory that any single man had ever presided over in modern history, was voted out of office. Quite properly, probably, but it was a tragic blow for him. There he was in the hotel at Toledo with Clemmy, his wife, alone. He'd go swimming out on the beach. One day at lunch, I came in with a Russian businessman. I was trying to hustle for some money for this picture. As we passed Mr. Churchill's table, Mr. Churchill saw me and made that little gesture. The Russian went out of his mind. This is a white Russian, not a red Russian. This is a hustling, semi-Armenian Russian. When he saw that Mr. Churchill not only knew me, but gave a rather special acknowledgement, it was clear to me that I had the money for my picture. The next morning, I was out swimming in the beach, and I found myself paddling in the water right next to Mr. Churchill. I hadn't gone up to speak to him, but there we were in the water. I had known him on and off during the war in a humble capacity, and he had come backstage to see me. I said, Mr. Churchill, I think you ought to know what you did for me. I told him about how this acknowledgement had meant so much to me with my financier. That day at lunch, I came in with the financier again, and Mr. Churchill rose from his chair and bowed. That is good. Pretty good, eh? That's good. We'll be back after this message.