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Orson Welles Net Worth
Orson Welles Net Worth 2023: Wiki Biography, Married, Family, Measurements, Height, Salary, Relationships
Orson Welles' Mercury Wonder Show net worth is
$20 Million
Orson Welles' Mercury Wonder Show Wiki Biography
George Orson Welles was born on the 6th May 1915, in Kenosha, Wisconsin USA, and was an actor, director, producer as well as a writer. As Orson Welles, he was widely recognized for his works in theatre as well as film and radio, including the 1937 Broadway stage play “Caesar”, the legendary 1938 radio drama “The War of the Worlds” – which caused mass panic among the audience – as well as for his motion picture credits such as “Citizen Kane” (1941), “Confidential Report” (1955) and “Touch of Evil” (1958). He passed away in 1985.
Have you ever wondered how much wealth one of the greatest actors and directors of Hollywood accumulated for live? How rich would Orson Welles be today? According to sources, it is estimated that the amount of Orson Welles’ net worth, as of early 2017, would exceed the sum of $20 million, acquired through his career in the moviemaking industry which was active between 1931 and his death.
Orson Welles Net Worth $20 million
Orson was born to Beatrice Ives who was a pianist, and Richard Head Welles who was a businessman. After matriculating from the Todd Seminary for Boys in Woodstock, Illinois, he was rewarded with a Harvard scholarship, however, decided to attend the Art Institute of Chicago, but which he abandoned after only a few weeks.
Orson debuted as an actor in 1931, in Gate Theater in Dublin, Ireland, appearing in “Jew Suss” stageplay. After performing in several more Gate’s productions, he relocated to London, UK, and immediately after back to the states. In 1936 Welles joined the Federal Theatre Program for which he produced several successful performances such as “Voodoo Macbeth”, “Horse Eats Hat” and “Dr. Faustus”. However, the real breakthrough came with the Broadway production of “Caesar” in 1937, which was followed by a radio broadcast of “The War of the Worlds”, a radio drama adaptation of H. G. Wells’ eponymous novel, Which caused mass panic among listeners as it was so realistic that people believed that New York City was being attacked by extraterrestrials. However, all these engagements helped Orson Welles to establish himself in the entertainment industry, and boosted the wealth that he had inherited from his father.
In 1941, Welles had another huge success with the movie drama “Citizen Kane”, in which he not only performed in the star role, but also co-wrote directed and produced. For this project, he was rewarded with the prestigious Academy Award. In 1946 he appeared in the drama noir movie “The Stranger”, after which he moved to Europe where he was cast for several Italian movies, such as “Black Magic” (1948), “The Third Man” and “Prince of Foxes”, both in 1949. Through the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, Welles worked alternating between Europe and the States, appearing in and directing classics such as “Confidential Report” (1955), “Touch of Evil” (1958), “Crack in the Mirror” (1960) as well as “The Trial” (1962) and “The Deep” (1967). All these achievements had a huge impact on Orson Welles‘ net worth.
In 1970, he settled in Los Angeles, California, and began working on Hollywood movies including “Waterloo” (1970). In the course of the following years, he produced several movies including his own “F for Fake’ (1973), and also narrated the 1986 animated movie “The Transformers: The Movie” as well as 1981 TV mini-series “Tales of the Klondike”. In 1979, Welles appeared in “The Muppet Movie” while between 1981 and 1981 he starred as Robin Masters in “Magnum, P.I.”. In his career, Welles added 123 acting credits to his professional portfolio, and over 60 directing and producing credits as well. In 1975 he was honored with an American Film Institute Award for Life Achievement, while in 2002, posthumously, the British Film Institute named him the greatest film director of all time. It is certain that all these ventures helped Orson Welles to earn a significant amount of wealth.
When it comes to his personal life, Welles was married three times – with Virginia Nicolson, between 1934 and 1940, with whom he had one child. In 1943, he married actress Rita Hayworth, and during their five-year long marriage, they had one child too. From 1955 ’til his death in 1985, he was married to Paola Mora, who is also the mother of one of Welles’ children. He passed away from a heart attack at the age of 70, on the 10th October 1985 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
| Full Name | Orson Welles |
| Net Worth | $20 Million |
| Date Of Birth | May 6, 1915 |
| Died | October 10, 1985, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Place Of Birth | Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States |
| Height | 1.87 m |
| Profession | Actor |
| Education | Todd Seminary for Boys |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | Paola Mori (m. 1955–1985), Rita Hayworth (m. 1943–1947), Virginia Nicholson (m. 1934–1940) |
| Children | Beatrice Welles, Rebecca Welles, Christopher Welles Feder |
| Parents | Beatrice Ives, Richard Head Welles |
| Siblings | Dickie Welles |
| IMDB | http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000080/ |
| Awards | Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, Academy Honorary Award, AFI Life Achievement Award, Peabody Award, Cannes Best Actor Award, Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album, DGA Lifetime Achievement Award, David di Donatello Luchino Visconti Award, Retro Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short... |
| Nominations | Academy Award for Best Actor, Academy Award for Best Director, Golden Lion, Grand Jury Prize, Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor |
| Movies | Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil, Chimes at Midnight, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Trial, The Lady from Shanghai, The Stranger, The Third Man, Othello, Mr. Arkadin, F for Fake, The Other Side of the Wind, The Immortal Story, Macbeth, Don Quixote, It's All True, Too Much Johnson, Journey into Fear, Jane... |
| TV Shows | Around the World with Orson Welles, In the Land of Don Quixote, Orson Welles' Great Mysteries, The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast, Jack London's Tales of the Klondike, Tut: The Boy King, Scene of the Crime (US) |
| # | Trademark |
|---|---|
| 1 | Known for his use of low camera angles, tracking shots, deep focus and elaborate crane shots in his films. |
| 2 | Frequently wrote, directed and starred in films that feature the rise and fall of main characters (Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane (1941), Gregory Arkadin in _Confidential Report (1955)_, Detective Hank Quinlan in Touch of Evil (1958)) who, in classic Shakespearean style, are unmade by their own vices. |
| 3 | Frequently cast Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane and Oja Kodar |
| 4 | One of the most recognizable deep voices in all of film, radio or television. |
| Title | Salary |
|---|---|
| The Kremlin Letter (1970) | $50,000 |
| Compulsion (1959) | $100,000 |
| The Roots of Heaven (1958) | settlement of debts worth $15,000 |
| The Long, Hot Summer (1958) | $150,000 |
| Man in the Shadow (1957) | $60,000 |
| Lucy Meets Orson Welles (1956) | $5,000 |
| Moby Dick (1956) | £6,000 |
| Around the World with Orson Welles (1955) | £75 per episode |
| Trouble in the Glen (1954) | £10,000 |
| I Love Lucy (1951) | $15,000 |
| The Third Man (1949) | $100,000 |
| Black Magic (1949) | $100,000 |
| Macbeth (1948) | $100,000 (for acting, adapting and directing) |
| The Stranger (1946) | $50,000 |
| Tomorrow Is Forever (1946) | $20,000 |
| Follow the Boys (1944) | $50,000 |
| Jane Eyre (1943) | $100,000 |
| # | Quote |
|---|---|
| 1 | You know, I always loved Hollywood. It was just never reciprocated. |
| 2 | [on Tim Holt, with whom he worked in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)] One of the most interesting actors that's ever been in American movies, and he decided to be just a cowboy actor. Made two or three important pictures in his career, but was very careful not to follow them up--went straight back to bread-and-butter Westerns... he was the most marvelous fellow to work with you can imagine. |
| 3 | [on why he hired Fortunio Bonanova for Citizen Kane (1941)] I saw him as the leading man with Katharine Cornell in "The Green Hat" when I was about eight years old. I never forgot him. He looked to me like a leading man in a dirty movie. Sent for him the minute I wrote that part. He was a great romantic leading man. When he was prompting her [Dorothy Comingore] in the opera, he was so marvelous. God, he was funny. |
| 4 | [on director W.S. Van Dyke, aka "Woody"] Woody made some very good comedies. And what a system he had!... His retakes sometimes took longer than his original shooting schedule... He'd shoot a "Thin Man" or something like that in about 20 days. Then he'd preview it and come back to the studio for 30 days of retakes. For comedy, when you're worried about the laughs, that makes a lot of sense. |
| 5 | [on his famous "cuckoo clock" speech in The Third Man (1949) ("In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love--they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.] When the picture came out, the Swiss very nicely pointed out that they've never made any cuckoo clocks--they all come from the Schwarzwald [Black Forest] in Bavaria. |
| 6 | [on finding work to Hollywood in the late 1950s after spending several years in Europe] I went a year without almost nothing, just sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring. And then I got a couple of jobs. The Long, Hot Summer (1958), which I hated making--I've seldom been as unhappy in a picture. |
| 7 | [on his friend William Faulkner] I never saw him anything but wildly drunk through the years. He must have been sober to produce that great body of work. |
| 8 | [asked about the rumor that he directed part of Compulsion (1959), credited to Richard Fleischer] Dick Fleischer is a director who doesn't need and wouldn't welcome any help from me. |
| 9 | [on working with Charlton Heston] All you have to do is point and Chuck can go in any direction. He's spent a lot of years being a movie star. |
| 10 | [on Luis Buñuel] He's a deeply Christian man who hates God as only a Christian can and, of course, he's very Spanish. |
| 11 | [on the many documentary films he had narrated] I never saw the movies. That's always been a condition of mine in narrating a film--that I don't have to see any footage. Otherwise, I won't accept the job. |
