According to biographers, Davies' reputation was destroyed following the release of Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" (1941). Davies was mistakenly assumed by film audiences to be the unalloyed inspiration for the character of Susan Alexander in the film, which was based loosely on Hearst's life. Many viewers, including journalists, "assumed that the powerful publisher Charles Kane in the film was Mr. Hearst, the huge castle Xanadu was in reality Mr. Hearst's fabulous estate San Simeon and the blonde young singer he tried to turn into a diva, although she had no voice, was in reality Miss Davies."