Orson Welles was born on May 6, 1915, and directed his most acclaimed film, Citizen Kane, at age 26. Years later, after a couple disastrous movies and a sojourn in Europe, he would reunite with one of its stars, Joseph Cotten, in The Third Man. Welles’ character, Harry Lime, is the missing center of the movie until he appears, finally, and explains his motives for entering a less-than-savory line of work. To a famous speech set against a memorable backdrop, Welles added a line about the Swiss not found in Graham Greene’s screenplay. (But as Welles notably said later, “When the picture came out, the Swiss very nicely pointed out to me that they’ve never made any cuckoo clocks.”)

“I still do believe in God, old man… I believe in God and Mercy and all that. The dead are happier dead. They don’t miss much here…poor devils. What do you believe in? Well, if you ever get Anna out of this mess, be kind to her. You’ll find she’s worth it. I wish I had asked you to bring me some of these tablets from home. Holly, I would like to cut you in, old man. Nobody left in Vienna I can really trust — and we have always done everything together. When you make up your mind, send me a message. I’ll meet you any place, any time. And when we do meet, old man, it is you I want to see, not the police. Remember that, won’t you?

Don’t be so gloomy. After all, it’s not that awful. Remember what the fellow said. In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed, but they produced Michaelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love. They had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long, Holly.”