Orson Welles
Personal Info
Known For
Directing
Known Credits
335
Gender
Male
Birthday
1915-05-06
Day of death
1985-10-10 (70 years old)
Place of Birth
Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA
Orson Welles
Biography
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) 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
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Magnum, P.I.
The Dick Cavett Show
What's My Line?
American Experience
The Merv Griffin Show
Moonlighting
The Steve Allen Show
I Love Lucy
Omnibus
Night Gallery
The Ed Sullivan Show
Omnibus
The Name of the Game
Dinah!
Embers & Dust
Cinépanorama
Othello
Hopper/Welles
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Waterloo
Napoleon
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
Malpertuis
Hot Money
Follow the Boys
Shōgun
Treasure Island
Butterfly
Moby Dick
Tepepa
Casino Royale
Oedipus the King
Voyage of the Damned
Orson's Bag: London
Touch of Evil
Black Magic
Disorder
Citizen Kane
Kelly Country
Is Paris Burning?
Duel in the Sun
The Battle of Austerlitz
Necromancy
The Well
In Our Hands
V.I.P. Schaukel
King Lear
Twelve Plus One
Catch-22
The Muppet Movie
The Biggest Battle
Jeanne Moreau: Free Spirit
Macbeth
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
Hi-Fi
The Merchant of Venice
Chimes at Midnight
The Tartars
The Third Man
Reflets de Cannes
King of Kings
Survival
History of the World: Part I
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Almonds and Raisins
House of Cards
The Magic of David Copperfield
Lafayette
The Vikings
Directed by John Ford
F for Fake
Night of 100 Stars
The Greenstone
Talking Pictures
Upon This Rock
The Shadow Knows
The Deep
In the Land of Don Quixote
A Man for All Seasons
The Transformers: The Movie
A Woman Called Moses
Where Is Parsifal?
The Double McGuffin
Voyage of the Brigantine Yankee
Someone to Love
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen
The Trial
National Geographic Specials
Brasil
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries
Search for the Titanic
Who Is Henry Jaglom?
Hot Tomorrows
The Other Side of the Wind
Magic with the Stars
The Dreamers
Jim Henson Idea Man
The Stranger
Jane Eyre
The Long, Hot Summer
Jodorowsky's Dune
The Magnificent Ambersons
Mr. Arkadin
Hollywood and the Stars
Compulsion
And Then There Were None
The Lady from Shanghai
The Other Side of Welles
Tales of the Klondike
Parkinson at 50
Scene of the Crime
Lost in La Mancha
Ford Star Jubilee
Orson Welles' Magic Show
Vienna
La Classe américaine
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces
Orson Welles' Sketch Book
Prince of Foxes
The Cave
Doug Henning's World of Magic
The Black Rose
The V.I.P.s
Around the World with Orson Welles
Ro.Go.Pa.G.
The Finest Hours
The Battle of Neretva
Journey into Fear
Clint Eastwood: The Last Legend
The Real Charlie Chaplin
Flame of Persia
Bugs Bunny Superstar
The Battle of Sutjeska
The Kremlin Letter
Tomorrow Is Forever
A Safe Place
The Roots of Heaven
Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind
Doug Henning's World of Magic
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff
Freedom River
Man, Beast and Virtue
LIFE BEYOND
Othelo The Great
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street
Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues
David and Goliath
The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years
The Immortal Story
Royal Affairs in Versailles
Start the Revolution Without Me
The Road to Bresson
They'll Love Me When I'm Dead
Ten Days' Wonder
Swiss Family Robinson
Moby Dick
Future Shock
An Arabian Night
The Secret of Nikola Tesla
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Lucifer et moi
Frank Sinatra: The First 40 Years
Tempo
The Spanish Earth
Trent's Last Case
A Huey P. Newton Story
Crack in the Mirror
Tut: The Boy King
Heart of the Festival
The Fight for Rome II - The Betrayal
Ferry to Hong Kong
Orson Welles in Spain
Portrait: Orson Welles
Enchanted Journey
The Southern Star
Return to Glennascaul
Jeanne Moreau : Vive le cinéma !
Emergency: Donald Trump’s "Touch of Evil"
Don Quixote
Sentinels of Silence
The Fight for Rome
Filmmakers vs. Tycoons
Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
Slapstick of Another Kind
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
Three Cases of Murder
Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
I'll Never Forget What's'isname
The Man Who Saw Tomorrow
Mysterious Castles of Clay
The Battle of Grovers Mill
A Horse Called Nijinsky
One Man Band
Man in the Shadow
Celebração - 100 Anos do Cinema Nacional
Notre Dame de la Croisette
Who's Out There?
