The Orson Welles Show (radio series) debut of "The Hitch-Hiker", an original radio play by Lucille Fletcher (wife of Bernard Herrmann) that has become a classic of suspense. On the broadcast of December 29, 1941, Rita Hayworth was the guest player; this was the first meeting between Welles and Hayworth, who were married in September 1943. Welles concluded the final broadcast of "The Orson Welles Show" February 2, 1942, with a statement: "Tomorrow night the Mercury Theatre starts for South America. The reason, put more or less officially, is that I've been asked by the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs to do a motion
Beatrice Welles to Orson Welles and his third wife, Paola Mori. A countess from an Italian noble family that dates back to 400 AD, Welles is the half-sister of Chris Welles Feder and the late Rebecca Welles Manning (1944–2004), from her father's previous two marriages. She was named after her paternal grandmother, concert pianist Beatrice Ives Welles. She was baptized at the Good Shepherd Roman Catholic Church in Beverly Hills, with Frank Sinatra and actress Mercedes McCambridge serving as godparents. Raised and educated in Europe with private tutors, Welles spent her childhood in the close company of her parents. She appeared on