'Citizen Kane' to screen at Hearst Castle Theater

Now here's something Hollywood probably never expected to read: Citizen Kane is going to play the Hearst Castle Theater.

No doubt publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst, inspiration for Orson Welles' Oscar-winning 1941 film, is shouting in his grave.

But it's for a good cause: To raise money for Hearst's architectural fantasy, the sprawling "castle" in San Simeon, Calif., now a state park and tourist destination.

Besides, the screening Friday evening in the private theater, which fits 50 (tickets are $1,000), is intended to highlight the differences between the mogul and his alleged movie avatar,the obsessively controlling Charles Foster Kane, played by Welles.

But wait, there's more: Host for the screening will be Ben Mankiewicz, the grandson of Herman Mankiewicz, who co-wrote the Citizen Kane screenplay.

Maybe some of Hearst's many descendants (he had five sons) will be there, but not great-grandson Stephen Hearst, the vice president and general manager of Hearst Corp.'s Western Properties.

Still, he gave his blessing to the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival to screen the film in Hearst's private theater to show what "an extraordinary human being" great-granddad was. The event will benefit the preservation group Friends of Hearst Castle.

"This was an opportunity to clarify the record, to draw the distinction between the fictional character of Charlie Kane and his gloomy Xanadu and W.R. Hearst and his beautiful architectural masterpiece at the top of the hill at San Simeon," Stephen Hearst said, according to the Los Angeles Times.

But his ancestor would never have done it: He hated Citizen Kane, and tried unsuccessfully to stop it being made and distributed. The film follows the rise and fall of a media magnate widely believed to be based on Hearst even though his name never comes up.

The film won an Academy Award in 1942 and is now considered a movie masterpiece, one of the most influential in the American film pantheon.

The tickets include a special tour of the legendary estate, originally known as La Cuesta Encantada (The Enchanted Hill) and designed by Berkeley architect Julia Morgan. Then they'll drink California wine at a reception in the mansion's patio with the spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean.

Contributing: The Associated Press