Marco the Magnificent
Lords of the Forest
The Shirley MacLaine Special: Where Do We Go from Here?
A King's Story
The Battle Over Citizen Kane
Too Much Johnson
Moby Dick—Rehearsed
Show-Business at War
The Best of the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
NBC: The First Fifty Years
Human Nature in Eleven Parts
The Late Great Planet Earth
The Challenge... A Tribute to Modern Art
It's Not All True
It Happened One Christmas
Rita Hayworth: Dancing Into the Dream
The Silent Years
Colgate Theatre
American: An Odyssey to 1947
The Eyes of Orson Welles
Let Poland Be Poland
The Witching
South Seas Adventure
Trouble in the Glen
Genocide
Five Columns on the Front Page: Hong Kong as seen by Orson Welles
The Man Who Came to Dinner
On the tracks of a filmmaker
Filming Othello
Know Your Ally: Britain
Lost in "The Thinking"
Welles' Language
The Psychic Connection
The Fountain of Youth
The Sailor from Gibraltar
The Paranormal Peter Sellers
To Build a Fire
Orson Welles in the Land of Don Quixote
The Orson Welles Show
The Hearts of Age
Twelfth Night
Around the World of Mike Todd
Baryshnikov in Hollywood
Power and Corruption
It's Pretty, but is it Art?
The New Deal for Artists
Is It Always Right to Be Right?
The Scorpion and the Frog
Get to Know Your Rabbit
The New Media Bible: Book of Genesis
Ten Days That Shook the World
Alfonso Sansone: Producer by Chance
The Hitch Hiker
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees
The Enemy Before Us
The Blinding of Isaac Woodard
Beggars Would Ride
A Mother's Tale
Aliens Uncovered: Close Encounters
Hollywood sul Tevere
WeirdWorld
Caesar's Guide to Gaming with Orson Welles
This Is Orson Welles
According to Occam's Razor
NASA: A Space Odyssey Vol. 3
Orson Welles: The One-Man Band
River of the Ocean
Disorder Is 20 Years Old
Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure
Magnificent Monsters of the Deep
Mexico City, Old and New
Working with Orson Welles
Orson Welles at Large: Portrait of Gina
It's All True
The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh
Looking Back Before You Leap
The UFO Conspiracy
The Force Beyond
The Dominici Affair by Orson Welles
A Step Away
Rosabella - La storia italiana di Orson Welles
With Orson Welles: Stories from a Life in Film
Soft Self-Portrait of Salvador Dali
Natalie - A Tribute to a Very Special Lady
A Gift of Harvest
High Journey
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Michael Landon
King Penguin: Stranded Beyond the Falklands
Something Else
The Orson Welles Story
An Evening with Orson Welles: Two Wise Old Men – Socrates and Noah
The Last Sailors: The Final Days of Working Sail
The Cave: a parable told by Orson Welles
An Evening with Orson Welles: My Little Boy
Orson Welles: The Paris Interview
It's All Brazil
An Evening with Orson Welles: The Happy Prince
From Fiber to Fabric: Wool's a Natural
An Evening with Orson Welles: American Heritage, Vol. I – Selections from George Ade, Thomas Wolfe, Mark Twain
The Lions of Capitalism: Some Call It Greed
Magic Mirror Maze
From Introduction to Orson Welles’s Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight
Orson Welles at The Magic Castle
The Magic History of Cinema
Don Quixote
The Welles Raft
The Land of the Basques
Citizen Kane Trailer
Orson Welles and People: Camille, the Naked Lady and the Musketeers
Orson Welles' Sketch Book
Battle for Survival
Wagner e Venezia
Americans on Everest
One Man Band
Tall Tales: The Ireland of Orson Welles
Orson Welles' F for Fake Trailer
The Merchant of Venice (Rushes)
Orson Welles at the Cinémathèque Française
Out of Darkness
A Legend a Lifetime: Citizen Welles
Orson Welles - Das vermarktete Genie
Profile No. 6: Orson Welles
To Try Again... and Succeed
The Greatest Adventure--The Story of Man's Voyage to the Moon
Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park
The Dreamers
An Evening with Orson Welles: American Heritage, Vol. II – Clarence Darrow
Filming 'The Trial'
The Quest for Fire Adventure
Orson Welles Uncut
The Green Goddess
An Evening with Orson Welles: The Golden Honeymoon
Orson Welles Talks With Roger Hill
