The Private Files of Matthew Bell Radio Program Log

Joseph Cotten as Dr. Bell
Meets "The Insider" Sunday

Joseph Cotten, as Dr. Matthew Bell, police surgeon, has met many strange characters while performing his official professional duties. But when he faces "The Insider" during his network Private Files of Matthew Bell broadcast Sunday at 2:30 p. m.. he meets one of the most unusual. The character uiw proves to be the perpetrator of cold-blooded murders is the most innocent person in the hospital . . . and one whom only Dr. Bell could capture.

The Private Files of Matthew Bell Radio Program Biographies

To augment his income as an actor in the mid-30s, Cotten began appearing on Radio in addition to his theatre work. At one memorable audition he met an equally ambitious, budding actor on a mission to make his name-Orson Welles. Though almost ten years Welles' senior, the two found the other a kindred spirit.

For Cotten more than Welles, the association would completely redefine his acting ambitions. Though viewed as two of the Performing Arts most serious dramatic actors, their initial joint efforts belied that characterization. Indeed, one apocryphal tale has them at a rehearsal for CBS radio, with the two of them destroying a scene taking place on a rubber tree plantation.

One--or the other-was supposed to speak the line: "Barrels and barrels of pith ... ." They apparently could not restrain their uncontrolled laughter at each abortive 'take'. The director reportedly berated them as acting like school-children and unprofessional. As a consequence, for some time thereafter, both actors were deemed unreliable.

It was Welles' raw ambition that put that frivolous incident quickly behind them. Welles formed the Mercury Theatre Players with John Houseman. Bringing together Film talent from the West coast and Stage talent from the East Coast, Welles' and Houseman's repertory ensemble began to take Radio and the New York Stage by storm. Cotten joined Everett Sloane, Agnes Moorehead, Ruth Warrick and Ray Collins as the core of the ensemble.

Cotten first appeared in Mercury Theatre's productions of Julius Caesar and Shoemaker's Holiday. He made his film debut in the Welles-directed short Too Much Johnson (1938), a comedy based on an 1890 William Gillette play. The short film was occasionally screened immediately before or after Mercury productions. Cotten returned to Broadway in 1939, starring as C.K. Dexter Haven in the original production of Philip Barry's "The Philadelphia Story" opposite Katherine Hepburn.

Cotten's radiography both pre-dates his Mercury Theatre association and continues well beyond the Mercury Theatre of The Air productions of the late 1930s through the mid-1940s. Indeed, well beyond the influence of Mercury Theatre, Joseph Cotten continued well into the mid-1950s to leave his mark on Radio Drama. In a career spanning almost twenty years and 2,000 appearances in Radio, Joseph Cotten immeasurably contributed to the rich legacy of Radio's Golden Era.

In the wake of the panic over Welles' War of the Worlds radio broadcast, Orson Welles was offered an impressive contract from RKO Pictures. A two-picture deal promised full creative control for the young director, and Welles brought his Mercury players with him for feature roles in what he chose to bring to the screen.

By early 1940, Welles met and collaborated with writer Herman J. Mankiewicz. The result was a 'roman a clef' of William Randolph Hearst and his personal history that Welles titled Citizen Kane. Welles cast Joseph Cotten as Kane's college friend turned confidant and theater critic, Jed Leland. In contrast to the furor Welles' 1938 War of The Worlds broadcast had created, Citizen Kane's only notoriety at the time of its release was over the production's out of control budget and its quixotic--but brilliant--novice director.

For his part, much as depicted in Citizen Kane, William Randolph Hearst owned the majority of the country's press outlets and predictably forbad any promotional articles or advertisements for Citizen Kane. Despite the dearth of promotion, the film was nominated for nine Academy Awards in 1942--though largely ignored by the Academy. The film took home one Oscar--Best Screenplay for Welles and Mankiewicz.

The following year Cotten and Welles collaborated yet again in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), acclaimed but again ignored at Oscar time, and the following year, the Nazi thriller Journey Into Fear (1943) with Joseph Cotten writing the screenplay in collaboration with Welles.

Welles' notorious overrunning of budgets was more than sufficient cause for RKO to drop Welles thereafter. But it was in 1943 that Joseph Cotten met and became life-long friend to young producer David O. Selznick. The predictable result of that alliance was a long-term contract and the launch of Cotten's more conventional, successful--and mainstream--movie career as a romantic leading man.