| 12 | [on making I tartari (1961)] Victor Mature and I had an extended sword fight, on which I worked day after day. And in no shots--full, long, medium--at any moment is Victor Mature EVER involved! Not even to hold the sword and look menacing... He said, "Oh, I don't want to do any of that stuff.". |
| 13 | [on shooting Macbeth (1948)] Our best crowd scene was a shot where all the massed forces of Macduff's army are charging the castle. There was a very vivid sense of urgency to it, because what was happening, really, was that we'd just called noon break, and all those extras were rushing off to lunch. |
| 14 | Hollywood died on me as soon as I got there. I wish to God I'd gone there sooner. It was the rise of the independents that was my ruin as a director. |
| 15 | We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone. |
| 16 | [on Gary Cooper] You'd see him working on the set and you'd think, "My God, they're going to have to retake that one!". He almost didn't seem to BE there. And then you'd see the rushes, and he'd fill the screen. |
| 17 | I have all the equipment to be a politician. Total shamelessness. |
| 18 | [on television] We live in a world of happy endings with audiences who make every show, no matter how doomed it is and ready to be canceled, sound like a smash hit. And if not, they have a little black box full of laughter, and they add that to the jokes. And you know that most of the people laughing on that box died long ago. |
| 19 | [on Anthony Asquith] One of the nicest, most intelligent people who was ever in films... and my God, he was polite. I saw him, all alone on the stage once, trip on an electric cable, turn around, and say, "I beg your pardon" to it. |
| 20 | [on rumors that he, and not Robert Stevenson, directed Jane Eyre (1943)] I invented some of the shots--that's part of being that kind of producer. And I collaborated on it, but I didn't come around behind the camera and direct it. Certainly, I did a lot more than a producer ought to, but Stevenson didn't mind that. And I don't want to take credit away from him, all of which he deserves... In fact, we got along very well, and there was no trouble. |
| 21 | [Irving Thalberg] was the biggest single villain in the history of Hollywood. Before him, a producer made the least contribution, by necessity. The producer didn't direct, he didn't act, he didn't write--so, therefore, all he could do was either (a) mess it up, which he didn't do very often, or (b) tenderly caress it. Support it. Producers would only go to the set to see that you were on budget, and that you didn't burn down the scenery... Once you got the educated producer, he has a desk, he's gotta have a function, he's gotta do something. He's not running the studio and counting the money--he's gotta be creative. That was Thalberg. The director became the fellow whose only job was to say, "Action!" and "Cut!". Suddenly you were "just a director" on a "Thalberg production". A role had been created in the world. Just as there used to be no conductor of symphonies... He convinced [Louis B. Mayer] that without him, his movies wouldn't have any class. Remember that quote Mayer gave? All the other moguls were "dirty kikes making nickelodeon movies". He used to say that to me all the time. |
| 22 | [on Meyer Lansky] He was probably the #1 gangster in America. I knew them all. You had to. If you lived, as I did, on Broadway during that period, if you lived in nightclubs, you could not not know them. I liked screwing the chorus girls, and I liked meeting all the different people who would come in, and I liked staying up until five in the morning, and they used to love to go to nightclubs. They would come and sit at your table... [asked how Lee Strasberg did with the Hyman Roth character, who was supposed to be Lansky, in The Godfather: Part II (1974)] Much better than the real thing. Meyer Lansky was a boring man. Hyman Roth is who he should have been! They all should have been like that, and none of them were. "The Godfather" was the glorification of a bunch of bums who never existed. The best of them were the kind of people you'd expect to drive a beer truck. They had no class. The classy gangster is a Hollywood invention. |
| 23 | [Louis B. Mayer] offered me his studio! He was madly in love with me, because I wouldn't have anything to do with him, you know? Twice he brought me over--spent all day wooing me. He called me "Orse". Whenever he sent for me, he burst into tears, and once he fainted. To get his way. It was fake, absolutely fake. The deal was, I'd have the studio, but I'd have to stop acting, directing and writing--making pictures. But Mayer was self-righteous, smarmy, waving the American flag, doing deals with The Purple Gang [a violent gang of hijackers and killers] in Detroit... before the unions, it was all Mafia. But no one called it the Mafia. Just said "the mob". |
| 24 | In his time, Samuel Goldwyn was considered a classy producer because he never deliberately did anything that wasn't his idea of the best-quality goods. I respected him for that. He was an honest merchant. He may have made a bad picture, but he didn't know it was a bad picture. And he was funny. He actually once said to me, in that high voice of his, "Orson, for you I'd write a blanket check." He said, "With Warner Brothers, a verbal commitment isn't worth the paper it's written on.". |
| 25 | After [Irving Thalberg] died, Norma Shearer--one of the most minimally talented ladies ever to appear on the silver screen and who looked like nothing, with one eye crossed over the other--went right on being the queen of Hollywood. Everybody used to say, "Mrs. Thalberg is coming", "Miss Shearer is arriving", as though they were talking about Sarah Bernhardt. |
| 26 | I never could stand looking at Bette Davis, so I don't want to see her act, you see. I hate Woody Allen physically, I dislike that kind of man. [Henry Jaglom], I've never understood why. Have you met him? Oh, yes. I can hardly bear to talk to him. He has the [Charles Chaplin] disease. That particular combination of arrogance and timidity sets my teeth on edge... Like all people with timid personalities, his arrogance is unlimited. Anybody who speaks quietly and shrivels up in company is unbelievably arrogant. He acts shy, but he's not. He's scared. He hates himself, and he loves himself, a very tense situation. It's people like me who have to carry on and pretend to be modest. To me, it's the most embarrassing thing in the world-a man who presents himself at his worst to get laughs, in order to free himself from his hang-ups. Everything he does on the screen is therapeutic. |
| 27 | [on a lunch encounter with Richard Burton] Richard Burton had great talent. He's ruined his great gifts. He's become a joke with a celebrity wife. Now he just works for money, does the worst shit. And I wasn't rude. To quote Carl Laemmle, "I gave him an evasive answer. I told him, 'Go fuck yourself'.". |
| 28 | I think it's very harmful to see movies for movie makers because you either imitate them or worry about not imitating them and you should do movies innocently and i lost my innocence. Every time i see a picture i lose something i don't gain. I never understand what directors mean when they compliment me and say they've learned from my pictures because i don't believe in learning from other people's pictures. You should learn from your own interior vision and discover innocently as though there had never been D.W. Griffith or [Sergei M. Eisenstein] or [John Ford] or [Jean Renoir] or anybody. |
| 29 | I liked the cinema better before I began to do it. Now I can't stop myself from hearing the clappers at the beginning of each shot. All the magic is destroyed. |
| 30 | A poet needs a pen, a painter a brush, and a director an army. |
| 31 | I know that in theory the word is secondary in cinema, but the secret of my work is that everything is based on the word. I always begin with the dialogue. And I do not understand how one dares to write action before dialogue. I must begin with what the characters say. I must know what they say before seeing them do what they do. |
| 32 | The only good artists are feminine. I don't believe an artist exists whose dominant characteristic is not feminine. It's nothing to do with homosexuality, but intellectually an artist must be a man with feminine aptitudes. |
| 33 | [on Jean-Luc Godard] His gifts as a director are enormous. I just can't take him very seriously as a thinker - and that's where we seem to differ, because he does. His message is what he cares about these days, and, like most movie messages, it could be written on the head of a pin. |
| 34 | [on Nostradamus' ability to predict the future] One might as well make predictions based on random passages from the phone book. |
| 35 | I don't think history can possibly be true. Possibly! I'll tell you why. We all know people who get things written about, and we know that they're lies written. I told a story to Buck Henry, last year in Weymouth, and he told the story that he thought I told him to a newspaper that I read the other day, and it bears not the *slightest* resemblance to what I said! Now, that's an intelligent man, a year later, meaning me well, and that's the gospel according to Buck Henry, and it's totally apocryphal. Imagine what nonsense everything else is! |
| 36 | [to Dick Cavett] I'm always sorry to hear that anybody I admire has been an actor... When did you go straight? |
| 37 | [on Stanley Kubrick] Among the young generation, Kubrick strikes me as a giant. |
| 38 | The optimists are incapable of understanding what it means to adore the impossible. |
| 39 | [on Edward G. Robinson] An immensely effective actor. |
| 40 | [on Federico Fellini] His films are a small-town boy's dream of a big city. His sophistication works because it is the creation of someone who doesn't have it. But he shows dangerous signs of being a superlative artist with little to say. |
| 41 | [on René Clair] A real master: he invented his own Paris, which is better than recording it. |
| 42 | [on James Cagney] No one was more unreal and stylized, yet there is no moment when he was not true. |
| 43 | [on his favorite directors] I prefer the old masters; by which I mean: John Ford, John Ford and John Ford. |
| 44 | If spiritually you're part of the cat family, you can't bear to be laughed at. You have to pretend when you fall down that you really wanted to be down there to see what's under the sofa. The rest of us don't at all mind being laughed at. |
| 45 | I want to give the audience a hint of a scene. No more than that. Give them too much and they won't contribute anything themselves. Give them just a suggestion and you get them working with you. That's what gives the theater meaning: when it becomes a social act. |
