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 â 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 workâdespite 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 1929â1968 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.
Citizen Kane
as Charles Foster Kane
Catch-22
as Brigadier General Dreedle
Casino Royale
as Le Chiffre
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen
as (archive footage)
The Third Man
as Harry Lime
The Transformers: The Movie
as Unicron (voice)
Moby Dick
as Father Mapple
The Vikings
as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Touch of Evil
as Police Captain Hank Quinlan
The Trial
as Albert Hastler
The Muppet Movie
as Lew Lord
King of Kings
as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Duel in the Sun
as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Jane Eyre
as Edward Rochester
Is Paris Burning?
as Konsul Nordling
Jim Henson Idea Man
as Self (archive footage)
And Then There Were None
as Voice on Tape
The Long, Hot Summer
as Will Varner
Napoleon
as Sir Hudson Lowe
A Man for All Seasons
as Cardinal Wolsey
Chimes at Midnight
as Falstaff
Waterloo
as Louis XVIII
The Lady from Shanghai
as Michael O'Hara
The Stranger
as Prof. Charles Rankin
Voyage of the Damned
as José Estedes
The Biggest Battle
as Narratore
Treasure Island
as Long John Silver
The Battle of Neretva
as Äetnik
Black Magic
as Joseph Balsamo aka Count Cagliostro
Clint Eastwood: The Last Legend
as Self (archive footage)
The Magnificent Ambersons
as Narrator (voice)
Othello
as Othello
Hot Money
as Sheriff Paisley
Night of 100 Stars
as Self
History of the World: Part I
as Narrator (voice)
Oedipus the King
as Tiresias
F for Fake
as Self
Get to Know Your Rabbit
as Mr. Delasandro
The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years
as Self (archive footage)
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
as Self - Filmmaker / Various Roles (archive footage)
Lafayette
as Benjamin Franklin
Jodorowsky's Dune
as Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
They'll Love Me When I'm Dead
as Self (archive footage)
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
as Self (archive footage)
Compulsion
as Jonathan Wilk
The Battle of Austerlitz
as Robert Fulton
Macbeth
as Macbeth
Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind
as Self (archive footage)
Tomorrow Is Forever
as John Andrew MacDonald
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff
as Genghis Khan / Bayan (archive footage)
Who Is Henry Jaglom?
as Self (archive footage)
Butterfly
as Judge Rauch
La Classe américaine
as Self (archive footage)
Royal Affairs in Versailles
as Benjamin Franklin
Mr. Arkadin
as Gregory Arkadin
Marco the Magnificent
as Akerman, Marco's Teacher
The Tartars
as Burundai
The Other Side of the Wind
as Journalist (uncredited)
The Man Who Came to Dinner
as Sheridan Whiteside
I'll Never Forget What's'isname
as Jonathan Lute
The Fight for Rome
as Justinian
Tepepa
as Colonel Cascorro
Follow the Boys
as Orson Welles (uncredited)
Ro.Go.Pa.G.
as The 'Director' (segment "La ricotta")
David and Goliath
as King Saul
The Black Rose
as Bayan
Directed by John Ford
as Narrator (voice)
Journey into Fear
as Colonel Haki
The Southern Star
as Plankett
The Kremlin Letter
as Bresnavitch
The Roots of Heaven
as Cy Sedgewick
Heart of the Festival
as Self (archive footage)
The Battle of Sutjeska
as Winston Churchill
Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues
as Self (archive footage)
Bugs Bunny Superstar
as Narrator (voice)
Slapstick of Another Kind
as Aliens' Father (voice) (uncredited)
Prince of Foxes
as Cesare Borgia
Morceaux de Cannes
Necromancy
as Mr. Cato
Lost in La Mancha
as Self (archive footage)
Parkinson at 50
as Self (archive footage)
House of Cards
as Leschenhaut
The Man Who Saw Tomorrow
as Presenter / Narrator (voice)
The V.I.P.s
as Max Buda
Twelve Plus One
as Markan
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Don Quixote
as Self
Someone to Love
as Danny's Friend
The Best of the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
as Self - Roaster (archive footage)
Man in the Shadow
as Virgil Renchler
The Real Charlie Chaplin
as Self (archive footage)
Show-Business at War
as Self
Genocide
as Narrator (voice)
The Orson Welles Show
as Self
Swiss Family Robinson
as Opening Narrator (uncredited)
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
as Self (archive)
Start the Revolution Without Me
as The Narrator
The Eyes of Orson Welles
as Self - Filmmaker / Various Roles (archive footage)
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces
as Self (archive footage)
Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?
as Magician (uncredited)
Rita Hayworth: Dancing Into the Dream
as Self (archive footage)
Where Is Parsifal?
