Sometimes it’s tough to be the child of a star and Christopher is the eldest of Orson Welle’s three daughters.
Personal life
Christopher Welles Feder was born in 1938 and grew up in Hollywood’s golden age. Her loving and funny father was there even after her father divorced her mother, actress Virginia Nicholson, in 1940. Next came Rita Hayworth, whom he married in 1943, and the weekend at their house was a blissful and memorable time for Chris. Chris was able to spend her magical weekend free from her strict Scottish nanny and her strict mother.
After her father, Orson Welle moved in with actress Geraldine Fitzergarld everything got quiet and unstable. After this relatively quiet period, her father left for Italy and Christopher was sent to Orson’s old school in Illinois. From that onwards, she felt that her childhood was almost over. Her mother married an English man and got settled with him in South Africa. Her stepfather sent her off to high school in Switzerland and she was not able to see her father as he was married to his third wife with another child on the way.
It wasn’t until she was older that Chris came to understand the importance of her father’s work and how much it meant to her. Orson treated them with the utmost courtesy, but fans and sign hunters annoyed them.
Career
In November 2009, Christopher published a book called, “In my Father’s Shadow: A daughter remembers Orson Welles”. In My Father’s Shadow is the classic story of a life lived in the public eye, the love and affection of a daughter who kept believing that one day she would truly know and understand her elusive and larger life. The result is a moving and insightful look at the life behind the scenes of a legendary figure, and a deeply entertaining story of growing up within the surreal realities of Hollywood, wells Feder’s ever-present. Complemented by a collection of many family photos not found in.
The Orson Welles-Chris Welles Feder Collection is a compilation of materials about Orson Welles collected by Chris Welles Feder, the eldest daughter of Orson Welles. Also included are excerpts and articles, audiovisual materials such as films and television shows dedicated to Orson and her Welles, and various materials such as postcards, exhibition programs and catalogues. The collection consists of her five series of Correspondence, Newspaper Clippings and Articles, Photography, Audiovisual Media and Miscellaneous.
In My Father’s Shadow: A daughter remembers Orson Welles
When asked in an interview why she chose to write on this subject, she responded, that there were many books here, biographies, critical studies, etc., written about her father, but none of that captured the Orson Welles she knew. Also, many of the people who have written about her father have never met him or have only met him in the last 15 years of his life. she felt like she had a story to tell to the world. She was desperate to get the young Orson Welles back. She wanted that vision to be part of the record. Because she knew my father, apart from giving a more complete picture of her father, important to her life, there is a wide range of people, including his mother, Virginia Nicholson Wells. There were others who received little attention in Welles’ bibliography.
Conclusion
Christopher Welles Feder did not have a happy childhood as she had many family or relationship problems also, being the kid of a star was not at all an easy task for her but she did cover it all and became a writer. She wrote a biography of her father because she felt the need to let people know her father from a different perspective.