| 46 | Living in the lap of luxury isn't bad, except you never know when luxury is going to stand up. |
| 47 | Race hate isn't human nature; race hate is the abandonment of human nature. |
| 48 | I do not suppose I shall be remembered for anything. But I don't think about my work in those terms. It is just as vulgar to work for the sake of posterity as to work for the sake of money. |
| 49 | Hollywood is the only industry, even taking in soup companies, which does not have laboratories for the purpose of experimentation. |
| 50 | A good artist should be isolated. If he isn't isolated, something is wrong. |
| 51 | Everybody denies that I am genius - but nobody ever called me one. |
| 52 | I'm not rich. Never have been. When you see me in a bad movie as an actor (I hope not as a director), it is because a good movie has not been offered to me. I often make bad films in order to live. |
| 53 | I passionately hate the idea of being with it; I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time. |
| 54 | The word "genius" was whispered into my ear, the first thing I ever heard, while I was still mewling in my crib. So it never occurred to me that I wasn't until middle age. |
| 55 | I have the terrible feeling that, because I am wearing a white beard and am sitting in the back of the theater, you expect me to tell you the truth about something. These are the cheap seats, not Mount Sinai. |
| 56 | A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet. |
| 57 | I don't pray because I don't want to bore God. |
| 58 | I think it is always a tremendously good formula in any art form to admit the limitations of the form. |
| 59 | I think I'm... I made essentially a mistake staying in movies, because I... but it... it's the mistake I can't regret because it's like saying, "I shouldn't have stayed married to that woman, but I did because I love her." I would have been more successful if I'd left movies immediately. Stayed in the theater, gone into politics, written--anything. I've wasted the greater part of my life looking for money, and trying to get along... trying to make my work from this terribly expensive paint box which is an... a movie. And I've spent too much energy on things that have nothing to do with a movie. It's about 2% movie making and 98% hustling. It's no way to spend a life. |
| 60 | My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people. |
| 61 | For thirty years, people have been asking me how I reconcile X with Y! The truthful answer is that I don't. Everything about me is a contradiction and so is everything about everybody else. We are made out of oppositions; we live between two poles. There is a philistine and an aesthete in all of us, and a murderer and a saint. You don't reconcile the poles. You just recognize them. |
| 62 | [At RKO Radio Pictures working on "Heart of Darkness", a film he later abandoned] This is the biggest electric train set any boy ever had! |
| 63 | [on Citizen Kane (1941) being colorized] Keep Ted Turner and his goddamned Crayolas away from my movie. |
| 64 | I hate it when people pray on the screen. It's not because I hate praying, but whenever I see an actor fold his hands and look up in the spotlight, I'm lost. There's only one other thing in the movies I hate as much, and that's sex. You just can't get in bed or pray to God and convince me on the screen. |
| 65 | If there hadn't been women we'd still be squatting in a cave eating raw meat, because we made civilization in order to impress our girlfriends. And they tolerated it and let us go ahead and play with our toys. |
| 66 | I hate television. I hate it as much as peanuts. But I can't stop eating peanuts. |
| 67 | [on Hollywood in the 1980s] We live in a snake pit here... I hate it but I just don't allow myself to face the fact that I hold it in contempt because it keeps on turning out to be the only place to go. |
| 68 | Movie directing is the perfect refuge for the mediocre. |
| 69 | I'm not bitter about Hollywood's treatment of me, but over its treatment of D.W. Griffith, Josef von Sternberg, Erich von Stroheim, Buster Keaton and a hundred others. |
| 70 | I started at the top and worked down. |
| 71 | I'm not very fond of movies. I don't go to them much. |
| 72 | [on pop idol Donny Osmond] He has Van Gogh's ear for music. |
| 73 | Even if the good old days never existed, the fact that we can conceive such a world is, in fact, an affirmation of the human spirit. |
| # | Fact |
|---|---|
| 1 | Spoke French fluently. |
| 2 | Along with Laurence Olivier, Woody Allen, Warren Beatty, Kenneth Branagh, Clint Eastwood and Roberto Benigni, he is one of only seven men to receive Academy Award nominations for both Best Actor and Best Director for the same film: Welles for Citizen Kane (1941), Olivier for Hamlet (1948), Allen for Annie Hall (1977), Beatty for both Heaven Can Wait (1978) and Reds (1981), Branagh for Henry V (1989), Eastwood for Unforgiven (1992) and Benigni for Life Is Beautiful (1997). |
| 3 | Was the voice of Unicron in the theatrical release of The Transformers: The Movie (1986), but was replaced by Roger C. Carmel (after he died) for the third season of the animated series The Transformers (1984). |
| 4 | Has been played by Steven Lamprinos in Hollywood Mouth 2 (2014). The director of that film, Jordan Mohr, wanted an Orson Welles character in the movie because she is from Venice, California, where Touch of Evil (1958) was filmed. |
| 5 | Laurence Olivier strongly considered casting Welles as the Duke of Buckingham in Richard III (1955) but felt obligated to cast his close friend Ralph Richardson in the role. Olivier came to regret this decision as he believed that Welles would have added an element of conspiracy to the film. |
| 6 | He had three Shakespearean roles in common with Laurence Olivier: (1) Welles played Othello in Othello (1951) while Olivier played him in Othello (1965), (2) Welles played King Lear in Omnibus: King Lear (1953) while Olivier played him in King Lear (1983) and (3) Welles played Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (1969) while Olivier played him in The Merchant of Venice (1973). |
| 7 | His full name is George Orson Welles. He was named "George" in honor of writer George Ade, who was a friend of the family. His middle name was in honor of another family friend, a man named Orson Wells (without the "e"). |
| 8 | The Last Picture Show (1971) was filmed in black and white because of Welles' famous remark to Peter Bogdanovich and Polly Platt, when director and crew were uncertain on how to film the locations without using too many colors. Welles, who was on the set, replied: "Of course you'll film it in black and white!" The advice proved to be helpful because the film was praised for (among other qualities) its cinematography, which earned Robert Surtees an Oscar nomination. |
| 9 | Became a father for the fourth time at age 40 when his third wife Paola Mori gave birth to their daughter Beatrice Welles on November 13, 1955. |
| 10 | Became a father for the third time at age 29 when his second wife Rita Hayworth gave birth to their daughter Rebecca Welles on December 17, 1944. |
| 11 | Became a father for the second time at age 25 when his married lover Geraldine Fitzgerald gave birth to their son Michael Lindsay-Hogg on June 5, 1940. |
| 12 | Became a father for the first time at age 22 when his first wife Virginia Nicolson gave birth to their daughter Christopher Welles on March 27, 1938. |
| 13 | Once referred to the audience as "the big, many-headed beast crouching out there in the darkness". |
| 14 | Welles was so impressed with Dorothea Durham that he walked on stage where she was performing at the Club Rhumboogie and put $500 in her hand. Durham, who went by the stage name La Garbo, was a popular dancer in the 1930s and 1940s on the West Coast. She also danced at the Cotton Club in Harlem and in Duke Ellington's "Jump for Joy", and appeared as a dancer in movies such as Cabin in the Sky (1943). |
| 15 | Film critics lobbied for him to record an audio commentary for Citizen Kane (1941), but he refused, stating that he was tired of talking about it. |
| 16 | George, his given name, was in honor of his father's friend, humorist George Ade. |
| 17 | He remained good friends with Joseph Cotten until the end of his life, despite a working relationship that was often considered demanding of the older Cotten. |
| 18 | He and John Huston were good friends from the 1940s to Welles' death in 1985. Both men coincidentally made their spectacular debut as directors in 1941 (Welles with Citizen Kane (1941) and Huston with The Maltese Falcon (1941)). Both would eventually be directed by the other: Welles' had a cameo in Huston's adaptation of Moby Dick (1956) and Huston played the lead in Welles' unfinished The Other Side of the Wind (2017). |
| 19 | He directed two actors to Oscar nominations: Himself (Best Actor, Citizen Kane (1941)), and Agnes Moorehead (Best Supporting Actress, The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)). |
| 20 | His last completed work as director was "The Orson Welles Show", a never broadcast television show. |
| 21 | Was friends with Josip Broz Tito, a partisan guerrilla leader who fought the Nazis in World War II Yugoslavia, and who later became president of the country. |
| 22 | When execs at RKO could not decide to greenlight Citizen Kane (1941), Welles asked the studio for film equipment and a small crew so he could spend the midway time doing test shots. Not wanting its new import from New York to sour on his deal with RKO, the studio granted the request. Welles proceeded to shoot actual scenes of the movie. By the time execs realized what he had done, Welles had many key scenes completed. RKO greenlit the film, having already--albeit unknowingly--financed the picture. |
| 23 | He died only two hours after being interviewed on The Merv Griffin Show (1962) on October 10, 1985. Reportedly, Welles died working with a typewriter in his lap. |
| 24 | He was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 1600 Vine Street; and for Radio at 6652 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California. |
| 25 | Was close friends with Bud Cort. |
| 26 | He was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film culture. |
| 27 | He was of German, Irish and Scottish heritage. |
| 28 | Was George Lucas' first choice as the voice for Darth Vader, but he thought the voice would be too recognizable. |
| 29 | CBS wanted him to host The Twilight Zone (1959) but the producers felt that he requested too much money. He was ultimately ruled out in favor of the show's creator, Rod Serling. |
