Orson Welles

Directing · 2.6 popularity

Age

111

Movies

299

Born: May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985
From: Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA

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.

Works

299 films

Jane Eyre

19436.9

Citizen Kane

19418.0

Casino Royale

19675.3

The Transformers: The Movie

19867.1

Catch-22

19706.7

The Third Man

19497.9

Moby Dick

19567.1

Touch of Evil

19587.7

The Vikings

19587.0

The Muppet Movie

19797.2

Waterloo

19707.1

Let Poland Be Poland

1982

Is Paris Burning?

19667.2

A Man for All Seasons

19667.3

King of Kings

19617.2

The Trial

19627.4

Treasure Island

19725.9

Jim Henson Idea Man

20247.9

Voyage of the Damned

19766.0

Duel in the Sun

19466.4

Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen

20127.5

Macbeth

19487.3

The Long, Hot Summer

19587.0

The Lady from Shanghai

19477.3

Napoleon

19556.3

Butterfly

19824.9

Jodorowsky's Dune

20137.8

Austerlitz

19606.6

Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues

20226.5

Tepepa

19696.5

The Battle of Neretva

19696.8

The Magnificent Ambersons

19427.3

Chimes at Midnight

19657.2

Othello

19517.4

And Then There Were None

19745.7

History of the World: Part I

19816.7

Lafayette

19625.9

The Dominici Affair by Orson Welles

20036.5

Directed by John Ford

19717.0

The Biggest Battle

19784.7

The Other Side of the Wind

20186.7

The Stranger

19467.2

F for Fake

19737.4

La Classe américaine

19937.6

Mr. Arkadin

19556.8

Black Magic

19496.4

I'll Never Forget What's'isname

19675.4

Compulsion

19597.1

The Kremlin Letter

19705.9

Royal Affairs in Versailles

19536.7

Morceaux de Cannes

20212.0

The V.I.P.s

19636.1

They'll Love Me When I'm Dead

20187.1

Natalie - A Tribute to a Very Special Lady

19826.0

Clint Eastwood: The Last Legend

20227.3

Tomorrow Is Forever

19466.3

Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces

20006.8

NASA: A Space Odyssey Vol. 3

20012.0

House of Cards

19684.9

The Black Rose

19506.5

Jucy

20104.8

Heart of the Festival

20026.5

The Man Who Came to Dinner

19727.0

Disorder

19505.7

Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street

20217.4

Proust Palimpsesto: Pastiches e Misturas

2026

The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies

19958.0

Night of 100 Stars

19825.8

The Battle of Sutjeska

19736.5

Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind

20206.4

The Immortal Story

19687.1

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

19756.3

Start the Revolution Without Me

19706.0

Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff

20106.7

Someone to Love

19875.5

Americans on Everest

1965

Future Shock

19724.7

Oedipus the King

19686.0

The Dreamers

19855.0

Doug Henning's World of Magic

1982

Looking Back Before You Leap

2023

Hi-Fi

19995.0

Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles

20146.5

Marco the Magnificent

19654.8

The Real Charlie Chaplin

20217.6

The Double McGuffin

19795.0

Hot Tomorrows

19777.5

Slapstick of Another Kind

19823.2

NBC: The First Fifty Years

1976

The Roots of Heaven

19586.2

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

19756.6

Ro.Go.Pa.G.

19637.2

Who Is Henry Jaglom?

