Orson Welles

Personal Info

Known For Director

Gender Male

Birthday 1915-05-06

Deathday 1985-10-10 (70 years old)

Place of Birth Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA

Also Known As Джордж Орсон Уэллс, George Orson Welles, O. W. Jeeves, 오슨 웰스, 오슨 웰즈, 오손 웰스, اورسون ولز

Orson Welles

Biography

George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985), best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio. Noted for his innovative dramatic productions as well as his distinctive voice and personality, Welles is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished dramatic artists of the twentieth century, especially for his significant and influential early work—despite his notoriously contentious relationship with Hollywood. His distinctive directorial style featured layered, nonlinear narrative forms, innovative uses of lighting such as chiaroscuro, unique camera angles, sound techniques borrowed from radio, deep focus shots, and long takes. Welles's long career in film is noted for his struggle for artistic control in the face of pressure from studios. Many of his films were heavily edited and others left unreleased. He has been praised as a major creative force and as "the ultimate auteur." After directing a number of high-profile theatrical productions in his early twenties, including an innovative adaptation of Macbeth and The Cradle Will Rock, Welles found national and international fame as the director and narrator of a 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds performed for the radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was reported to have caused widespread panic when listeners thought that an invasion by extraterrestrial beings was occurring. Although these reports of panic were mostly false and overstated, they rocketed Welles to instant notoriety. Citizen Kane (1941), his first film with RKO, in which he starred in the role of Charles Foster Kane, is often considered the greatest film ever made. Several of his other films, including The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), Touch of Evil (1958), Chimes at Midnight (1965), and F for Fake (1974), are also widely considered to be masterpieces. In 2002, he was voted the greatest film director of all time in two separate British Film Institute polls among directors and critics, and a wide survey of critical consensus, best-of lists, and historical retrospectives calls him the most acclaimed director of all time. Andrew Sarris in his influential book of film criticism The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968 included him in the "pantheon" of the 14 greatest film directors who had worked in the United States. Well known for his baritone voice, Welles was also an extremely well regarded actor and was voted number 16 in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars list of the greatest American film actors of all time. He was also a celebrated Shakespearean stage actor and an accomplished magician, starring in troop variety shows in the war years.

Known For

Director

2020
Hopper/Welles

as Director

2013
Too Much Johnson

as Director

2007
The Deep

as Director

2000
Moby Dick

as Director

1993
It's All True

as Director

1992
Don Quixote

as Director

1985
The Dreamers

as Director

1985
1981
1979
1978
Filming Othello

as Director

1973
F for Fake

as Director

1971
London

as Director

1969
1968
The Immortal Story

as Director

1968
Vienna

as Director

1968
One Man Band

as Director

1965
Chimes at Midnight

as Director

1962
The Trial

as Director

1961
Tempo

as Director

1958
Touch of Evil

as Director

1958
1958
Colgate Theatre

as Director

1955
1955
Mr. Arkadin

as Director

1951
Othello

as Director

1948
Macbeth

as Director

1947
1946
The Stranger

as Director

1941
Citizen Kane

as Director

1934
The Hearts of Age

as Director

1933
Twelfth Night

as Director

Actor

2024
Othelo The Great

as Ele Mesmo (Imagem de Arquivo)

2024
The Battle of Grovers Mill

as Radio Host (voice) (archival footage)

2024
Jim Henson Idea Man

as Self (archive footage)

2024
LIFE BEYOND: Visions of Alien Life

as Narrator (Archive Sound)

2023
It's Pretty, but is it Art?

as Self (voiceover)

2023
Looking Back Before You Leap

as General Zaroff (voice)

2022
Clint Eastwood: The Last Legend

as Self (archive footage)

2022
Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues

as Self (archive footage)

2022
American: An Odyssey to 1947

as Self (archive footage)

2022
The Welles Raft

as Himself (Archive Footage)

2021
Parkinson at 50

as Self (archive footage)

2021
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street

as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

2021
The Blinding of Isaac Woodard

as Self (archive footage)

2020
2020
Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind

as Self (archive footage)

2019
2018
The Other Side of the Wind

as Journalist (uncredited)

2018
The Great Buster: A Celebration

as Self (archive footage)

2018
They'll Love Me When I'm Dead

as Self (archive footage)

2018
The Eyes of Orson Welles

as Self - Filmmaker / Various Roles (archive footage)

2018
Jeanne Moreau: Free Spirit

as Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)

2016
Embers & Dust

as Professor Richard Pierson / Self (voice) (archive sound)