| 30 | Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 861-864. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998. |
| 31 | John Ford, whom Welles admired as the greatest American director and who, in turn, admired Welles as a director and actor, wanted to cast him as Mayor Frank Skeffington in his movie adaption of Edwin O'Connor's novel The Last Hurrah (1958). Welles was unable to accept the role due to scheduling conflicts, and Spencer Tracy was cast instead. |
| 32 | Hated working on The Transformers: The Movie (1986), where he voiced Unicron. When asked about the film, he not only could not remember the name of his character, but he described the film as being "I play a big toy who attacks a bunch of smaller toys.". |
| 33 | His performance as Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane (1941) is ranked #12 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. |
| 34 | His performance as Harry Lime in The Third Man (1949) is ranked #93 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. |
| 35 | Merv Griffin claimed in his DVD collection "Merv Griffin: Interesting People" that Welles died two hours after giving Merv an interview in which he had said to ask him anything, "for this interview, there are no subjects about which I won't speak". In the past, Welles refused to speak about the past. |
| 36 | Profiled in in J.A. Aberdeen's "Hollywood Renegades: The Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers" (Palos Verdes Estates, CA: Cobblestone Entertainment). |
| 37 | In the 1930s, he worked at various radio stations in New York City, at different times of the day. He found it difficult to be on time for his live shows because he had to use taxicabs and the heavy New York City traffic meant that he was often late. He soon found a loophole in the law that said you didn't have to be sick to hire an ambulance, so he did just that and had the drivers blast their sirens as he traveled from one station to the next, and that way he was on time. |
| 38 | Has been played by Vincent D'Onofrio twice: Ed Wood (1994) and Five Minutes, Mr. Welles (2005). |
| 39 | Longtime companions with Oja Kodar. They lived together until his death. |
| 40 | Most of his movie projects never got finished or released due to financial problems and disputes with studio executives. Some of his unfinished productions are: The Deep (1970) (Laurence Harvey's death made a finished movie impossible), The Merchant of Venice (1969) and Don Quixote (1992). |
| 41 | Was a passionate painter |
| 42 | Was very good friends with Peter Bogdanovich, in whose house he lived for several years during Bogdanovich's affair with Cybill Shepherd. Welles even gave Bogdanovich written instructions to finish his last film, The Other Side of the Wind (2017), before his death. |
| 43 | Considered black and white to be "the actor's best friend", feeling that it focused more on the actor's expressions and feelings than on hair, eye or wardrobe color. |
| 44 | His father was an alcoholic. |
| 45 | Ranked #9 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Greatest directors ever!" [2005]. |
| 46 | His average dinner famously consisted of two steaks cooked rare and a pint of scotch whiskey. This contributed to his obesity in his later life and his eventual death. |
| 47 | Before deciding on adapting the life of William Randolph Hearst in Citizen Kane (1941), Welles intended his first film to be an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness". Coincidentally, he was Francis Ford Coppola's first choice for the role of Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (1979), itself an adaptation of "Heart of Darkness". |
| 48 | Was the narrator for many of the trailers for Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). |
| 49 | Was named #16 on the 50 Greatest Screen Legends list of the American Film Institute. |
| 50 | He made The Lady from Shanghai (1947) towards the end of his marriage to Rita Hayworth. They were constantly fighting at the time and (some say as a comeuppance to Hayworth) he made her cut off most of her long, luxurious red hair and dye it bright platinum blonde. |
| 51 | Lobbied to get the role of Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather (1972), even offered to lose a good deal of weight in order to get the role. Francis Ford Coppola, a huge fan of his, had to turn him down because he already had Marlon Brando in mind for the role and felt Welles would not be right for the role. |
| 52 | Laurence Olivier had wanted to cast him as Buckingham in Richard III (1955), his film of William Shakespeare's play "Richard III", but gave the role to Ralph Richardson, his oldest friend, because Richardson wanted it. In his autobiography, Olivier says he wishes he had disappointed Richardson and cast Welles instead, as he would have brought an extra element to the screen, an intelligence that would have gone well with the plot element of conspiracy. |
| 53 | Wrote his novel "Mr. Arkadian" during an extended stay with Laurence Olivier and his wife Vivien Leigh. Welles was appearing at Olivier's St. James Theater in London at the time. |
| 54 | He had wanted to make films of two literary masterpieces, Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" and Joseph Heller's "Catch-22", but had to be satisfied in having supporting roles in the films made of the two books by John Huston (Moby Dick (1956)) and Mike Nichols (Catch-22 (1970)). |
| 55 | Told Peter Bogdanovich that, as a practicing magician, he became adept at the old carny trick of fortune-telling, but he became so good at it that it scared him. He was worried that he would come to believe he actually did have the power to tell the future, like the self-deluded fortune tellers known as a "shut eye". |
| 56 | When he signed on to direct Touch of Evil (1958), instead of reading the book on which it was based--a pulp novel named "Badge of Evil"--Welles completely changed an early draft of the script. |
| 57 | Was suggested as a possible suspect by author Mary Pacios, in the mutilation murder of actress Elizabeth Short, known as "The Black Dahlia" case, in Los Angeles in 1947. Among other reasons, Pacios suggested Welles as a suspect because Welles' artwork for the surreal bizarre funhouse set in The Lady from Shanghai (1947) was similar in many ways to the mutilation and bisection of Elizabeth Short. Harry Cohn, the head of Columbia Pictures--the studio that produced The Lady from Shanghai--ordered the footage cut before release because of its disturbing resemblance to the murder. |
| 58 | His 1937 Broadway stage production of William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar"--in which the setting was changed to a modern Fascist Rome to reflect the Benito Mussolini era, but in which Shakespeare's language was completely retained--became, and still remains, the longest-running Broadway production of the play. Welles played Brutus. This production was never filmed, but years later Welles' former working partner John Houseman produced a traditional film version of the play for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, starring James Mason as Brutus, Marlon Brando as Marc Antony, and John Gielgud as Cassius. |
| 59 | Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890- 1945". Pages 1168-1185. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987. |
| 60 | Was voted the Second Greatest Film Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly. |
| 61 | Was possibly not as tall as is often reported. According to Simon Callow's "Orson Welles: The Road to Xanadu", medical records exist from a Welles physical in 1941. His weight is listed as 218, and his height at 72" - 6 feet even. Biographers Charles Higham and Frank Brady describe Welles as being 6'2", though they never provide a source. Biographer Barbara Leaming often comments on his height, but never gives an exact measurement. An early Current Biography article on Welles describes him as being "tall and chubby", while a later one gives the obviously incorrect 6'3-1/2" height. If you average all the figures and based on his size compared to other actors, he probably in fact stood a little over 6 feet tall (6'1" to 6'2"). |
| 62 | He became obese in his 40s, weighing over 350 pounds towards the end of his life. |
| 63 | Has provided voice for some songs by the heavy metal band Manowar: "Dark Avenger" and "Defender". |
| 64 | He was the studio's first choice to play the voice-over role of OMM in THX 1138 (1971). However, director George Lucas insisted on casting the relatively unknown stage actor James Wheaton instead. |
| 65 | Has the distinction of appearing in both the American Film Institute and British Film Institute's #1 movie. For AFI, it was Citizen Kane (1941). For BFI, it was The Third Man (1949). Welles shares this distinction with Joseph Cotten, who also starred in both movies. |
| 66 | He portrayed the title character on the syndicated radio show "The Lives of Harry Lime" (also known as "The Third Man") (1951-52). This was based on his character from the film The Third Man (1949). |
| 67 | Host/narrator of the BBC/Mutual Radio's "The Black Museum" (1952). |
| 68 | Frank Sinatra was the godfather of his and Rita Hayworth's daughter, Rebecca Welles. |
| 69 | Posthumously inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988. |
| 70 | Made a Hollywood satire, The Other Side of the Wind (2017), starring John Huston and Peter Bogdanovich. Though it was completed, the post-production process was not and the film also ran into legal problems. |
| 71 | He tried to make a film version of Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra' book "Don Quixote". He started working on it in 1955 and continued to film through the 1970s with Francisco Reiguera and Akim Tamiroff starring. An incomplete version was released in Spain in 1992. |
| 72 | He was born on the same day that Babe Ruth hit his very first home run. |
| 73 | A bootleg tape of a short-tempered (and foul-mouthed) Welles arguing with a recording engineer during a voice-over session has been widely distributed. It was used as the basis for an episode of the animated series Pinky and the Brain (1995), with The Brain reading cleaned-up versions of Orson's rantings (the episode's title, "Yes, Always", is taken from one of Welles' complaints). Ironically, the actor who plays The Brain, Maurice LaMarche, dubbed the voice of the actor who portrays Welles in Ed Wood (1994). |
| 74 | Despite his reputation as an actor and master filmmaker, he maintained his memberships in the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the Society of American Magicians (neither of which are unions, but fraternal organizations), and regularly practiced sleight-of-hand magic in case his career came to an abrupt end. Welles occasionally performed at the annual conventions of each organization, and was considered by fellow magicians to be extremely accomplished. |
