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.
Filmography
all 354
Movies 305
self 130
Narrator 54
TV Shows 49
Director 15
Voice 11
Writer 11
Producer 1
Coney Island Baby (2024)
AFI Life Achievement Award: 50th Anniversary Special (2023)
Othelo, O Grande (2023)
From Introduction to Orson Welles’s Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight (2023)
It's Pretty, but is it Art? (2023)
Looking Back Before You Leap (2023)
Alien Autopsy: The Search for Answers (2022)
Clint Eastwood: The Last Legend (2022)
American: An Odyssey to 1947 (2022)
The Lost Print: The Making of Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons (2022)
The Welles Raft (2022)
Tall Tales: The Ireland of Orson Welles (2021)
Parkinson at 50 (2021)
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street (2021)
The Blinding of Isaac Woodard (2021)
A Life for Movies: Lotte Eisner (2020)
Hopper/Welles (2020)
Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind (2020)
Cerné par le diable (2019)
Halston (2019)
Emergency: Donald Trump’s "Touch of Evil" (2019)
The Other Side of the Wind (2018)
The Great Buster: A Celebration (2018)
Silent Times (2018)
They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018)
The Eyes of Orson Welles (2018)
Jeanne Moreau: Free Spirit (2018)
The Brother Side of the Wake (2018)
The Magic History of Cinema (2017)
Embers & Dust (2016)
Passage to Mars (2016)
This Is Orson Welles (2015)
Orson Welles: Shadows & Light (2015)
Bucket (2015)
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles (2014)
Tim May Presents Reptile (2014)
Citizen Vader (2014)
Alfonso Sansone: Producer by Chance (2014)
Too Much Johnson (2013)
Jodorowsky's Dune (2013)
Talking Pictures (2013)
The Debridement of Rome (2012)
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen (2012)
Welcome To The Basement (2012)
Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure (2011)
Incident at Barstow (2011)
Jucy (2010)
Variations on a High School Romance (2010)
Beer and Board Games (2010)
L'antre du Mea (2010)
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (2010)
Dahmer vs. Gacy (2010)
Orson Welles: The Paris Interview (2010)
A Vermelha Luz do Bandido (2009)
Lucifer et moi (2009)
F for favor (2008)
Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows (2007)
The Deep (2007)
The Hitchhiker (2007)
Searching for Orson (2006)
Edge of Outside (2006)
Filmmakers vs. Tycoons (2005)
The Day That Panicked America (2005)
The Other Side of Welles (2005)
The Well (2005)
The Hitch Hiker (2004)
Rita (2003)
The Dominici Affair by Orson Welles (2003)
Heart of the Festival (2002)
Lost in La Mancha (2002)
The Magnificent Ambersons (2002)
Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV (2001)
A Huey P. Newton Story (2001)
The Paranormal Peter Sellers (2001)
NASA: A Space Odyssey Vol. 3 (2001)
Orson Welles in the Land of Don Quixote (2000)
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces (2000)
Moby Dick (2000)
Hollywood Remembers - Hollywoods Greatest Screen Legends (2000)
The Big Brass Ring (1999)
According to Occam's Razor (1999)
Hi-Fi (1999)
As Long as He Lives (1998)
The Way to Santiago (1998)
The Great Depression (1998)
The Best of the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts (1998)
The Big Brass Ring (1997)
Tudo é Brasil (1997)
Who Is Henry Jaglom? (1997)
The Hearts of Age (1997)
Celebração - 100 Anos do Cinema Nacional (1997)
Treasury of Children's Stories (1996)
Where Are All the UFO's? (1996)
The Battle Over Citizen Kane (1996)
Orson Welles: The One-Man Band (1995)
A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995)
Zweig: A Morte em Cena (1995)
Valentines. A Bouquet of Letters and Poetry of Lovers (1994)
La Classe américaine (1993)
It's All True (1993)
Rosabella - La storia italiana di Orson Welles (1993)
Working with Orson Welles (1993)
Don Quixote (1992)
The Complete 'Citizen Kane' (1991)
With Orson Welles: Stories from a Life in Film (1990)
Welles' Language (1990)
Rita Hayworth: Dancing Into the Dream (1990)
Dieter & Andreas (1989)
Continental (1989)
Waxwork (1988)
Someone to Love (1987)
It's Not All True (1986)
The Transformers: The Movie (1986)