2014
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles

as Self - Filmmaker / Various Roles (archive footage)

2014
Alfonso Sansone: Producer by Chance

as Self (archive footage)

2013
Too Much Johnson

as Keystone Kop

2013
Jodorowsky's Dune

as Self (archive footage)

2013
Talking Pictures

as Self (archive footage)

2012
The Shadow Knows

as Self (archive footage)

2012
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen

as (archive footage)

2010
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff

as Genghis Khan / Bayan (archive footage)

2009
Lucifer et moi

as (archive footage 1982)

2007
The Deep

as Russ Brewer

2006
Edge of Outside

as Self (archive footage)

2005
Filmmakers vs. Tycoons

as Self (archive footage)

2005
The Other Side of Welles

as Self (archive footage)

2004
The Hitch Hiker

as Ronald Adams

2003
Rita

as (archive footage)

2003
The Dominici Affair by Orson Welles

as Self (archive footage)

2002
Lost in La Mancha

as Self (archive footage)

2001
A Huey P. Newton Story

as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

2001
The Paranormal Peter Sellers

as Self (Archive footage)

2000
Orson Welles in the Land of Don Quixote

as Self (Archive footage)

2000
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces

as Self (archive footage)

2000
Moby Dick

as Captain Ahab / Starbuck / Ishmael (archive footage)

1998
The Best of the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts

as Self - Roaster (archive footage)

1997
It's All Brazil

as Self (archive footage)

1997
Who Is Henry Jaglom?

as Self (archive footage)

1996
The Battle Over Citizen Kane

as Self (archive footage)

1995
Orson Welles: The One-Man Band

as Self (archive footage)

1993
La Classe américaine

as Self (archive footage)

1993
1993
Working with Orson Welles

as Himself (Archive Footage)

1992
Don Quixote

as Self

1990
Welles' Language

as Self (archive footage)

1990
Rita Hayworth: Dancing Into the Dream

as Self (archive footage)

1990
Star Life

as Self (archive footage)

1988
1987
Someone to Love

as Danny's Friend

1986
It's Not All True

as Himself (archive footage)

1986
The Transformers: The Movie

as Unicron (voice)

1986
The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years

as Self (archive footage)

1985
1985
The Dreamers

as Marcus Kleek

1985
Moonlighting

as Orson Welles

1984
In Our Hands

as Himself

1984
Where Is Parsifal?

as Klingsor

1983
The Witching

as Mr. Cato

1983
1983
Notre Dame de la Croisette

as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

1983
Hot Money

as Sheriff Paisley

1982
Slapstick of Another Kind

as Aliens' Father (voice)

1982
Wagner e Venezia

as Richard Wagner (voice)

1982
Baryshnikov in Hollywood

as Self - Narrator

1982
Genocide

as Narrator (voice)

1982
1982
Doug Henning's World of Magic

as Self - Special Guest

1982
Butterfly

as Judge Rauch

1981
A Gift of Harvest

as Narrator

1981
Brasil

as Self (archive footage)

1981
Search for the Titanic

as Himself (host)

1981
The New Deal for Artists

as Narrator (voice)

1981
The Man Who Saw Tomorrow

as Presenter / Narrator (voice)

1981
1980
A Step Away

as English Narrator

1980
The Greenstone

as Narrator (voice)

1980
Magnum, P.I.

as Robin Masters (uncredited) (voice)

1980
Magnum, P.I.

as Robin Masters (voice)

1980
Shōgun

as Narrator

1979
To Try Again... and Succeed

as Narrator (voice)

1979
The Muppet Movie

as Lew Lord

1979
1978
1978
The Biggest Battle

as Narratore

1978
Tut: The Boy King

as Himself - Host

1978
A Woman Called Moses

as Narrator (voice)

1977
It Happened One Christmas

as Henry F. Potter

1977
The Force Beyond

as Himself (archive footage)

1977
Hot Tomorrows

as Parklawn Mortuary (voice)

1976
Voyage of the Damned

as José Estedes

1976
NBC: The First Fifty Years

as Self / Narrator

1975
Bugs Bunny Superstar

as Narrator (voice)

1975
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

as Self (archive footage)

1975
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

as Narrator / Nag / Chuchundra (voice)