| 75 | On October 30, 1938, he directed "The Mercury Theatre On the Air" in a dramatization of "The War of the Worlds", based on H.G. Wells' novel. Setting the events in then-contemporary locations (The "landing spot" for the Martian invasion, Grover's Mill, New Jersey, was chosen at random with a New Jersey road map) and dramatizing it in the style of a musical program interrupted by news bulletins, complete with eyewitness accounts, it caused a nationwide panic, with many listeners fully convinced that the Earth was being invaded by Mars. The next day, Welles publicly apologized. While many lawsuits were filed against both Welles and the CBS radio network, all were dismissed. The incident is mentioned in textbook accounts of mass hysteria and the delusions of crowds. |
| 76 | One of only six actors to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his first screen appearance. The other five actors are: Paul Muni, Lawrence Tibbett, Alan Arkin, James Dean and Montgomery Clift. |
| 77 | Ashes are buried inside an old well covered by flowers, within the rural property of the now-deceased, then-retired bullfighter Antonio Ordóñez, Ronda, Malaga, Spain. |
| 78 | He died on the same day as his Bitka na Neretvi (1969) co-star Yul Brynner: October 10, 1985. |
| 79 | ABC-TV wanted him to play Mr. Roarke on Fantasy Island (1977), but the series' producer, Aaron Spelling, insisted on Ricardo Montalban. |
| 80 | H.G. Wells was driving through San Antonio, Texas, and stopped to ask the way. The person he happened to ask was none other than Welles', who had recently broadcast "The War of the Worlds" on the radio. They got on well and spent the day together. |
| 81 | Welles' Oscar statuette sold for $861,542, when it was auctioned by Nate D. Sanders Memorabilia on December 20, 2011. |
| 82 | Once ate 18 hot dogs in one sitting at Pink's, a Los Angeles hot dog stand. |
Actor
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Golden Honeymoon | 1970 | Short | |
| Upon This Rock | 1970 | TV Movie | Michelangelo (voice) |
| Is It Always Right to Be Right? | 1970 | Short | Narrator (voice) |
| Waterloo | 1970/I | Louis XVIII | |
| The Name of the Game | 1970 | TV Series | Narrator |
| Catch-22 | 1970 | Brig. Gen. Dreedle | |
| Start the Revolution Without Me | 1970 | The Narrator | |
| The Kremlin Letter | 1970 | Bresnavitch | |
| The Merchant of Venice | 1969 | TV Short | Shylock |
| 12 + 1 | 1969 | Maurice Markau | |
| Bitka na Neretvi | 1969 | Senator | |
| Kampf um Rom II - Der Verrat | 1969 | Justinian | |
| The Southern Star | 1969 | Plankett | |
| Tepepa | 1969 | Colonel Cascorro | |
| To Build a Fire | 1969 | Narrator (voice) | |
| The Last Roman | 1968 | Emperor Justinian | |
| House of Cards | 1968 | Leschenhaut | |
| Oedipus the King | 1968 | Tiresias | |
| The Immortal Story | 1968 | TV Movie | Mr. Charles Clay |
| I'll Never Forget What's'isname | 1967 | Jonathan Lute | |
| The Sailor from Gibraltar | 1967 | Louis de Mozambique | |
| Casino Royale | 1967 | Le Chiffre | |
| A Man for All Seasons | 1966 | Cardinal Wolsey | |
| Paris brûle-t-il? | 1966 | Consul Raoul Nordling | |
| Treasure Island | 1965 | Short | Long John Silver |
| Chimes at Midnight | 1965 | Falstaff | |
| Marco the Magnificent | 1965 | Akerman, Marco's Tutor | |
| La isla del tesoro | 1965 | Short | Long John Silver |
| The Finest Hours | 1964 | Documentary | Narrator (voice) |
| The V.I.P.s | 1963 | Max Buda | |
| Ro.Go.Pa.G. | 1963 | The 'Director' (segment "La ricotta") | |
| The Trial | 1962 | Albert Hastler - The Advocate / Narrator | |
| King of Kings | 1961 | Narrator (voice, uncredited) | |
| I tartari | 1961 | Burundai | |
| Lafayette | 1961 | Benjamin Franklin | |
| The Battle of Austerlitz | 1960 | Robert Fulton | |
| An Arabian Night | 1960 | TV Movie | Storyteller |
| Crack in the Mirror | 1960 | Hagolin Lamerciere | |
| David and Goliath | 1960 | King Saul | |
| High Journey | 1959 | Short | Narrator (voice) |
| Ferry to Hong Kong | 1959 | Captain Hart | |
| Compulsion | 1959 | Jonathan Wilk | |
| Masters of the Congo Jungle | 1958 | Documentary | Narrator, English Language Version (voice) |
| The Roots of Heaven | 1958 | Cy Sedgewick | |
| Colgate Theatre | 1958 | TV Series | Narrator |
| The Fountain of Youth | 1958 | TV Short | Host / narrator |
| South Seas Adventure | 1958 | Supplemental Narrator (voice) | |
| The Vikings | 1958 | Narrator (voice, uncredited) | |
| The Long, Hot Summer | 1958 | Will Varner | |
| Touch of Evil | 1958 | Police Captain Hank Quinlan | |
| Man in the Shadow | 1957/I | Virgil Renchler | |
| I Love Lucy | 1956 | TV Series | Orson Welles |
| Moby Dick | 1956 | Father Mapple | |
| Ford Star Jubilee | 1956 | TV Series | Oscar Jaffe |
| Moby Dick Rehearsed | 1955 | TV Movie | An Actor Manager Father Mapple Ahab |
| Mr. Arkadin | 1955 | Gregory Arkadin | |
| Napoléon | 1955 | Sir Hudson Lowe | |
| Three Cases of Murder | 1955 | Lord Mountdrago ("Lord Mountdrago" segment) | |
| Trouble in the Glen | 1954 | Sanin Cejador y Mengues | |
| Royal Affairs in Versailles | 1954 | Benjamin Franklin | |
| Omnibus | 1953 | TV Series | King Lear |
| L'uomo la bestia e la virtù | 1953 | Captain Perella - the Beast | |
| Return to Glennascaul | 1953 | Short | Narrator / Orson Welles |
| Trent's Last Case | 1952 | Sigsbee Manderson | |
| Othello | 1951 | Othello | |
| The Black Rose | 1950 | Bayan | |
| Prince of Foxes | 1949 | Cesare Borgia | |
| The Third Man | 1949 | Harry Lime | |
| Black Magic | 1949 | Joseph Balsamo aka Count Cagliostro | |
| Macbeth | 1948 | Macbeth | |
| The Lady from Shanghai | 1947 | Michael O'Hara | |
| Duel in the Sun | 1946 | Narrator (voice, uncredited) | |
| The Stranger | 1946 | Professor Charles Rankin | |
| Tomorrow Is Forever | 1946 | John Andrew MacDonald / Erik Kessler | |
| Follow the Boys | 1944 | Orson Welles | |
| Jane Eyre | 1943 | Edward Rochester | |
| The Magnificent Ambersons | 1942 | Narrator (voice) | |
| Journey Into Fear | 1942 | Colonel Haki | |
| Citizen Kane | 1941 | Kane | |
| Swiss Family Robinson | 1940 | Opening Narrator (uncredited) | |
| The Green Goddess | 1939 | Short | Rajah / Narrator |
| Too Much Johnson | 1938 | Keystone Kop | |
| The Hearts of Age | 1934 | Short | Death |
| Someone to Love | 1987 | Danny's Friend | |
| The Transformers: The Movie | 1986 | Unicron (voice) | |
| The Enchanted Journey | 1984 | Pippo (voice) | |
| Where Is Parsifal? | 1984 | Klingsor | |
| Hot Money | 1983 | Sheriff Paisley | |
| Magnum, P.I. | 1981-1983 | TV Series | Robin Masters |
| Slapstick of Another Kind | 1982 | Aliens' Father (voice, uncredited) | |
| Butterfly | 1982 | Judge Rauch | |
| Wagner e Venezia | 1982 | TV Short | Richard Wagner (voice) |
| Tales of the Klondike | 1981 | TV Mini-Series | Narrator |
| History of the World: Part I | 1981 | Narrator (voice) | |
| The Man Who Saw Tomorrow | 1981 | Narrator | |
| The Greenstone | 1980 | Short | Narrator (voice) |
| Shogun | 1980 | TV Mini-Series | Narrator |
| Shogun | 1980 | TV Movie | Narrator (voice) |
| Tajna Nikole Tesle | 1980 | J.P. Morgan | |
| The Double McGuffin | 1979 | Narrator (voice) | |
| The Muppet Movie | 1979 | Lew Lord | |
| The New Media Bible: Book of Genesis | 1979 | Video | Narrator |
| The Biggest Battle | 1978 | Narrator (voice, uncredited) | |
| A Woman Called Moses | 1978 | TV Series | Narrator |
| Rime of the Ancient Mariner | 1977 | Short | Narrator (voice) |
| Some Call It Greed | 1977 | Narrator (voice) | |
| It Happened One Christmas | 1977 | TV Movie | Henry F. Potter |
| Hot Tomorrows | 1977 | Parklawn Mortuary (voice) | |
| Voyage of the Damned | 1976 | José Estedes | |
| Rikki-Tikki-Tavi | 1975 | TV Short | Narrator / Nag / Chuchundra (voice) |
| Ein Unbekannter rechnet ab | 1974 | U. N. Owen (voice) | |
| Sutjeska | 1973 | Winston Churchill | |
| The Man Who Came to Dinner | 1972 | TV Movie | Sheridan Whiteside |
| Treasure Island | 1972 | Long John Silver | |
| Get to Know Your Rabbit | 1972 | Mr. Delasandro | |
| Necromancy | 1972 | Mr. Cato | |
| London | 1971 | Short | Winston Churchill George Bernard Shaw |
| Freedom River | 1971 | Short | Narrator (voice) |
| Ten Days Wonder | 1971 | Théo Van Horn - un multimillionnaire qui vit en despote dans sa maison | |
| Night Gallery | 1971 | TV Series | Narrator (segment "Silent Snow, Secret Snow") |
| A Safe Place | 1971 | The Magician | |
| Malpertuis | 1971 | Cassavius | |
| The Deep | 1970 | Russ Brewer |
Writer
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Other Side of the Wind | 2018 | post-production | |
| Something Else | inspired by filming | ||
| Citizen Vader | 2014 | Short characters | |
| F for favor | 2008 | Short writer | |
| The Hitchhiker | 2007 | radio script - uncredited | |
| The Magnificent Ambersons | 2002 | TV Movie 1942 screenplay | |
| Moby Dick | 2000 | Short play | |
| Around the World with Orson Welles | TV Mini-Series documentary 1 episode, 1955 writer - 5 episodes, 1955 - 2000 script - 1 episode, 1955 | ||
| The Big Brass Ring | 1999 | earlier screenplay | |
| The Way to Santiago | 1998 | Short writer | |
| The Big Brass Ring | 1997 | Documentary short | |
| The Hearts of Age | 1997 | Short concept | |
| Don Quixote | 1992 | uncredited | |
| Orson Welles' Magic Show | 1985 | TV Short | |
| The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh | 1984 | Short | |
| Orson Welles' The Dreamers | 1982 | Documentary short written by | |
| Filming 'Othello' | 1978 | Documentary writer | |
| NBC: The First Fifty Years - A Closer Look | 1976 | TV Movie documentary | |
| F for Fake | 1973 | Documentary writer | |
| Treasure Island | 1972 | adapted for the screen by - as O.W. Jeeves | |
| London | 1971 | Short | |
| The Deep | 1970 | ||
| The Golden Honeymoon | 1970 | Short | |
| The Merchant of Venice | 1969 | TV Short | |
| Vienna | 1968 | Short writer | |
| The Immortal Story | 1968 | TV Movie | |
| The Bible: In the Beginning... | 1966 | uncredited | |
| Treasure Island | 1965 | Short | |
| Chimes at Midnight | 1965 | ||
| La isla del tesoro | 1965 | Short | |
| The Trial | 1962 | written by | |
| Tempo | 1961 | TV Series written by - 1 episode | |
| Orson Welles at Large: Portrait of Gina | 1958 | TV Short documentary | |
| Colgate Theatre | 1958 | TV Series teleplay - 1 episode | |
| The Fountain of Youth | 1958 | TV Short | |
| Touch of Evil | 1958 | screenplay | |
| Orson Welles and People | 1956 | TV Movie | |
| Moby Dick Rehearsed | 1955 | TV Movie | |
| Mr. Arkadin | 1955 | screenplay / story | |
| Orson Welles' Sketch Book | 1955 | TV Series 6 episodes | |
| Othello | 1951 | uncredited | |