It's All True: Four Men on a Raft (1986)
The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years (1986)
Almonds and Raisins (1985)
Scene of the Crime (1985)
Moonlighting (1985)
The Dreamers (1985)
Orson Welles' Magic Show (1985)
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Michael Landon (1984)
The Road to Bresson (1984)
The Last Sailors: The Final Days of Working Sail (1984)
In Our Hands (1984)
The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh (1984)
Where Is Parsifal? (1984)
The Witching (1983)
The Psychic Connection (1983)
King Penguin: Stranded Beyond the Falklands (1983)
Orson Welles at the Cinémathèque Française (1983)
Notre Dame de la Croisette (1983)
Hot Money (1983)
Slapstick (Of Another Kind) (1982)
Wagner e Venezia (1982)
Trick or Treats (1982)
Natalie - A Tribute to a Very Special Lady (1982)
Baryshnikov in Hollywood (1982)
Genocide (1982)
Night of 100 Stars (1982)
Doug Henning's World of Magic (1982)
Butterfly (1982)
Let Poland Be Poland (1982)
Magic with the Stars (1982)
The Quest for Fire Adventure (1982)
A Gift of Harvest (1981)
Brasil (1981)
Search for the Titanic (1981)
The War of the Worlds: Next Century (1981)
The Enchanted Journey (1981)
The New Deal for Artists (1981)
Shogun (1981)
History of the World: Part I (1981)
Tales of the Klondike (1981)
Filming 'The Trial' (1981)
The Man Who Saw Tomorrow (1981)
Magnum, P.I. (1980)
Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park (1980)
Shogun (1980)
The Secret Life of Nikola Tesla (1980)
A Step Away (1980)
The Greenstone (1980)
Soft Self-Portrait of Salvador Dali (1979)
The New Media Bible: Book of Genesis (1979)
Frank Sinatra: The First 40 Years (1979)
To Try Again... and Succeed (1979)
The Muppet Movie (1979)
The Double McGuffin (1979)
The Orson Welles Show (1979)
The Greatest Adventure--The Story of Man's Voyage to the Moon (1979)
The Late Great Planet Earth (1979)
A Woman Called Moses (1978)
The Magic of David Copperfield (1978)
Filming Othello (1978)
The Biggest Battle (1978)
Tut: The Boy King (1978)
Mysterious Castles of Clay (1978)
Caesar's Guide to Gaming with Orson Welles (1978)
It Happened One Christmas (1977)
The Lions of Capitalism: Some Call It Greed (1977)
The Force Beyond (1977)
Hot Tomorrows (1977)
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1977)
From Fiber to Fabric: Wool's a Natural (1977)
Voyage of the Damned (1976)
NBC: The First Fifty Years (1976)
Doug Henning's World of Magic (1975)
Bugs Bunny: Superstar (1975)
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? (1975)
Orson Welles - The Marketed Genius (1975)
Magnificent Monsters of the Deep (1975)
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (1975)
Who's Out There? (1975)
The Challenge... A Tribute to Modern Art (1974)
A Legend a Lifetime: Citizen Welles (1974)
Crónicas fantásticas (1974)
And Then There Were None (1974)
Power and Corruption (1973)
Kelly Country (1973)
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts (1973)
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries (1973)
F for Fake (1973)
The Battle of Sutjeska (1973)
The American Film Institute Salute to ... (1973)
The Cave (1973)
The Man Who Came to Dinner (1972)
Treasure Island (1972)
Necromancy (1972)
Get to Know Your Rabbit (1972)
Future Shock (1972)
Vive le cinema! (1972)
London (1971)
Ten Days' Wonder (1971)
The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine (1971)
A Safe Place (1971)
Directed by John Ford (1971)
The Silent Years (1971)
V.I.P. Schaukel (1971)
Centinelas del Silencio (1971)
Flame of Persia (1971)
Malpertuis (1971)
Freedom River (1971)
An Evening with Orson Welles: The Golden Honeymoon (1970)
Night Gallery (1970)
An Evening with Orson Welles (1970)
Salvador Dalí: A Soft Self-Portrait (1970)
Is It Always Right to Be Right? (1970)
Waterloo (1970)
The Enemy Before Us (1970)
Catch-22 (1970)
Start the Revolution Without Me (1970)
The Kremlin Letter (1970)
A Horse Called Nijinsky (1970)
Upon This Rock (1970)
The Merchant of Venice (1969)
Twelve Plus One (1969)
The Battle of Neretva (1969)
The Southern Star (1969)
The Fight for Rome II - The Betrayal (1969)
Tepepa (1969)
To Build a Fire (1969)
