Orson Welles turned down the role of Kurtz because he was familiar with Heart of Darkness . . .
. . . and didn't believe it was possible for Kurtz to be played by a fat man.- I mean, he certainly was more than familiar with the story, considering the fact that he had actually wanted to adapt it into a movie himself decades before. The story would have been shown through Marlow's (the protagonist that became Willard) first person p.o.v. and Welles would play both Marlow and Kurtz.
Kilgore killed himself after the war
War does things to people. Most come back shell-shocked. But I sincerely (and sadly) believe that Kilgore is attached to war to a very unhealthy extent. He sounded sad that it would end some day. And when that day came I don't think he'll be able to handle it.<<|Wild Mass Guessing|>>