| The Unthinking Lobster | 1950 | Short | |
| The Third Man | 1949 | uncredited | |
| Macbeth | 1948 | adaptation - uncredited | |
| The Lady from Shanghai | 1947 | screenplay | |
| Monsieur Verdoux | 1947 | based on an idea by | |
| The Stranger | 1946 | uncredited | |
| The Story of Samba | 1943 | Short | |
| The Magnificent Ambersons | 1942 | script writer | |
| Journey Into Fear | 1942 | uncredited | |
| Citizen Kane | 1941 | original screen play | |
| The Green Goddess | 1939 | Short adaptation | |
| Too Much Johnson | 1938 | writer | |
| The Hearts of Age | 1934 | Short |
Director
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Other Side of the Wind | 2018 | post-production | |
| Moby Dick | 2000 | Short | |
| Around the World with Orson Welles | 1955-2000 | TV Mini-Series documentary 7 episodes | |
| It's All True | 1993 | Documentary | |
| Don Quixote | 1992 | original footage | |
| Orson Welles' Magic Show | 1985 | TV Short | |
| The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh | 1984 | Short | |
| Orson Welles' The Dreamers | 1982 | Documentary short | |
| Filming 'The Trial' | 1981 | Documentary | |
| The Orson Welles Show | 1979 | TV Movie as G.O. Spelvin | |
| Filming 'Othello' | 1978 | Documentary | |
| F for Fake | 1973 | Documentary | |
| London | 1971 | Short | |
| The Deep | 1970 | ||
| The Golden Honeymoon | 1970 | Short | |
| The Merchant of Venice | 1969 | TV Short | |
| The Southern Star | 1969 | opening scenes, uncredited | |
| Vienna | 1968 | Short | |
| The Immortal Story | 1968 | TV Movie | |
| Treasure Island | 1965 | Short | |
| Chimes at Midnight | 1965 | ||
| Nella terra di Don Chisciotte | 1964 | TV Series documentary | |
| The Trial | 1962 | ||
| Sinners Go to Hell | 1962 | uncredited | |
| Tempo | 1961 | TV Series 1 episode | |
| David and Goliath | 1960 | his own scenes, uncredited | |
| Orson Welles at Large: Portrait of Gina | 1958 | TV Short documentary | |
| Colgate Theatre | 1958 | TV Series 1 episode | |
| The Fountain of Youth | 1958 | TV Short | |
| Touch of Evil | 1958 | ||
| Orson Welles and People | 1956 | TV Movie | |
| Moby Dick Rehearsed | 1955 | TV Movie | |
| Mr. Arkadin | 1955 | ||
| Orson Welles' Sketch Book | 1955 | TV Series 6 episodes | |
| Three Cases of Murder | 1955 | segment "Lord Mountdrago", uncredited" | |
| Othello | 1951 | ||
| The Unthinking Lobster | 1950 | Short | |
| Black Magic | 1949 | uncredited | |
| Macbeth | 1948 | ||
| The Lady from Shanghai | 1947 | uncredited | |
| The Stranger | 1946 | ||
| The Story of Samba | 1943 | Short | |
| The Magnificent Ambersons | 1942 | ||
| Journey Into Fear | 1942 | uncredited | |
| Citizen Kane | 1941 | ||
| The Green Goddess | 1939 | Short | |
| Too Much Johnson | 1938 | ||
| The Hearts of Age | 1934 | Short |
Producer
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orson Welles' Magic Show | 1985 | TV Short producer | |
| Orson Welles' The Dreamers | 1982 | Documentary short producer | |
| Filming 'The Trial' | 1981 | Documentary producer | |
| The Deep | 1970 | producer | |
| The Golden Honeymoon | 1970 | Short producer | |
| The Merchant of Venice | 1969 | TV Short producer | |
| Vienna | 1968 | Short producer | |
| Nella terra di Don Chisciotte | 1964 | TV Series documentary producer - 1 episode | |
| Colgate Theatre | 1958 | TV Series producer - 1 episode | |
| The Fountain of Youth | 1958 | TV Short producer | |
| Orson Welles and People | 1956 | TV Movie producer | |
| Mr. Arkadin | 1955 | producer | |
| Othello | 1951 | producer - uncredited | |
| Macbeth | 1948 | producer - uncredited | |
| The Lady from Shanghai | 1947 | producer | |
| Jane Eyre | 1943 | associate producer - uncredited | |
| The Story of Samba | 1943 | Short producer | |
| The Magnificent Ambersons | 1942 | producer - uncredited | |
| Journey Into Fear | 1942 | producer - uncredited | |
| Citizen Kane | 1941 | production | |
| The Green Goddess | 1939 | Short producer | |
| Too Much Johnson | 1938 | producer |
Editor
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Other Side of the Wind | 2018 | post-production | |
| F for Fake | 1973 | Documentary uncredited | |
| Nella terra di Don Chisciotte | 1964 | TV Series documentary | |
| The Trial | 1962 | uncredited | |
| Mr. Arkadin | 1955 | uncredited | |
| Too Much Johnson | 1938 |
Music Department
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colgate Theatre | 1958 | TV Series musical arrangement - 1 episode | |
| The Fountain of Youth | 1958 | TV Short music arranger / musical arrangement | |
| Orson Welles and People | 1956 | TV Movie music arranger |
Costume Designer
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chimes at Midnight | 1965 | ||
| Mr. Arkadin | 1955 | uncredited | |
| Macbeth | 1948 | uncredited |
Production Designer
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Fountain of Youth | 1958 | TV Short | |
| Orson Welles and People | 1956 | TV Movie | |
| Portrait d'un assassin | 1949 | uncredited |
Soundtrack
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Passage to Mars | 2016 | Documentary performer: "The War of the Worlds" | |
| Welcome to the Basement | 2015 | TV Series performer - 1 episode | |
| Shindig! | 1965 | TV Series performer - 1 episode |
Cinematographer
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Magnificent Ambersons | 1942 | uncredited |
Art Department
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Macbeth | 1948 | set designer - uncredited |
Art Director
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mr. Arkadin | 1955 | uncredited |
Camera Department
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nella terra di Don Chisciotte | 1964 | TV Series documentary additional photographer |
Miscellaneous
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trick or Treats | 1982 | magical advisor |
Thanks
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silent Times | 2018 | in memory of filming | |
| Tim May Presents Reptile | 2014 | Video acknowledgment | |
| Identyfikatsiya Porna | 2013 | Short special thanks | |
| The Debridement of Rome | 2012 | Short acknowledgment | |
| Incident at Barstow | 2011 | dedicatee | |
| Variations on a High School Romance | 2010 | inspirational thanks | |
| Dahmer vs. Gacy | 2010 | special thanks | |
| Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV | 2000 | special thanks | |
| As Long as He Lives | 1998 | Short dedicatee | |
| Continental | 1990 | acknowledgment | |
| Dieter & Andreas | 1989 | Short grateful acknowledgment | |
| Waxwork | 1988 | dedicated to - as Wells | |
| Moonlighting | 1985 | TV Series in memory of - 1 episode | |
| Wojna swiatów - nastepne stulecie | 1981 | dedicatee |
Self
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Last Sailors: The Final Days of Working Sail | 1984 | Documentary | Narrator |
| Physic Connection | 1983 | Documentary | Narrator |
| The Greatest Adventure--The Story of Man's Voyage to the Moon | 1983 | Video documentary | Himself - Narrator |
| King Penguin: Stranded Beyond the Falklands | 1983 | TV Movie | Himself - Narrator |
| AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to John Huston | 1983 | TV Special | Himself |
| Orson Welles à la cinémathèque | 1983 | TV Movie | Himself |
| Dom DeLuise and Friends | 1983 | TV Series | Himself |
| It's All True | 1983 | TV Series documentary | Himself (1983) |
| The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson | 1976-1982 | TV Series | Himself - Guest / Himself - Guest Host |
| Natalie - A Tribute to a Very Special Lady | 1982 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Arena | 1982 | TV Series documentary | Himself - Interviewee / Himself |
| Baryshnikov in Hollywood | 1982 | TV Movie | Himself |
| Genocide | 1982 | Documentary | Narrator (voice) |
| Night of 100 Stars | 1982 | TV Special | Himself |
| Cinéma cinémas | 1982 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| La nuit des Césars | 1982 | TV Series documentary | Himself - Le président des Césars |
| Let Poland Be Poland | 1982 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Magic with the Stars | 1982 | TV Movie | Himself - Host |
| The 7th Los Angeles Film Critics Awards | 1982 | TV Special | Himself |
| Orson Welles' The Dreamers | 1982 | Documentary short | Marcus Kleek |
| The Quest for Fire Adventure | 1982 | TV Short documentary | Narrator |
| Filming 'The Trial' | 1981 | Documentary | Himself |
| Search for the Titanic | 1981 | Documentary | |
| Real Heroes | 1981 | Short | Himself |
| This Is Your Life: 30th Anniversary Special | 1981 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Today | 1980 | TV Series | Himself - Guest |
| The 6th People's Choice Awards | 1980 | TV Special | Himself - Presenter: Favourite Actor in Motion Picture |
| The First 40 Years | 1980 | TV Special | Himself |
| A Step Away | 1980 | Himself - Narrator (voice) | |
| Paul Masson: Orson Welles, No Wine Before It's Time | 1980 | Short | Himself - Spokesman |
| The Orson Welles Show | 1979 | TV Movie | Himself |
| Best of the Dean Martin Show | 1979 | TV Movie | Himself |
| Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Joe Namath | 1979 | TV Special | Himself |
| The Eleven Powers: The Festival of Eka Dasa Rudra | 1979 | TV Movie documentary | Narrator |
| The Late Great Planet Earth | 1979 | Documentary | Himself - Host / Narrator |
| Tut: The Boy King | 1978 | TV Movie documentary | Himself - Host |
| Dinah! | 1976-1978 | TV Series | Himself - Guest |
| The Magic of David Copperfield | 1978 | TV Special | Himself - Host |
| Filming 'Othello' | 1978 | Documentary | Host / Othello |
| Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Betty White | 1978 | TV Special | Himself - Comedian |
| The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: George Burns | 1978 | TV Special | Himself |
| Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Jimmy Stewart | 1978 | TV Special | Himself |
| Mysterious Castles of Clay | 1978 | Documentary | Narrator (voice) |
| The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Frank Sinatra | 1978 | TV Special | Himself |
| NBC: The First Fifty Years - A Closer Look, Part Two | 1978 | TV Movie documentary | Narrator |
| The Lions of Capitalism | 1977 | Documentary | Narrator |
| Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Peter Marshall | 1977 | TV Special | Himself |
| Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Ted Knight | 1977 | TV Special | Himself |
| Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Angie Dickinson | 1977 | TV Special | Himself |
| Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Danny Thomas | 1976 | TV Special | Himself |
| Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Redd Foxx | 1976 | TV Special | Himself |