as Klingsor
Jeanne Moreau: Free Spirit
as Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
Filmmakers vs. Tycoons
as Self (archive footage)
Rosabella - La storia italiana di Orson Welles
It Happened One Christmas
as Henry F. Potter
The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh
as himself
The Immortal Story
as Charles Clay
The Double McGuffin
as Narrator (voice)
Sentinels of Silence
Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure
as Self
Malpertuis
as Cassavius
The Fight for Rome II - The Betrayal
as Justinian
NBC: The First Fifty Years
as Self / Narrator
Hot Tomorrows
as Parklawn Mortuary (voice)
Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
as Self - Professor in War of the Worlds Broadcast (archive sound)
Ten Days' Wonder
as Théo Van Horn
Let Poland Be Poland
as Self
Proust Palimpsesto: Pastiches e Misturas
as Self / The Director / Sir John Falstaff (archive footage) (uncredited)
King Lear
as King Lear
Celebração - 100 Anos do Cinema Nacional
as Self
The Deep
as Russ Brewer
Frank Sinatra: The First 40 Years
as Self
Three Cases of Murder
as Lord Mountdrago ("Lord Mountdrago" segment)
The Other Side of Welles
as Self (archive footage)
The Sailor from Gibraltar
as Louis de Mozambique
Magic with the Stars
as Self - Host
The Secret of Nikola Tesla
as J.P. Morgan
Trouble in the Glen
as Sanin Cejador y Mengues
Too Much Johnson
as Keystone Kop
Orson Welles: The One-Man Band
as Self (archive footage)
A Huey P. Newton Story
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Trent's Last Case
as Sigsbee Manderson
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
South Seas Adventure
as Narrator
Hopper/Welles
as Self
The Witching
as Mr. Cato
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
as Narrator / Nag / Chuchundra (voice)
The Fountain of Youth
as the narrator
The Battle Over Citizen Kane
as Self (archive footage)
Filming Othello
as Host
The Magic History of Cinema
The Greenstone
as Narrator (voice)
A Safe Place
as The Magician
Tall Tales: The Ireland of Orson Welles
as Self
The Paranormal Peter Sellers
as Self (Archive footage)
Orson Welles at the CinémathÚque Française
as Himself
Working with Orson Welles
as Himself (Archive Footage)
Man, Beast and Virtue
as Captain Perella, the Beast
Hollywood sul Tevere
Mysterious Castles of Clay
as Narrator
Orson Welles in Spain
as Himself
On the tracks of a filmmaker
as Orson Welles
It's All True
as Self
With Orson Welles: Stories from a Life in Film
as Self (archive footage)
The Spanish Earth
as Narrator (voice)
Portrait d'Orson Welles
as Self
Vienna
as Himself
Ferry to Hong Kong
as Captain Hart
Disorder
as Self
The Blinding of Isaac Woodard
as Self (archive footage)
Five Columns on the Front Page: Hong Kong as seen by Orson Welles
as Self (narrator)
Natalie - A Tribute to a Very Special Lady
as Self
Around the World of Mike Todd
as Self - Narrator
Who's Out There?
as Host
The Lions of Capitalism: Some Call It Greed
as Narrator
Moby DickâRehearsed
as An Actor Manager /Father Mapple /Ahab
Doug Henning's World of Magic
as Self - Special Guest
Upon This Rock
as Michelangelo (voice)
The Dominici Affair by Orson Welles
as Self (archive footage)
Baryshnikov in Hollywood
as Self - Narrator
The Merchant of Venice
as Shylock
Aliens Uncovered: Close Encounters
as Self
It's All Brazil
as Self (archive footage)
Know Your Ally: Britain
as Narrator/Bob (helpful taxi passenger)
The Road to Bresson
as Self
American: An Odyssey to 1947
as Self (archive footage)
Flame of Persia
as Narrator
Orson Welles' Magic Show
as Self
According to Occam's Razor
Jeanne Moreau : Vive le cinéma !
as Self
Filming 'The Trial'
as Self
Jucy
as Elephant Lamp (archive sound)
Kelly Country
as Narrator
Lords of the Forest
as Narrator (voice)
A King's Story
as Narrator
Emergency: Donald Trumpâs "Touch of Evil"
as (archive footage)
The New Media Bible: Book of Genesis
as Narrator
In Our Hands
as Himself
High Journey
as Narrator
The Late Great Planet Earth
as Self
Welles' Language
as Self (archive footage)
An Evening with Orson Welles: The Happy Prince
The Finest Hours
as Narrator (voice)
Looking Back Before You Leap
as General Zaroff (voice)
Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees
as Self - Narrator (voice)
The Shirley MacLaine Special: Where Do We Go from Here?
