George Coulouris

The Banker Who Didn't Want Orson Welles

George Coulouris was born in Manchester in 1903. His father was a Greek immigrant who ran a grocery store and did not look kindly on his son ending up on the stage. But young George ignored his family's warnings. He studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London before crossing the Atlantic to try his luck on Broadway.

There he crossed paths with Orson Welles.

It was an encounter that defined his professional career for more than a decade. He joined the Mercury Theatre and took part in productions that defied the commercial logic of the era. In 1937, he played Marc Antony in that version of Julius Caesar set in fascist Italy. That production was not only a political scandal but also proved that Coulouris could hold his own against any heavyweight of the New York stage.

When Welles was commissioned to shoot Citizen Kane in 1941, he brought almost his entire theater company to Hollywood. Coulouris was cast as Walter Parks Thatcher, the protagonist's legal guardian and banker, a dry man who embodied everything Charles Foster Kane despised.

He shot his scenes with a technical coldness that contrasted with the histrionics of other co-stars.

The film was not the box office hit expected at the time. But the industry took notice of that actor with sharp features and a deep voice who seemed born to play authoritarian men. In 1943, his big break came with Watch on the Rhine. His performance as Teck de Brancovis earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He lost to Charles Coburn, but his name was already on the lists of major studios.

Voluntary Exile and the European Years

Politics eventually clouded his stay in the United States. Coulouris was always a man of clear convictions, and that did not sit well in postwar Hollywood. In the late 1940s, he decided to return to England. It was not a defeat but a change of strategy to regain control over his characters.

And the bet only paid off partially.

During the 1950s and 1960s, he worked in dozens of British productions. He could be seen in Seven Days in May or in the comedy Doctor at Sea from 1955. The size of the role didn't matter to him as long as the paycheck was decent and the script made some sense. For Coulouris, acting was a hands-on craft, almost artisanal, free of the mystique that others tried to sell in interviews.

He appeared in the series Doctor Who in 1964, specifically in the story arc titled The Keys of Marinus. In 1973, he played Dr. Chatal in Papillon. It was one of his last appearances in a major high-budget international production. His ability to work in different languages allowed him to film all over Europe almost until the end of his life.

In 1974, he had a supporting role in Murder on the Orient Express by Sidney Lumet. He earned a standard character actor's fee despite his history with the Mercury Theatre. He died in London on April 25, 1989, from heart failure linked to Parkinson's disease.