| NBC: The First Fifty Years - A Closer Look | 1976 | TV Movie documentary | Himself / Narrator |
| The New Deal for Artists | 1976 | TV Movie documentary | Narrator (voice) |
| Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Joe Garagiola | 1976 | TV Special | Himself |
| Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Dean Martin | 1976 | TV Special | Himself |
| The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Muhammad Ali | 1976 | TV Special | Himself |
| Who's Out There? | 1975 | Documentary short | Host |
| Bugs Bunny Superstar | 1975 | Documentary | Narrator (voice) |
| Orson Welles - das vermarktete Genie | 1975 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| ABC Late Night | 1975 | TV Series | Himself - Host / Narrator |
| Tomorrow Coast to Coast | 1975 | TV Series | Himself |
| The Challenge... A Tribute to Modern Art | 1975 | Documentary | |
| AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Orson Welles | 1975 | TV Special | Himself |
| Survival | 1975 | TV Series documentary | Himself - Narrator |
| Une légende une vie: Citizen Welles | 1974 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Great Mysteries | 1973-1974 | TV Series | Himself - Host / Himself (host) |
| Paradise Garden | 1974 | Short | Himself (voice) |
| Franklin & Jefferson Proposal Film | 1973 | Documentary short | Narrator (voice) |
| Parkinson | 1971-1973 | TV Series | Himself - Guest / Himself |
| Kelly Country | 1973 | Documentary | Himself - Commentator |
| F for Fake | 1973 | Documentary | Himself - Narrator (voice) |
| Above San Francisco | 1973 | Documentary | Narrator (voice) |
| The Dick Cavett Show | 1970-1973 | TV Series | Himself - Guest / Himself |
| Macbeth - Power and Corruption (Polanski's the Tragedy of Macbeth) | 1973 | Documentary short | Himself - Narrator (voice) |
| The Shah of Iran | 1972 | Documentary | Himself - Narrator |
| Omnibus | 1972 | TV Series documentary | Himself - Presenter |
| V.I.P.-Schaukel | 1972 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| The Last of the Wild Mustangs | 1972 | TV Short documentary | Himself - Narrator |
| Vive le cinéma | 1972 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Future Shock | 1972 | Documentary short | Narrator |
| The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine | 1971-1972 | TV Series | Himself - Guest |
| The ABC Comedy Hour | 1972 | TV Series | Himself |
| The Silent Years | 1971 | TV Series documentary | Himself - Host |
| Directed by John Ford | 1971 | Documentary | Narrator (voice) |
| Sentinels of Silence | 1971 | Documentary short | Narrator (English) (voice) |
| The 43rd Annual Academy Awards | 1971 | TV Special | Himself - Honorary Award Recipient (pre-recorded) |
| The Dean Martin Show | 1967-1971 | TV Series | Himself |
| Soft Self-Portrait of Salvador Dali | 1970 | Documentary | Narrator (voice) |
| Laugh-In | 1970 | TV Series | Himself |
| The David Frost Show | 1970 | TV Series | Himself - Guest Host / Himself - Guest |
| A Horse Called Nijinsky | 1970 | Documentary | Narrator (voice) |
| Barbed Water | 1969 | Documentary | Himself - Narrator (voice) |
| The Joey Bishop Show | 1969 | TV Series | Himself |
| Vienna | 1968 | Short | Himself |
| The Jackie Gleason Show | 1968 | TV Series | Himself |
| Portrait: Orson Welles | 1968 | TV Short documentary | Himself |
| Ten Days That Shook the World | 1967 | TV Movie documentary | Narrator (voice) |
| Around the World of Mike Todd | 1967 | TV Movie documentary | Himself - Narrator |
| The Levin Interview | 1967 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Disorder Is 20 Years Old | 1967 | Documentary | Himself |
| Reflets de Cannes | 1966 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| National Geographic Specials | 1965-1966 | TV Series documentary | Himself - Narrator / Narrator |
| Schwierigkeiten beim Zeigen der Wahrheit? | 1966 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Late Show London | 1966 | TV Series | Himself |
| Orson Welles in Spain | 1966 | Documentary short | Himself |
| Shindig! | 1965 | TV Series | Himself - Singer |
| Tempo | 1961-1965 | TV Series | Himself |
| A King's Story | 1965 | Documentary | Narrator (voice) |
| Nella terra di Don Chisciotte | 1964 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Der große Atlantik | 1963 | Documentary | Himself - Narrator |
| Biography | 1963 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Wide World of Entertainment | 1963 | TV Movie | Himself |
| The Jack Paar Program | 1962 | TV Series | Himself |
| Monitor | 1962 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Pariser Journal | 1962 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Orson Welles: The Paris Interview | 1960 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Cinq colonnes à la une | 1960 | TV Series | Himself |
| Hollywood - Ein Vorort in vier Anekdoten | 1959 | TV Short documentary | Himself (uncredited) |
| Cinépanorama | 1959 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Orson Welles at Large: Portrait of Gina | 1958 | TV Short documentary | Himself - Host |
| The Steve Allen Plymouth Show | 1957-1958 | TV Series | Himself |
| What's My Line? | 1958 | TV Series | Himself - Guest Panelist |
| Orson Welles and People | 1956 | TV Movie | Himself - Narrator (voice) |
| Out of Darkness | 1956 | TV Series documentary | Himself - Narrator |
| I've Got a Secret | 1956 | TV Series | Himself |
| The Ed Sullivan Show | 1955-1956 | TV Series | Himself / King Lear |
| Person to Person | 1955 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Orson Welles' Sketch Book | 1955 | TV Series | Himself - Host |
| Press Conference | 1955 | TV Series | Himself |
| Désordre | 1949 | Documentary short | Himself |
| Battle for Survival | 1946 | Documentary | Narrator |
| Show-Business at War | 1943 | Documentary short | Himself (uncredited) |
| Tanks | 1942 | Documentary short | Narrator (voice) |
| Meet the Stars #2: Baby Stars | 1941 | Documentary short | Himself |
| The Spanish Earth | 1937 | Documentary | Narrator (English version) (later replaced by Ernest Hemingway) (voice) |
| Actors Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony | 2016 | TV Movie | Himself |
| Around the World with Orson Welles | 1955-2000 | TV Mini-Series documentary | Himself - Host |
| Orson Welles' Magic Show | 1985 | TV Short | Himself |
| Moonlighting | 1985 | TV Series | Himself |
| The Merv Griffin Show | 1965-1985 | TV Series | Himself |
| Scene of the Crime | 1984-1985 | TV Series | Himself - Host / Himself |
| Amazon | 1985 | TV Series documentary | Himself - Narrator |
| The Moviemakers | 1985 | TV Series | |
| The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh | 1984 | Short | Himself |
| Almonds and Raisins | 1984 | Documentary | Narrator (voice) |
| In Our Hands | 1984 | Documentary | Himself |
| The Road to Bresson | 1984 | Documentary | Himself |
Archive Footage
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stars and Stripes | 1990 | Documentary | Himself |
| Washes Whiter | 1990 | TV Series documentary | Himself - Domestos Creeping Dirt commercial |
| Hollywood Mavericks | 1990 | Documentary | Himself |
| With Orson Welles: Stories from a Life in Film | 1990 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Rita Hayworth: Dancing Into the Dream | 1990 | TV Movie documentary | |
| AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Jack Lemmon | 1988 | TV Special documentary | Himself |
| Hollywood the Golden Years: The RKO Story | 1987 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Arsenal | 1986 | TV Series | Himself |
| The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years | 1986 | TV Movie | Lew Lord |
| Notre Dame de la Croisette | 1981 | Documentary | Himself (uncredited) |
| Margret Dünser, auf der Suche nach den Besonderen | 1981 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| The Force Beyond | 1977 | Documentary | Himself (commenting on The War of the Worlds radio broadcast) |
| America at the Movies | 1976 | Documentary | Himself |
| Underwelles | 1975 | Short documentary | |
| Brother Can You Spare a Dime | 1975 | Documentary | Himself |
| Fellini in città ovvero Frammenti di una conversazione su Federico Fellini | 1968 | Documentary short | Himself |
| Romy - Portrait eines Gesichts | 1967 | TV Movie documentary | Albert Hastler - The Advocate |
| Plunder | 1965 | TV Series | Himself |
| Charmed Lives: A Family Romance | Documentary pre-production | Himself | |
| Something Else | filming | ||
| National Endowment for the Arts: United States of Arts | 2017 | TV Series documentary short | Himself |
| Embers & Dust | 2016 | Short | Professor Richard Pierson / Himself |
| Arena | 1995-2016 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| La otra sala: Clásicos | 2016 | TV Series documentary | |
| Welcome to the Basement | 2013-2015 | TV Series | Himself / Professor Charles Rankin / Lord Mountdrago / ... |
| Your Name Here | 2015 | Documentary | Himself |
| This Is Orson Welles | 2015 | Documentary | Himself |
| Geheimnisvolle Stadt | 2015 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Orson Welles, autopsie d'une légende | 2015 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| The Magic History of Cinema | 2015 | Documentary | Himself |
| E-penser | 2015 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Le Fossoyeur de Films | 2015 | TV Mini-Series documentary | |
| Timeshift | 2015 | TV Series documentary | Himself - Narrator of 'Americans on Everest' |
| Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles | 2014 | Documentary | Himself |
| Alfonso Sansone produttore per caso | 2014 | ||
| La Revolució Turística | 2014 | Documentary | Himself |
| The Sixties | 2014 | TV Mini-Series documentary | Himself - episode of The Dean Martin Show |
| Zero Listillos: Leonardo Raya | 2013 | TV Series | Himself |
| American Experience | 1996-2013 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| René Clément, témoin et poète | 2013 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Don't Say No Until I Finish Talking: The Story of Richard D. Zanuck | 2013 | Documentary | Jonathan Wilk |
| Not Fade Away | 2012 | Police Captain Hank Quinlan in Touch of Evil (uncredited) | |
| Dai nostri inviati: La Rai e l'Istituto Luce raccontano la Mostra del cinema di Venezia 1932-1953 | 2012 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Shakespeare Uncovered | 2012 | TV Mini-Series documentary | Himself |
| The Man Who Pursued Rosebud: William Alland on His Career in Theatre and Film | 2012 | Video documentary short | Himself |
| Ninja the Mission Force | 2012 | TV Series | Young Gordon |
| Just Henry | 2011 | TV Movie | Harry Lime (uncredited) |
| Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure | 2011 | Documentary | Himself |
