It is true that the common wisdom says Hearst destroyed Welles' career as revenge for Citizen Kane, but I'm not sure it's that cut and dried. For example, Robert Wise (who worked with him in his early career and eventually went on to surpass him in terms of success and output) disagreed with the idea that Welles was held back:
"Not true there was a cabal preventing Orson from making more films. He simply never fulfilled himself after that magnificent start; his own fault - lack of self-discipline."[1]
See also this comment[2] right here in this HN story which goes into some more detail about Welles' chronic string of failed projects.
While Hearst may have done some damage, I think ultimately it was possible to Welles to recover, but he unfortunately spiraled down the drain instead.
This is an interesting perspective, thanks for sharing. I'm not sure I would take Wise's word on it but anyways this gives me an intriguing angle to dig deeper.
"Not true there was a cabal preventing Orson from making more films. He simply never fulfilled himself after that magnificent start; his own fault - lack of self-discipline."[1]
See also this comment[2] right here in this HN story which goes into some more detail about Welles' chronic string of failed projects.
While Hearst may have done some damage, I think ultimately it was possible to Welles to recover, but he unfortunately spiraled down the drain instead.