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Who was Charles Foster Kane based on?
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Orson Welles
Orson Welles.
The character Charles Foster Kane, the protagonist of the 1941 film Citizen Kane, was based on the American newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst.123
Hearst, who built the nation's largest newspaper chain and significantly influenced the development of American journalism, strongly opposed the film's production. When he was unable to have the movie banned, he reportedly prohibited any mention of it within his own newspapers.241