Cast

Orson Welles

Directing

Cast

Orson Welles

Known for

Directing

Born

1915-05-06

From

Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA

Died

1985-10-10

Also known as George Orson Welles, O. W. Jeeves

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.

Orson Welles

Orson Welles

Biography

Jane Eyre

Citizen Kane

Casino Royale

Catch-22

The Third Man

Touch of Evil

The Transformers: The Movie

Moby Dick

A Man for All Seasons

Tepepa

Let Poland Be Poland

The Muppet Movie

Directed by John Ford

Voyage of the Damned

Is Paris Burning?

Jim Henson Idea Man

Lafayette

The Vikings

The Dominici Affair by Orson Welles

Twelve Plus One

King of Kings

Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen

Treasure Island

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

Austerlitz

Macbeth

Napoleon

Othello

Heart of the Festival

And Then There Were None

Butterfly

Disorder

Black Magic

Jucy

The Dreamers

The Long, Hot Summer

Waterloo

The Lady from Shanghai

The Trial

Chimes at Midnight

Twelfth Night

Duel in the Sun

Flame of Persia

La Classe américaine

La ricotta

F for Fake

Proust Palimpsesto: Pastiches e Misturas

The Magnificent Ambersons

Night of 100 Stars

The Roots of Heaven

Jodorowsky's Dune

Who Is Henry Jaglom?

NASA: A Space Odyssey Vol. 3

Someone to Love

Sentinels of Silence

Freedom River

The Stranger

Vienna

Hot Tomorrows

Future Shock

The Battle of Neretva

Doug Henning's World of Magic

History of the World: Part I

The Real Charlie Chaplin

NBC: The First Fifty Years

The Orson Welles Show

Americans on Everest

The Greenstone

Portrait d'Orson Welles

The Man Who Came to Dinner

The Other Side of the Wind

Hi-Fi

The Shadow Knows

Start the Revolution Without Me

Looking Back Before You Leap

The Biggest Battle

The Double McGuffin