The Fight for Rome (1968)
One Man Band (1968)
The Name of the Game (1968)
House of Cards (1968)
Around the World of Mike Todd (1968)
The Dick Cavett Show (1968)
Portrait: Orson Welles (1968)
The Immortal Story (1968)
Oedipus the King (1968)
Vienna (1968)
I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967)
Beggars Would Ride (1967)
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967)
Disorder Is 20 Years Old (1967)
Casino Royale (1967)
The Sailor from Gibraltar (1967)
Ten Days That Shook the World (1967)
A Man for All Seasons (1966)
Is Paris Burning? (1966)
The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966)
Orson Welles in Spain (1966)
The World of Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1966)
Chimes at Midnight (1965)
Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees (1965)
National Geographic Specials (1965)
Marco the Magnificent (1965)
A King's Story (1965)
The Finest Hours (1964)
Shindig! (1964)
In the Land of Don Quixote (1964)
Hollywood and the Stars (1963)
The V.I.P.s (1963)
Ro.Go.Pa.G. (1963)
The Trial (1962)
River of the Ocean (1962)
The Merv Griffin Show (1962)
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962)
No Exit (1962)
Lafayette (1962)
Tempo (1961)
King of Kings (1961)
The Tartars (1961)
Survival (1961)
The Battle of Austerlitz (1960)
An Arabian Night (1960)
Crack in the Mirror (1960)
Hong Kong as seen by Orson Welles (1960)
David and Goliath (1960)
High Journey (1959)
Ferry to Hong Kong (1959)
Compulsion (1959)
Lords of the Forest (1958)
The Roots of Heaven (1958)
The Fountain of Youth (1958)
Orson Welles at Large: Portrait of Gina (1958)
Colgate Theatre (1958)
South Seas Adventure (1958)
The Vikings (1958)
The Long, Hot Summer (1958)
Touch of Evil (1958)
Man in the Shadow (1957)
Out of Darkness (1956)
Moby Dick (1956)
The Steve Allen Show (1956)
Cinépanorama (1956)
Around the World with Orson Welles (1955)
The Land of the Basques (1955)
Ford Star Jubilee (1955)
Mr. Arkadin (1955)
Orson Welles' Sketch Book (1955)
Orson Welles' Sketch Book (1955)
Napoleon (1955)
Three Cases of Murder (1955)
Trouble in the Glen (1954)
Royal Affairs in Versailles (1954)
King Lear (1953)
Man, Beast and Virtue (1953)
Return to Glennascaul: A Story That Is Told in Dublin (1953)
Omnibus (1952)
Trent's Last Case (1952)
Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951)
Othello (1951)
I Love Lucy (1951)
Disorder (1950)
The Black Rose (1950)
What's My Line? (1950)
Portrait of a Murderer (1949)
Prince of Foxes (1949)
The Herb Shriner Show (1949)
The Third Man (1949)
Black Magic (1949)
Macbeth (1948)
The Ed Sullivan Show (1948)
The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
Duel in the Sun (1946)
Battle for Survival (1946)
The Stranger (1946)
Tomorrow Is Forever (1946)
Mexico City, Old and New (1945)
Follow the Boys (1944)
Know Your Ally: Britain (1944)
Jane Eyre (1943)
Show-Business at War (1943)
Journey into Fear (1943)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Swiss Family Robinson (1940)
The Spanish Earth (1937)
The Hearts of Age (1934)
Battle for the Himalayas: The Fight to Film Everest
Something Else
Charmed Lives: A Family Romance
Cousteau: Amazon
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Information
Known ForDirecting
GenderMale
Birthday1915-05-06
Deathday1985-10-10 (70 years old)
Birth NameGeorge Orson Welles
Birth PlaceKenosha, United States of America
ReligionChristianity
Height183-centimeter
RelationshipsPaola Mori (1955-05-08 - 1985-10-10), Virginia Nicolson (1934-01-01 - 1940-01-01), Rita Hayworth (1943-09-07 - 1948-12-01), Oja Kodar (1966-01-01 - 1985-01-01)
ChildrenRebecca Welles, Beatrice Welles
FatherRichard Head Welles
MotherBeatrice Ives Welles
CitizenshipsUnited States of America
Also Known AsОрсон Уэллс, Джордж Орсон Уэллс, George Orson Welles, O. W. Jeeves, 오슨 웰스, 오슨 웰즈, 오손 웰스, اورسون ولز
Awardsstar on Hollywood Walk of Fame, Commander of the Legion of Honour, National Board of Review Award for Best Film, Academy Honorary Award, AFI Life Achievement Award, Golden Lion, Palme d'Or, Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay
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