Known For
Directing
Born
May 06, 1915
Died
Oct 10, 1985
Place of Birth
Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA
Credits
382 titles
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
Filmography
Charmed Lives: A Family Romance
Self (archive footage)
The Making Of
Self (archival)
Proust Palimpsesto: Pastiches e Misturas
Self / The Director / Sir John Falstaff (archive footage) (uncredited)
WeirdWorld
Troy2000 (Archive footage)
Titanic: Secrets of the Shipwreck
Self (archive footage)
Human Nature in Eleven Parts
Narrator "The Scorpion and the Frog" (archive footage)
The Scorpion and the Frog
Narrator (archive footage)
Othelo The Great
Self (archive footage)
The Battle of Grovers Mill
Radio Host (voice) (archival footage)
Aliens Uncovered: Close Encounters
Self
Jim Henson Idea Man
Self (archive footage)
From Introduction to Orson Welles’s Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight
Falstaff
It's Pretty, but is it Art?
Self (voiceover)
Looking Back Before You Leap
General Zaroff (voice)
Clint Eastwood: The Last Legend
Self (archive footage)
American: An Odyssey to 1947
Self (archive footage)
Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues
Self (archive footage)
The Welles Raft
Himself (Archive Footage)
My Guest is Orson Welles
The Real Charlie Chaplin
Self (archive footage)
Tall Tales: The Ireland of Orson Welles
Self
Parkinson at 50
Self (archive footage)
Morceaux de Cannes
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Blinding of Isaac Woodard
Self (archive footage)
Hopper/Welles
Self
Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind
Self (archive footage)
LIFE BEYOND
Self (voice)
Cerné par le diable
Thanks
Halston
Theme Song Performance
Emergency: Donald Trump’s "Touch of Evil"
(archive footage)
The Other Side of the Wind
Journalist (uncredited)
Silent Times
Thanks
They'll Love Me When I'm Dead
Self (archive footage)
The Eyes of Orson Welles
Self - Filmmaker / Various Roles (archive footage)
Jeanne Moreau: Free Spirit
Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
The Brother Side of the Wake
Thanks
The Magic History of Cinema
Embers & Dust
Professor Richard Pierson / Self (voice) (archive sound)
Passage to Mars
Theme Song Performance
Decadence and Downfall: The Shah of Iran's Ultimate Party
Self (archive footage) (voice)
This Is Orson Welles
Self
Bucket
Thanks
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
Self - Filmmaker / Various Roles (archive footage)
Tim May Presents Reptile
Thanks
Citizen Vader
Characters
Alfonso Sansone: Producer by Chance
Self (archive footage)
Too Much Johnson
Keystone Kop
Jodorowsky's Dune
Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
Talking Pictures
Self (archive footage)