19976.8

The Eyes of Orson Welles

20187.0

Journey into Fear

19436.1

The Man Who Saw Tomorrow

19817.0

Malpertuis

19726.4

Follow the Boys

19445.7

Man in the Shadow

19576.7

Magic with the Stars

19829.0

La ricotta

19636.7

Twelfth Night

19334.5

The Orson Welles Show

19798.0

The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years

19866.2

Swiss Family Robinson

19405.7

Bugs Bunny Superstar

19767.3

Flame of Persia

1971

Hollywood sul Tevere

2009

Lost in La Mancha

20027.1

It Happened One Christmas

19774.6

Othelo The Great

2024

Freedom River

19716.4

The Late Great Planet Earth

19785.0

The Battle of Grovers Mill

2024

The Road to Bresson

19847.0

The Deep

20077.0

Ten Days' Wonder

19716.2

David and Goliath

19603.7

The Miracle of St. Anne

1950

Vienna

19686.3

The Best of the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts

19986.5

Get to Know Your Rabbit

19725.0

Prince of Foxes

19496.3

The Southern Star

19695.8

The Fight for Rome

19685.9

Jeanne Moreau: Free Spirit

20187.0

South Seas Adventure

19585.9

An Arabian Night

1960

Ferry to Hong Kong

19595.6

A King's Story

19656.8

Twelve Plus One

19695.3

Three Cases of Murder

19556.1

Necromancy

19724.5

Rita Hayworth: Dancing Into the Dream

19907.0

Frank Sinatra: The First 40 Years

1979

The Spanish Earth

19376.6

Portrait d'Orson Welles

19686.9

The Well

20059.0

Parkinson at 50

202110.0

The Secret of Nikola Tesla

19806.3

The New Deal for Artists

1981

The Merchant of Venice

19698.0

Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?

19835.9

The Tartars

19616.0

The Sailor from Gibraltar

19675.8

WeirdWorld

202510.0

Charmed Lives: A Family Romance

2028

The Shadow Knows

2012

A Safe Place

19715.3

Know Your Ally: Britain

19444.6

Sentinels of Silence

19716.9

Search for the Titanic

19817.0

Trouble in the Glen

19546.2

The Greenstone

19804.3

Ten Days That Shook the World

19676.2

A Horse Called Nijinsky

19709.5

Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still

19747.2

The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh

19846.2

The Battle Over Citizen Kane

19967.4

Don Quixote

19926.2

Show-Business at War

19437.0

The Finest Hours

19646.8

Mysterious Castles of Clay

19786.4

Celebração - 100 Anos do Cinema Nacional

1997

The Other Side of Welles

200510.0

Almonds and Raisins

19847.0

Too Much Johnson

20135.4

Crack in the Mirror

19607.5

Orson Welles at The Magic Castle

1978

On the tracks of a filmmaker

1988

Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story

20077.8

Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure

20115.3

A Mother's Tale

1976

Orson Welles: The One-Man Band

19956.6

A Legend a Lifetime: Citizen Welles

19748.0

Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio

19917.6

Hot Money

19833.8

Filming 'The Trial'

19817.4

The Fountain of Youth

19586.2

Jeanne Moreau : Vive le cinéma !

1972

The Fight for Rome II - The Betrayal

19697.0

The Cave

1973

The Making Of

2026

Moby Dick

20009.0

Genocide

19827.5

The Magic History of Cinema

2017

Trent's Last Case

19525.5

The Psychic Connection

1983

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Michael Landon

1984

Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees

1965

Man, Beast and Virtue

19536.8

Welles' Language

19907.3

The Hearts of Age

19345.4

Working with Orson Welles

19935.8

Voyage of the Brigantine Yankee

2026

The Enemy Before Us

1970

Filmmakers vs. Tycoons

20056.8

Upon This Rock

19709.0

The Blinding of Isaac Woodard

2021

Orson Welles' Magic Show

19857.3

With Orson Welles: Stories from a Life in Film

19907.0

Orson Welles at Large: Portrait of Gina

19587.3

A Gift of Harvest

1981

The Paranormal Peter Sellers

20016.0

A Huey P. Newton Story

20015.4

An Evening with Orson Welles: My Little Boy

1970

One Man Band

19998.0

An Evening with Orson Welles: American Heritage, Vol. II – Clarence Darrow

1970

Moby Dick—Rehearsed

19557.0

Around the World of Mike Todd

19686.3

Lucifer et moi

20097.0

An Evening with Orson Welles: The Happy Prince

1970

In Our Hands

19849.0

Where Is Parsifal?