1975
1974
And Then There Were None

as Voice on Tape

1974
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still

as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

1974
Dinah!

as Self

1973
1973
Kelly Country

as Narrator

1973
F for Fake

as Self

1973
The Battle of Sutjeska

as Winston Churchill

1973
The Cave

as Narrator

1972
The Man Who Came to Dinner

as Sheridan Whiteside

1972
Treasure Island

as Long John Silver

1972
Necromancy

as Mr. Cato

1972
Get to Know Your Rabbit

as Mr. Delasandro

1972
Future Shock

as Narrator

1971
London

as Winston Churchill / George Bernard Shaw

1971
Ten Days' Wonder

as Théo Van Horn

1971
A Safe Place

as The Magician

1971
Directed by John Ford

as Narrator (voice)

1971
Malpertuis

as Cassavius

1971
Flame of Persia

as Narrator

1971
Freedom River

as Narrator

1971
1970
Waterloo

as Louis XVIII

1970
1970
Catch-22

as Brigadier General Dreedle

1970
The Kremlin Letter

as Bresnavitch

1970
Upon This Rock

as Michelangelo (voice)

1970
1970
Night Gallery

as Narrator

1969
1969
1969
Twelve Plus One

as Markan

1969
1969
The Southern Star

as Plankett

1969
Tepepa

as Colonel Cascorro

1969
To Build a Fire

as Narrator (voice)

1968
The Fight for Rome

as Justinian

1968
House of Cards

as Leschenhaut

1968
1968
The Immortal Story

as Charles Clay

1968
Oedipus the King

as Tiresias

1968
Vienna

as Himself

1968
1968
The Dick Cavett Show

as Self - Guest

1967
1967
Beggars Would Ride

as Narrator

1967
Casino Royale

as Le Chiffre

1967
The Sailor from Gibraltar

as Louis de Mozambique

1967
Omnibus

as Self - Presenter

1966
A Man for All Seasons

as Cardinal Wolsey

1966
Is Paris Burning?

as Konsul Nordling

1966
1965
Chimes at Midnight

as Falstaff

1965
Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees

as Self - Narrator (voice)

1965
Marco the Magnificent

as Akerman, Marco's Teacher

1965
A King's Story

as Narrator

1964
The Finest Hours

as Narrator (voice)

1963
The V.I.P.s

as Max Buda

1963
Ro.Go.Pa.G.

as The 'Director' (segment "La ricotta")

1963
Hollywood and the Stars

as Self (archive footage)

1962
The Trial

as Albert Hastler

1962
River of the Ocean

as Narrator (English)

1962
Lafayette

as Benjamin Franklin

1961
King of Kings

as Narrator (Voice)

1961
The Tartars

as Burundai

1961
1961
Survival

as Narrator

1960
The Battle of Austerlitz

as Robert Fulton

1960
An Arabian Night

as Storyteller

1960
Crack in the Mirror

as Hagolin / Lamerciere

1960
David and Goliath

as King Saul

1959
High Journey

as Narrator

1959
Ferry to Hong Kong

as Captain Hart

1959
Compulsion

as Jonathan Wilk

1958
Lords of the Forest

as Narrator (voice)

1958
The Roots of Heaven

as Cy Sedgewick

1958
The Fountain of Youth

as the narrator

1958
1958
The Vikings

as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

1958
The Long, Hot Summer

as Will Varner

1958
Touch of Evil

as Police Captain Hank Quinlan

1957
Man in the Shadow

as Virgil Renchler

1956
Out of Darkness

as Self - Narrator

1956
Moby Dick

as Father Mapple

1956
1955
Mr. Arkadin

as Gregory Arkadin

1955
1955
Napoleon

as Sir Hudson Lowe

1955
Three Cases of Murder

as Lord Mountdrago ("Lord Mountdrago" segment)

1955
1955
Ford Star Jubilee

as Oscar Jaffe

1955
Orson Welles' Sketch Book

as Himself - Host

1954
Trouble in the Glen

as Sanin Cejador y Mengues

1954
Royal Affairs in Versailles

as Benjamin Franklin

1954
1953
King Lear

as King Lear

1953
Man, Beast and Virtue

as Captain Perella, the Beast

1953
1952
Trent's Last Case

as Sigsbee Manderson

1952
Omnibus

as King Lear

1951
Othello

as Othello

1951
Hallmark Hall of Fame

as Sheridan Whiteside

1951
I Love Lucy

as Orson Welles

1950
Disorder

as Self

1950
1950
What's My Line?