as Self
The Challenge... A Tribute to Modern Art
as Narrator
Freedom River
as Narrator
An Evening with Orson Welles: The Golden Honeymoon
The Well
Ten Days That Shook the World
as Narrator
Search for the Titanic
as Self - Host
The New Deal for Artists
as Narrator (voice)
The Force Beyond
as Himself (archive footage)
Tut: The Boy King
as Himself - Host
This Is Orson Welles
as Self
La ricotta
The Shadow Knows
as Self (archive footage)
To Build a Fire
as Narrator (voice)
Lost in "The Thinking"
as Self (archive footage)
Orson Welles at Large: Portrait of Gina
as Self - Host
Something Else
Orson Welles Talks With Roger Hill
as (Self)
The Dreamers
as Marcus Kleek
Twelfth Night
as Narrator
NASA: A Space Odyssey Vol. 3
as Narrator
The Hearts of Age
as Death
Magnificent Monsters of the Deep
as Narrator
From Introduction to Orson Wellesâs Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight
as Falstaff
Embers & Dust
as Professor Richard Pierson / Self (voice) (archive sound)
A Horse Called Nijinsky
as Narrator
To Try Again... and Succeed
as Narrator (voice)
Alfonso Sansone: Producer by Chance
as Self (archive footage)
The Orson Welles Story
as Self
The Cave
as Narrator
Return to Glennascaul
as Narrator
Future Shock
as Narrator
Orson Welles in the Land of Don Quixote
as Self (Archive footage)
The Psychic Connection
as Narrator
Battle for Survival
as Narrator
A Step Away
as English Narrator
Brasil
as Self (archive footage)
Crack in the Mirror
as Hagolin / Lamerciere
It's Not All True
as Himself (archive footage)
The Welles Raft
as Himself (Archive Footage)
Disorder Is 20 Years Old
as Self
A Mother's Tale
as Narrator
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Michael Landon
as Self
An Arabian Night
as Storyteller
Beggars Would Ride
as Narrator
One Man Band
as Presenter / Various
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
as Narrator
The Last Sailors: The Final Days of Working Sail
as Narrator
Orson Welles at The Magic Castle
as Self
Power and Corruption
as Himself
The UFO Conspiracy
as Self (archive sound)
Moby Dick
as Captain Ahab / Starbuck / Ishmael (archive footage)
Mexico City, Old and New
as Narrator
Human Nature in Eleven Parts
as Narrator "The Scorpion and the Frog" (archive footage)
Unseen Lollo
as Himself
Lucifer et moi
as (archive footage 1982)
Soft Self-Portrait of Salvador Dali
as Narrator (voice)
The Miracle of St. Anne
as The Director
The Merchant of Venice (Rushes)
as Shylock
The Battle of Grovers Mill
as Radio Host (voice) (archival footage)
The Green Goddess
as Rajah/Narrator
The Movie Movie (An Excerpt)
as Archival Footage
Wagner e Venezia
as Richard Wagner (voice)
The Land of the Basques
as Himself
It's Pretty, but is it Art?
as Self (voiceover)
The Complete 'Citizen Kane'
as Self (archive footage)
A Legend a Lifetime: Citizen Welles
Orson Welles: The Paris Interview
as Himself
Orson Welles - Das vermarktete Genie
as Self
WeirdWorld
as Troy2000 (Archive footage)
Othelo The Great
as Self (archive footage)
Orson Welles and People: Camille, the Naked Lady and the Musketeers
as Self - Narrator (voice)
The Enemy Before Us
as Narrator
River of the Ocean
as Narrator (English)
The Greatest Adventure--The Story of Man's Voyage to the Moon
as Narrator
A Gift of Harvest
as Narrator
Almonds and Raisins
as Narrator
Americans on Everest
as Narrator- Self
The Quest for Fire Adventure
as Narrator
The Scorpion and the Frog
as Narrator (archive footage)
Hi-Fi
Out of Darkness
as Self - Narrator
King Penguin: Stranded Beyond the Falklands
as Self - Narrator
Is It Always Right to Be Right?
as Narrator
An Evening with Orson Welles: American Heritage, Vol. II â Clarence Darrow
Orson Welles' Sketch Book
as Self - Host
Caesar's Guide to Gaming with Orson Welles
as Himself
From Fiber to Fabric: Wool's a Natural
as Narrator
Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park
as Narrator
Magic Mirror Maze
The Cave: a parable told by Orson Welles
as Narrator
Voyage of the Brigantine Yankee
as Narrator
An Evening with Orson Welles: American Heritage, Vol. I â Selections from George Ade, Thomas Wolfe, Mark Twain
The Hitch Hiker
as Ronald Adams
Orson Welles Uncut
An Evening with Orson Welles: My Little Boy
An Evening with Orson Welles: Two Wise Old Men â Socrates and Noah