19843.9

Baryshnikov in Hollywood

1982

Human Nature in Eleven Parts

2025

It's All True

19937.6

The Welles Raft

2022

Disorder Is 20 Years Old

19677.0

An Evening with Orson Welles: Two Wise Old Men – Socrates and Noah

1970

The Shirley MacLaine Special: Where Do We Go from Here?

19776.5

This Is Orson Welles

20157.2

American: An Odyssey to 1947

2022

An Evening with Orson Welles: The Golden Honeymoon

19707.0

The Movie Movie (An Excerpt)

2002

Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park

1980

Rosabella - La storia italiana di Orson Welles

19936.5

Something Else

2026

The Orson Welles Story

19828.5

The Hitch Hiker

20049.0

Orson Welles - Das vermarktete Genie

1975

An Evening with Orson Welles: American Heritage, Vol. I – Selections from George Ade, Thomas Wolfe, Mark Twain

1970

Orson Welles in Spain

19665.0

The New Media Bible: Book of Genesis

19797.0

Emergency: Donald Trump’s "Touch of Evil"

2019

Kelly Country

19737.0

King Lear

19538.0

Battle for Survival

19469.0

Alfonso Sansone: Producer by Chance

2014

Five Columns on the Front Page: Hong Kong as seen by Orson Welles

1960

The Scorpion and the Frog

20255.0

Magnificent Monsters of the Deep

1975

Caesar's Guide to Gaming with Orson Welles

1978

According to Occam's Razor

19999.0

Orson Welles in the Land of Don Quixote

20006.3

To Build a Fire

19697.6

The Witching

1983

The Force Beyond

19774.5

Orson Welles: The Paris Interview

20105.7

Return to Glennascaul

19526.5

It's Pretty, but is it Art?

2023

The Challenge... A Tribute to Modern Art

19746.4

The Green Goddess

1939

Lost in "The Thinking"

20057.0

It's Not All True

19866.9

To Try Again... and Succeed

1979

Decadence and Downfall: The Shah of Iran's Ultimate Party

20166.7

The Complete 'Citizen Kane'

1991

Hopper/Welles

20205.9

Brasil

19817.5

Tut: The Boy King

1978

Magic Mirror Maze

2012

Orson Welles Talks With Roger Hill

2005

Embers & Dust

20166.7

The Merchant of Venice (Rushes)

19705.0

It's All Brazil

19976.4

River of the Ocean

19628.0

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

19777.5

Is It Always Right to Be Right?

19706.2

Filming Othello

19797.5

Who's Out There?

19756.8

Profile No. 6: Orson Welles

1965

Orson Welles Uncut

2005

Aliens Uncovered: Close Encounters

2024

Power and Corruption

1973

King Penguin: Stranded Beyond the Falklands

1983

The Quest for Fire Adventure

19828.0

Out of Darkness

1956

The Land of the Basques

1955

The UFO Conspiracy

20044.3

From Introduction to Orson Welles’s Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight

2023

Unseen Lollo

1986

Lords of the Forest

19588.3

Soft Self-Portrait of Salvador Dali

19694.3

Mexico City, Old and New

1945

Wagner e Venezia

1982

Beggars Would Ride

1967

A Step Away

19807.0

High Journey

19597.0

The Last Sailors: The Final Days of Working Sail

19849.0

The Lions of Capitalism: Some Call It Greed

19778.0

My Guest is Orson Welles

2021

From Fiber to Fabric: Wool's a Natural

1977

Orson Welles and People: Camille, the Naked Lady and the Musketeers

19567.0

Orson Welles at the Cinémathèque Française

198310.0

The Cave: a parable told by Orson Welles

1973

The Greatest Adventure--The Story of Man's Voyage to the Moon

1979

Tall Tales: The Ireland of Orson Welles

20219.0

Citizen Kane: Trailer

19407.0