| Moguls & Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood | 2010 | TV Mini-Series documentary | Charles Foster Kane |
| Jucy | 2010 | Voice of the Elephant Lamp | |
| Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff | 2010 | Documentary | Genghis Khan / Bayan |
| O.W. Kenosha | 2009 | Video short | |
| Hollywood sul Tevere | 2009 | Documentary | Himself |
| España, plató de cine | 2009 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| A Vermelha Luz do Bandido | 2009 | Documentary short | |
| Prodigal Sons | 2008 | Documentary | Himself (uncredited) |
| Strictly Courtroom | 2008 | TV Movie documentary | Jonathan Wilk (uncredited) |
| Jeanne M. - Côté cour, côté coeur | 2008 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Lucifer et moi | 2008 | ||
| Welles Angels | 2007 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story | 2007 | Documentary | Himself |
| Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows | 2007 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| The Universe | 2007 | TV Series documentary | Himself - Actor |
| Locked in the Tower: The Men Behind 'Jane Eyre' | 2007 | Video documentary short | Edward Rochester |
| Is It Real? | 2007 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Searching for Orson | 2006 | Documentary | Himself |
| Edge of Outside | 2006 | Documentary | Himself |
| Boffo! Tinseltown's Bombs and Blockbusters | 2006 | Documentary | Charles Foster Kane (uncredited) |
| Jeopardy! | 2006 | TV Series | Michael O'hara |
| Lost in the Thinking | 2005 | Video short | Himself |
| The Originals | 2005 | Documentary short | Himself |
| UFO Files | 2005 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Kermit: A Frog's Life | 2005 | Video short | Lew Lord (uncredited) |
| Cineastas contra magnates | 2005 | Documentary | Himself |
| The Day That Panicked America | 2005 | Documentary | Himself |
| Druga strana Wellesa | 2005 | Documentary | Himself |
| Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream | 2005 | Documentary | Himself |
| Brunnen | 2005 | Documentary | Himself |
| Horror Business | 2005 | Video documentary | Himself |
| The Ultimate Film | 2004 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Shadowing the Third Man | 2004 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| The Hitch Hiker | 2004 | Short | Ronald Adams |
| The South Bank Show | 2004 | TV Series documentary | Othello |
| The UFO Conspiracy | 2004 | Video documentary | Himself - Actor |
| Apple Jack | 2003 | Short | |
| Rita | 2003 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Sendung ohne Namen | 2002 | TV Series documentary | Harry Lime |
| Lost in La Mancha | 2002 | Documentary | Himself |
| The Paranormal Peter Sellers | 2002 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Pulp Cinema | 2001 | Video documentary | Himself |
| I Love Lucy's 50th Anniversary Special | 2001 | TV Movie documentary | |
| A Huey P. Newton Story | 2001 | TV Movie documentary | Himself (uncredited) |
| Hollywood Remembers | 2000 | TV Series documentary | |
| Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth | 2000 | TV Short documentary | Himself |
| Orson Welles en el país de Don Quijote | 2000 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces | 2000 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Moby Dick | 2000 | Short | Captain Ahab Starbuck Ishmael |
| L'affaire Dominici par Orson Welles | 2000 | Documentary | Himself |
| ABC 2000: The Millennium | 1999 | TV Special documentary | |
| According to Occam's Razor | 1999 | Documentary | Himself |
| Shylock | 1999 | Documentary | Shylock |
| The Best of Film Noir | 1999 | Video documentary | Himself |
| E! Mysteries & Scandals | 1999 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| The Lady with the Torch | 1999 | Documentary | Himself |
| Modern Marvels | 1999 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| The 20th Century: A Moving Visual History | 1999 | TV Mini-Series documentary | Himself |
| The Best of the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts | 1998 | TV Movie documentary | Himself - Roaster |
| The Great Depression | 1998 | TV Mini-Series documentary | Himself (discusses War Of The Worlds broadcast) (uncredited) |
| Warner Bros. 75th Anniversary: No Guts, No Glory | 1998 | TV Movie documentary uncredited | |
| Martian Mania: The True Story of The War of the Worlds | 1998 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| François Chalais, la vie comme un roman | 1997 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Tudo É Brasil | 1997 | Documentary | Himself |
| UFO: Down to Earth | 1997 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Who Is Henry Jaglom? | 1997 | Documentary | Himself |
| 20th Century-Fox: The First 50 Years | 1997 | TV Movie documentary | Actor 'Compulsion' (uncredited) |
| UFOs: 50 Years of Denial? | 1997 | Documentary | Himself (as Orson Wells) |
| Welles and Hearst | 1996 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Where Are All the UFO's? | 1996 | TV Movie documentary | Himself - Director of 'War of the Worlds' |
| The Universal Story | 1995 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Zweig: A Morte em Cena | 1995 | Short | Himself (uncredited) |
| Get Shorty | 1995 | Police Captain Hank Quinlan (uncredited) | |
| Orson Welles: The One-Man Band | 1995 | Documentary | Himself |
| Biography | 1995 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies | 1995 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies | 1995 | TV Movie documentary | Himself (uncredited) |
| The War of the Worlds: Great Books | 1994 | Video documentary | Himself (explaining that the broadcast was of the H.G. Wells story) |
| La classe américaine | 1993 | TV Movie | Himself |
| Working with Orson Welles | 1993 | Video documentary | Himself |
| Jean Renoir: Part Two - Hollywood and Beyond | 1993 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Northern Exposure | 1993 | TV Series | Kane |
| It's All True | 1993 | Documentary | Himself - Interview |
| Orson Welles: What Went Wrong? | 1992 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson | 1992 | TV Series | Himself |
| Don Quixote | 1992 | Don Quixote Sancho Panza (uncredited) | |
| The Magic of David Copperfield XIV: Flying - Live the Dream | 1992 | TV Special | Himself - Special Appearance |
| Here's Looking at You, Warner Bros. | 1991 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| The Complete Citizen Kane | 1991 | TV Movie documentary | Himself |
| Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio | 1991 | Documentary | Professor in War of the Worlds Broadcast (uncredited) |
| Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse | 1991 | Documentary | Himself - from 1938 radio broadcast |
Won Awards
| Year | Award | Ceremony | Nomination | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Cinema Eye Honors Award | Cinema Eye Honors Awards, US | The Influentials | F for Fake (1973) |
| 1985 | Career Achievement Award | National Board of Review, USA | ||
| 1984 | Lifetime Achievement Award | Directors Guild of America, USA | ||
| 1983 | BFI Fellowship | British Film Institute Awards | ||
| 1983 | Luchino Visconti Award | David di Donatello Awards | ||
| 1978 | Career Achievement Award | Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards | ||
| 1975 | Life Achievement Award | American Film Institute, USA | ||
| 1974 | Sant Jordi | Sant Jordi Awards | Best Foreign Film (Mejor Película Extranjera) | F for Fake (1973) |
| 1972 | Bronze Wrangler | Western Heritage Awards | Western Documentary | The Last of the Wild Mustangs (1972) |
| 1971 | Honorary Award | Academy Awards, USA | For superlative artistry and versatility in the creation of motion pictures. Orson Welles was not ... More | |
| 1970 | Career Golden Lion | Venice Film Festival | Homage for overall work | |
| 1966 | 20th Anniversary Prize | Cannes Film Festival | Campanadas a medianoche (1965) | |
| 1966 | Technical Grand Prize | Cannes Film Festival | Campanadas a medianoche (1965) | |
| 1964 | Critics Award | French Syndicate of Cinema Critics | Best Film | Le procès (1962) |
| 1960 | Star on the Walk of Fame | Walk of Fame | Motion Picture | On 8 February 1960. At 1600 Vine Street. |
| 1960 | Star on the Walk of Fame | Walk of Fame | Radio | On 8 February 1960. At 6552 Hollywood Blvd. |
| 1959 | Best Actor | Cannes Film Festival | Compulsion (1959) | |
| 1959 | Peabody Award | Peabody Awards | The Fountain of Youth (1958) | |
| 1952 | Grand Prize of the Festival | Cannes Film Festival | The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice (1952) | |
| 1942 | Oscar | Academy Awards, USA | Best Writing, Original Screenplay | Citizen Kane (1941) |
| 1939 | Hugo | Hugo Awards | Best Dramatic Presentation - Short Form |
Nominated Awards
| Year | Award | Ceremony | Nomination | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | International Fantasy Film Award | Fantasporto | Best Film | The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice (1952) |
| 1983 | Razzie Award | Razzie Awards | Worst Supporting Actor | Butterfly (1982) |
| 1982 | Golden Globe | Golden Globes, USA | Best Motion Picture Actor in a Supporting Role | Butterfly (1982) |
| 1968 | BAFTA Film Award | BAFTA Awards | Best Foreign Actor | Campanadas a medianoche (1965) |
| 1968 | Golden Berlin Bear | Berlin International Film Festival | Histoire immortelle (1968) | |
| 1966 | Palme d'Or | Cannes Film Festival | Campanadas a medianoche (1965) | |
| 1962 | Golden Lion | Venice Film Festival | Le procès (1962) | |
| 1948 | Grand International Award | Venice Film Festival | Macbeth (1948) | |
| 1947 | Grand International Award | Venice Film Festival | The Stranger (1946) | |
| 1942 | Oscar | Academy Awards, USA | Best Actor in a Leading Role | Citizen Kane (1941) |
| 1942 | Oscar | Academy Awards, USA | Best Director | Citizen Kane (1941) |
| 1939 | Hugo | Hugo Awards | Best Dramatic Presentation - Short Form | For "Around the World in Eighty Days", episode of "The Mercury Theater on the Air" (radio). |
| 1939 | Hugo | Hugo Awards | Best Dramatic Presentation - Short Form | For "A Christmas Carol", episode of "The Campbell Playhouse" (radio). |
| 1939 | Hugo | Hugo Awards | Best Dramatic Presentation - Short Form |
2nd Place Awards
| Year | Award | Ceremony | Nomination | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1941 | NYFCC Award | New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Director | Citizen Kane (1941) |
| 1941 | NYFCC Award | New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Actor | Citizen Kane (1941) |
Known for movies
Citizen Kane (1941)
as Kane
Touch of Evil (1958)
as Police Captain Hank Quinlan
F for Fake (1973)
as Writer
Mr. Arkadin (1955)
as Gregory Arkadin
