Former LA Weekly film critic F.X. Feeney, author of Orson Welles: Power, Heart, and Soul and co-screenwriter of The Big Brass Ring, died on February 5. He was 66. He passed away after suffering multiple strokes earlier this week.
"He was an incredibly graceful and insightful writer and a gentle, funny, and big-hearted person. He exuded civility and kindness as well as keen intelligence," said Claudia Puig, president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, in a statement. "His passing is a major loss. F.X. was a member of LAFCA for many years and will be very much missed."
In 1999, Feeney and George Hickenlooper adapted Welles' unproduced screenplay The Big Brass Ring for Showtime.
He published Orson Welles: Power, Heart, and Soul during the centennial of the late filmmaker's birth. The book received high marks from fellow Welles scholars Peter Bogdanovich and Joseph McBride.
McBride said of his late friend, "He was a true Renaissance man, wide-ranging in his intellect, open in his embrace of the new and the classic in all varieties, a thoughtful critic who was deeply committed to exploring artists' goals, intentions, and achievements."
In a 2015 interview given to promote his book on Welles, Feeney said, "the most toxic myth about Welles is that he had it all — and blew it, threw it all away, and that pervades a lot of accounts. People ask how could he not stay at that summit? He simply fell prey to every fortune of life. There's the war coming on. He's making movies that don't make money for a studio with a bottom line that wants profits he's not delivering. There's taking on an immensely powerful tycoon in the form of William Randolph Hearst. And Welles has his own personality to deal with as well. The other thing that caused people to go against him from the outset was that he was, before arriving in Hollywood, a celebrity, a household name, already world-famous."
In addition to his book on Welles, Feeney had published book-length essays on film directors Roman Polanski and Michael Mann.
A New York native, Feeney was a 1976 graduate of the California Institute of the Arts. He worked for several years as an inker and painter at Hanna-Barbera Studios before becoming a film and book critic for LA Weekly in in 1980. His writings also appeared in American Film, Variety, and Vanity Fair
"He was an incredibly graceful and insightful writer and a gentle, funny, and big-hearted person. He exuded civility and kindness as well as keen intelligence," said Claudia Puig, president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, in a statement. "His passing is a major loss. F.X. was a member of LAFCA for many years and will be very much missed."
In 1999, Feeney and George Hickenlooper adapted Welles' unproduced screenplay The Big Brass Ring for Showtime.
He published Orson Welles: Power, Heart, and Soul during the centennial of the late filmmaker's birth. The book received high marks from fellow Welles scholars Peter Bogdanovich and Joseph McBride.
McBride said of his late friend, "He was a true Renaissance man, wide-ranging in his intellect, open in his embrace of the new and the classic in all varieties, a thoughtful critic who was deeply committed to exploring artists' goals, intentions, and achievements."
In a 2015 interview given to promote his book on Welles, Feeney said, "the most toxic myth about Welles is that he had it all — and blew it, threw it all away, and that pervades a lot of accounts. People ask how could he not stay at that summit? He simply fell prey to every fortune of life. There's the war coming on. He's making movies that don't make money for a studio with a bottom line that wants profits he's not delivering. There's taking on an immensely powerful tycoon in the form of William Randolph Hearst. And Welles has his own personality to deal with as well. The other thing that caused people to go against him from the outset was that he was, before arriving in Hollywood, a celebrity, a household name, already world-famous."
In addition to his book on Welles, Feeney had published book-length essays on film directors Roman Polanski and Michael Mann.
A New York native, Feeney was a 1976 graduate of the California Institute of the Arts. He worked for several years as an inker and painter at Hanna-Barbera Studios before becoming a film and book critic for LA Weekly in in 1980. His writings also appeared in American Film, Variety, and Vanity Fair
Former LA Weekly film critic F.X. Feeney, author of Orson Welles: Power, Heart, and Soul and co-screenwriter of The Big Brass Ring, died on February 5. He was 66. He passed away after suffering multiple strokes earlier this week.
"He was an incredibly graceful and insightful writer and a gentle, funny, and big-hearted person. He exuded civility and kindness as well as keen intelligence," said Claudia Puig, president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, in a statement. "His passing is a major loss. F.X. was a member of LAFCA for many years and will be very much missed."
In 1999, Feeney and George Hickenlooper adapted Welles' unproduced screenplay The Big Brass Ring for Showtime.
He published Orson Welles: Power, Heart, and Soul during the centennial of the late filmmaker's birth. The book received high marks from fellow Welles scholars Peter Bogdanovich and Joseph McBride.
McBride said of his late friend, "He was a true Renaissance man, wide-ranging in his intellect, open in his embrace of the new and the classic in all varieties, a thoughtful critic who was deeply committed to exploring artists' goals, intentions, and achievements."
In a 2015 interview given to promote his book on Welles, Feeney said, "the most toxic myth about Welles is that he had it all — and blew it, threw it all away, and that pervades a lot of accounts. People ask how could he not stay at that summit? He simply fell prey to every fortune of life. There's the war coming on. He's making movies that don't make money for a studio with a bottom line that wants profits he's not delivering. There's taking on an immensely powerful tycoon in the form of William Randolph Hearst. And Welles has his own personality to deal with as well. The other thing that caused people to go against him from the outset was that he was, before arriving in Hollywood, a celebrity, a household name, already world-famous."
In addition to his book on Welles, Feeney had published book-length essays on film directors Roman Polanski and Michael Mann.
A New York native, Feeney was a 1976 graduate of the California Institute of the Arts. He worked for several years as an inker and painter at Hanna-Barbera Studios before becoming a film and book critic for LA Weekly in in 1980. His writings also appeared in American Film, Variety, and Vanity Fair
"He was an incredibly graceful and insightful writer and a gentle, funny, and big-hearted person. He exuded civility and kindness as well as keen intelligence," said Claudia Puig, president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, in a statement. "His passing is a major loss. F.X. was a member of LAFCA for many years and will be very much missed."
In 1999, Feeney and George Hickenlooper adapted Welles' unproduced screenplay The Big Brass Ring for Showtime.
He published Orson Welles: Power, Heart, and Soul during the centennial of the late filmmaker's birth. The book received high marks from fellow Welles scholars Peter Bogdanovich and Joseph McBride.
McBride said of his late friend, "He was a true Renaissance man, wide-ranging in his intellect, open in his embrace of the new and the classic in all varieties, a thoughtful critic who was deeply committed to exploring artists' goals, intentions, and achievements."
In a 2015 interview given to promote his book on Welles, Feeney said, "the most toxic myth about Welles is that he had it all — and blew it, threw it all away, and that pervades a lot of accounts. People ask how could he not stay at that summit? He simply fell prey to every fortune of life. There's the war coming on. He's making movies that don't make money for a studio with a bottom line that wants profits he's not delivering. There's taking on an immensely powerful tycoon in the form of William Randolph Hearst. And Welles has his own personality to deal with as well. The other thing that caused people to go against him from the outset was that he was, before arriving in Hollywood, a celebrity, a household name, already world-famous."
In addition to his book on Welles, Feeney had published book-length essays on film directors Roman Polanski and Michael Mann.
A New York native, Feeney was a 1976 graduate of the California Institute of the Arts. He worked for several years as an inker and painter at Hanna-Barbera Studios before becoming a film and book critic for LA Weekly in in 1980. His writings also appeared in American Film, Variety, and Vanity Fair
