William Alland

William Alland
Born	(1916-03-04)March 4, 1916 Delmar, Delaware, U.S.
Died	Long Beach, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, director, producer, writer
Years active	c.1938—1966

William Alland (March 4, 1916 – November 11, 1997) was an American film producer, and writer, mainly of both western films, and some of the best remembered 1950's science fiction/monster films, including This Island Earth, It Came From Outer Space, Tarantula, The Deadly Mantis, The Mole People, The Colossus of New York, The Space Children, and, not least, the classic The Creature from the Black Lagoon and its two sequels. The idea for the Creature in the three Black Lagoon films was his, all three of which he also produced, working with frequent collaborator Jack Arnold as director.

Initially entering theatre and film as an actor, he is best remembered as the reporter Jerry Thompson whose investigations show us the life of the newspaper tycoon in Orson Welles's Citizen Kane (1941). He also directed one film, Look in Any Window.

In his early 20s, he arrived in Manhattan and took courses at the Henry Street Settlement House, where he met Orson Welles. He also lent his voice to Welles's The War of the Worlds. Alland won a Peabody Award as producer of Doorway to Life.

Alland's role as reporter Jerry Thompson in Citizen Kane (1941) is unusual because the camera never closes up on his face; in fact, for the majority of his scenes in the film, he shows his back to the camera, and whenever his face can be seen, it is always in long-shot and almost always clouded in shadow. As noted by film critic Roger Ebert on the DVD commentary of Citizen Kane, Alland once reportedly told an entire audience of people that they would probably recognize him if he were to show his back to them. Additionally, in Citizen Kane he also voiced the Newsreel Announcer in the "News on the March" segment, a spoof of the then-popular March of Time newsreels. In later years, Alland twice provided voiceovers for pastiches of this News on the March segment; once for the 1974 Orson Welles film F for Fake, and again for a 1991 Arena documentary for the BBC, The Complete Citizen Kane. F for Fake had a News on the March pastiche showing what the opening of Citizen Kane would have looked like if it had been modelled on Howard Hughes rather than William Randolph Hearst, while The Complete Citizen Kane has a pastiche of News on the March about Orson Welles making Citizen Kane, rather than about the death of Charles Foster Kane.

Behind the camera, his greatest fame came from producing science fiction movies at Universal and Paramount in the 1950s. His sci-fi producing career is the subject of a 60-page interview in the book "Monsters, Mutants and Heavenly Creatures" (Midnight Marquee Press, 1996) by Tom Weaver.

Filmography

• The Green Goddess (1939 film) (1939) – (uncredited); short film by Orson Welles
• Citizen Kane (1941) – Jerry Thompson (credited); Voice of "News on the March" Newsreel Announcer (uncredited)
• Tom Dick and Harry (1941) – voice of Newsreel Announcer (uncredited)
• The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) – Guide (uncredited, scenes deleted)
• The Falcon Takes Over (1942) – Reporter (uncredited)
• Riff-Raff (1947) – Trumpy, Man in Cell (uncredited)
• The Lady from Shanghai (1947) – Reporter (uncredited)
• Macbeth (1948) – Second Murderer
• Love Happy (1949) – one of several Story Contributors (uncredited)
• Cave of Outlaws (1951) – Associate Producer
• The Black Castle (1952) – Producer
• The Raiders (1952) – Producer
• The Treasure of Lost Canyon (1952) – Associate Producer
• Flesh and Fury (1952) – Original Story
• The Stand at Apache River (1953) – Producer
• It Came From Outer Space (1953) – Producer
• The Lawless Breed (1953) – Producer
• The Stand at Apache River (1953) – Producer
• The Lawless Breed (1953) – Original Story
• The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) – Producer, Story Idea (uncredited)
• Johnny Dark (1954) – Producer
• Four Guns to the Border (1954) – Producer
• Dawn at Socorro (1954) – Producer
• This Island Earth (1955) – Producer
• Revenge of the Creature (1955) – Producer, Original Story
• Tarantula (1955) – Producer
• Chief Crazy Horse (1955) – Producer
• The Creature Walks Among Us (1956) – Producer
• The Mole People (1956) – Producer
• The Deadly Mantis (1957) – Producer; Original story
• The Land Unknown (1957) – Producer
• Gun for a Coward (1957) – Producer
• The Colossus of New York (1958) – Producer
• The Space Children (1958) – Producer
• The Lady Takes a Flyer (1958) – Producer
• Raw Wind in Eden (1958) – Producer
• As Young as We Are (1958) – Producer; Original Story
• The Party Crashers (1958) – Producer; Original Story
• Look in Any Window (1961) – Director
• The Lively Set (1964) – Producer
• The Rare Breed (1966) – Producer

External links

• William Alland at the Internet Movie Database