Between 1942 and 1949 Joseph Cotten appeared with some of the most beautiful, talented and accomplished of Hollywood's leading ladies. His favorite was young Selznick's wife, Jennifer Jones, both Selznick and Jones becoming two of Cotten's most intimate personal friends.

Cotten portrayed a remarkable range of roles throughout the 1940s: from the film noir killer in Alfred Hitchcock's thriller Shadow of a Doubt (1943) with Teresa Wright, to 1949's Carol Reed film noir classic, The Third Man, reuniting him with Orson Welles. But they weren't all film noir roles. Indeed, it was only Shadow of a Doubt and The Third Man that were genuine film noir classics. Cotten's remaining film during the 1940s were a fascinating variety of roles and genre. He made four films with friend Jennifer Jones: Since You Went Away (1944), Love Letters (1945), Duel in The Sun (1946) and the 1948 Robert Nathan classic, Portrait of Jennie. Cotten also did The Farmer's Daughter (1947) with a vivacious Loretta Young.

Despite two of film noir's most memorable performances, Cotten failed to receive Adademy recognition for either Shadow of A Doubt or The Third Man--nor did his very believable and critically acclaimed performance in Portrait of Jennie. And though Joseph Cotten was kept in reasonable demand into his more mature acting years, by the 1950s the his movie roles were becoming more from the 'B'-list.

Cotten reunited with Welles in his The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice (1952). There were a few more film noir opportunities, along with the requisite fare of the maturing actor with fewer roles. But it was Television and its television playhouse format that brought Cotten the most fame and dramatic challenges for the remainder of his acting career.

Television's On Trial--later called The Joseph Cotten Show--was a short-lived showcase of sorts. He had several memorable roles in Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, among them, Dead Weight, during which he's limited to voice over and facial expression alone to project his character's portrayal. His last project with Welles was as the uncredited coroner cameo in Welles' 1958 film noir, Touch of Evil. Cotten reportedly observed of his long association with Welles, that it was:

"Exasperating, yes. Sometimes eruptive, unreasonable, ferocious, yes. Eloquent, penetrating, exciting, and always - never failingly even at the sacrifice of accuracy and at times his own vanity - witty. Never, never, never dull."

With the passing of his first wife in 1960, Joseph Cotten met and married British actress Patricia Medina. The 1960s found both of them equally busy in Television and Film. Cotten routinely appeared in the most popular of Television's detective and cowboy formats of the period--as did Ms. Medina.

By 1964 Cotten returned to film with the popular thriller hit Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) reuniting him with other vintage Hollywood legends Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, and Agnes Moorehead. The remainder of his 1960s appearances were a combination of Television Drama staples, entertaining but otherwise unremarkable Film productions, and several guest appearances on the many Quiz, Talk, Morning Show, and Sunday night variety formats, such as the long-running Ed Sullivan Show. Cotten, now officially one of Hollywood's 'senior statesmen' leant his perceived dramatic gravitas to any number of brief, dramatic cameos or short supporting appearances in Film and made-for-Television movies.

Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), though not a particularly huge box office success--at the time--nevertheless showcased Cotten in just such a senior statesman type of role. Cotten also appeared in the campy The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) with Vincent Price. Cotten joined another great Golden Age of Film actor, Edward G. Robinson--another senior statesman actor--in the Universal sci-fi cult favorite, Soylent Green (1973). Cotten also further burnished the gigantic, all-star cast of Airport '77 (1977).

Cotten wrapped up his 1980 appearances with several Universal Television outings, among them, Fantasy Island. One of Hollywood's greats, Cotten wore his own double-breasted blue blazer and tan slacks in several roles--no need for wardrobe--and his reported pride and joy was a ultra-rare blue 1939 Jaguar SS, which became something of a fixture on the Universal lot.

Joseph Cotten was still starring in Film during the 1980s with Heaven's Gate (1980). After a final Love Boat episode (1981), Cotten retired with his wife to gardening and entertaining friends. Cotten penned his autobiography Vanity Will Get You Somewhere in 1987. Joseph Cotten's matter-of-fact delivery and somewhat gruff acting voice served him well in most roles. He clearly demonstrated a command of any number of widely varied roles over his career, and yet just missed attaining an Academy Award in the process. But with the passing of time, his characterizations in Citizen Kane, Shadow of a Doubt, The Third Man and Portrait of Jennie have considerably elevated his stature in the minds of both modern critics and modern audiences alike.