as Self - Panelist

1949
Prince of Foxes

as Cesare Borgia

1949
The Third Man

as Harry Lime

1949
Black Magic

as Joseph Balsamo aka Count Cagliostro

1948
Macbeth

as Macbeth

1947
The Lady from Shanghai

as Michael O'Hara

1946
Duel in the Sun

as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

1946
1946
The Stranger

as Prof. Charles Rankin

1946
Tomorrow Is Forever

as John Andrew MacDonald

1945
1944
Follow the Boys

as Orson Welles (uncredited)

1944
Know Your Ally: Britain

as Narrator/Bob (helpful taxi passenger)

1943
Jane Eyre

as Edward Rochester

1943
Journey into Fear

as Colonel Haki

1942
The Magnificent Ambersons

as Narrator (voice)

1941
Citizen Kane

as Charles Foster Kane

1940
Swiss Family Robinson

as Opening Narrator

1937
The Spanish Earth

as Narrator (voice)

1934
1933
Twelfth Night

as Narrator

Writer

Something Else

as Original Concept

2024
The Battle of Grovers Mill

as Original Story

2018
2014
Citizen Vader

as Characters

2013
Too Much Johnson

as Screenplay

2008
F for favor

as Original Concept

2007
The Deep

as Screenplay

2007
The Hitchhiker

as Original Concept

2002
2000
Moby Dick

as Theatre Play

1999
1998
1997
1997
The Hearts of Age

as Original Concept

1992
Don Quixote

as Screenplay

1985
The Dreamers

as Writer

1979
1978
Filming Othello

as Writer

1973
F for Fake

as Writer

1972
Treasure Island

as Writer

1971
London

as Writer

1969
1968
Vienna

as Writer

1968
The Immortal Story

as Screenplay

1968
One Man Band

as Screenplay

1966
1965
Chimes at Midnight

as Screenplay

1962
The Trial

as Screenplay

1961
Tempo

as Writer

1958
Touch of Evil

as Screenplay

1958
1958
Colgate Theatre

as Screenplay

1955
Mr. Arkadin

as Story

1955
Mr. Arkadin

as Screenplay

1951
Othello

as Screenplay

1948
Macbeth

as Screenplay

1947
1947
1946
The Stranger

as Co-Writer

1943
Journey into Fear

as Screenplay

1942
1941
Citizen Kane

as Screenplay

1934
1933
Twelfth Night

as Adaptation

Crew

2019
2018
Silent Times

as Thanks

2015
Bucket

as Thanks

2011
2010
Dahmer vs. Gacy

as Thanks

2010
L'antre du Mea

as Thanks

2010
1998
1989
1989
Continental

as Thanks

1988
Waxwork

as Thanks

1985
Moonlighting

as Thanks

1982
1966
The Bible: In the Beginning...

as Additional Writing

Producer

2013
Too Much Johnson

as Producer

2007
The Deep

as Producer

1992
Don Quixote

as Producer

1985
1981
1971
Freedom River

as Producer

1969
1968
Vienna

as Producer

1958
1958
Colgate Theatre

as Producer

1955
Mr. Arkadin

as Producer

1951
Othello

as Producer

1948
Macbeth

as Producer

1947
1943
Jane Eyre

as Associate Producer

1943
Journey into Fear

as Producer

1941
Citizen Kane

as Producer

Editor

2013
2000
Moby Dick

as Editor

1992
Don Quixote

as Editor

1975
3 A.M.

as Editorial Services

1973
F for Fake

as Editor

1971
London

as Editor

1962
The Trial

as Editor

1955
Mr. Arkadin

as Editor

Sound

2019
Halston

as Theme Song Performance

2016
Passage to Mars

as Theme Song Performance

2012
Welcome to the Basement

as Theme Song Performance

1996
Treasury of Children's Stories

as Theme Song Performance

1970
1964
Shindig!

as Theme Song Performance

1958
The Fountain of Youth

as Music Arranger

1958
Colgate Theatre

as Music Arranger

1955
Three Cases of Murder

as Theme Song Performance

Art

1958
The Fountain of Youth

as Production Design

1955
Mr. Arkadin

as Production Design

1955
Mr. Arkadin

as Art Direction

1949
Portrait of a Murderer

as Production Design

1948
Macbeth

as Set Designer

Costume & Make-Up

1965
Chimes at Midnight

as Costume Design

1955
Mr. Arkadin

as Costume Design

1948
Macbeth

as Costume Design

1933
Twelfth Night

as Costume Design

Camera

1964
In the Land of Don Quixote

as Additional Camera

1942
The Magnificent Ambersons

as Additional Photography

1933
Twelfth Night

as Director of Photography