Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio. Noted for his innovative dramatic productions as well as his distinctive voice and personality, Welles is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished dramatic artists of the twentieth century, especially for his significant and influential early work—despite his notoriously contentious relationship with Hollywood. His distinctive directorial style featured layered, nonlinear narrative forms, innovative uses of lighting such as chiaroscuro, unique camera angles, sound techniques borrowed from radio, deep focus shots, and long takes. Welles's long career in film is noted for his struggle for artistic control in the face of pressure from studios. Many of his films were heavily edited and others left unreleased. He has been praised as a major creative force and as "the ultimate auteur." After directing a number of high-profile theatrical productions in his early twenties, including an innovative adaptation of Macbeth and The Cradle Will Rock, Welles found national and international fame as the director and narrator of a 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds performed for the radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was reported to have caused widespread panic when listeners thought that an invasion by extraterrestrial beings was occurring. Although these reports of panic were mostly false and overstated, they rocketed Welles to instant notoriety. Citizen Kane (1941), his first film with RKO, in which he starred in the role of Charles Foster Kane, is often considered the greatest film ever made. Several of his other films, including The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), Touch of Evil (1958), Chimes at Midnight (1965), and F for Fake (1974), are also widely considered to be masterpieces. In 2002, he was voted the greatest film director of all time in two separate British Film Institute polls among directors and critics, and a wide survey of critical consensus, best-of lists, and historical retrospectives calls him the most acclaimed director of all time. Andrew Sarris in his influential book of film criticism The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968 included him in the "pantheon" of the 14 greatest film directors who had worked in the United States. Well known for his baritone voice, Welles was also an extremely well regarded actor and was voted number 16 in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars list of the greatest American film actors of all time. He was also a celebrated Shakespearean stage actor and an accomplished magician, starring in troop variety shows in the war years.
57 directing credits · 337 acting credits
Directing · 57
Citizen Kane
1941
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries
1973
Touch of Evil
1958
Tempo
1961
The Trial
1962
The Lady from Shanghai
1947
The Stranger
1946
The Magnificent Ambersons
1942
Orson Welles' Sketch Book
1955
Chimes at Midnight
1965
Around the World with Orson Welles
1955
The Other Side of the Wind
2018
Macbeth
1948
Colgate Theatre
1958
F for Fake
1973
Othello
1951
In the Land of Don Quixote
1964
Mr. Arkadin
1955
The Immortal Story
1968
The Orson Welles Show
1979
Hopper/Welles
2020
The Deep
2007
The Merchant of Venice
1969
An Evening with Orson Welles: The Golden Honeymoon
1970
Don Quixote
1992
Too Much Johnson
1938
Moby Dick
2000
It's All True
1993
Filming Othello
1979
The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh
1984
Filming 'The Trial'
1981
Orson Welles' Magic Show
1985
It's All True
1943
Vienna
1968
The Fountain of Youth
1958
The Dreamers
1985
Moby Dick—Rehearsed
1955
One Man Band
1999
Twelfth Night
1933
Orson Welles at Large: Portrait of Gina
1958
Orson Welles' Sketch Book
1955
The Land of the Basques
1955
Orson Welles Talks With Roger Hill
2005
Orson Welles and People: Camille, the Naked Lady and the Musketeers
1956
Five Columns on the Front Page: Hong Kong as seen by Orson Welles
1960
An Evening with Orson Welles: American Heritage, Vol. II – Clarence Darrow
1970
The Hearts of Age
1934
The Heroine
1967
The Green Goddess
1939
The Merchant of Venice (Rushes)
1970
It's All True: Four Men on a Raft
1986
Unseen Lollo
1986
The Miracle of St. Anne
1950
An Evening with Orson Welles: American Heritage, Vol. I – Selections from George Ade, Thomas Wolfe, Mark Twain
1970
An Evening with Orson Welles: My Little Boy
1970
An Evening with Orson Welles: Two Wise Old Men – Socrates and Noah
1970
An Evening with Orson Welles: The Happy Prince
1970
Acting · 337
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
Magnum, P.I.
1980
American Experience
1988
The Merv Griffin Show
1962
Moonlighting
1985
I Love Lucy
1951
What's My Line?
1950
The Dick Cavett Show
1968
Night Gallery
1970
The Name of the Game
1968
Omnibus
1967
Omnibus
1952
Dinah!
1974
The Steve Allen Show
1956
The Ed Sullivan Show
1948
Shōgun
1980
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
1968
Cinépanorama
1956
Citizen Kane
1941
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
1973
V.I.P. Schaukel
1971
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
1973
Cérémonie des César
1976
Reflets de Cannes
1954
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries
1973
Casino Royale
1967
The Transformers: The Movie
1986
Talking Pictures
2013
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
The Third Man
1949
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen
2012
The Magic of David Copperfield
1978
Touch of Evil
1958
The Muppet Movie
1979
The Vikings
1958
A Woman Called Moses
1978
National Geographic Specials
1965
Jane Eyre
1943
Catch-22
1970
King of Kings
1961
Duel in the Sun
1946
Moby Dick
1956
A Man for All Seasons
1966
And Then There Were None
1974
Night of 100 Stars
1982
Is Paris Burning?
1966
Tempo
1961
Waterloo
1970
Scene of the Crime
1985
Jim Henson Idea Man
2024
The Trial
1962
The Lady from Shanghai
1947
Survival
1961
The Stranger
1946
The Long, Hot Summer
1958
Butterfly
1982
Compulsion
1959
Doug Henning's World of Magic
1975
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff
2010
Jodorowsky's Dune
2013
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
2014
History of the World: Part I
1981
Ford Star Jubilee
1955
Clint Eastwood: The Last Legend
2022
The Battle of Neretva
1969
The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years
1986
The Magnificent Ambersons
1942
Orson Welles' Sketch Book
1955
Chimes at Midnight
1965
Napoleon
1955
Hollywood and the Stars
1963
Voyage of the Damned
1976
Around the World with Orson Welles
1955
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street
2021
The Other Side of the Wind
2018
Macbeth
1948
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975
Colgate Theatre
1958
La Classe américaine
1993
F for Fake
1973
Oedipus the King
1968
Othello
1951
Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind
2020
Directed by John Ford
1971
Start the Revolution Without Me
1970
In the Land of Don Quixote
1964
Treasure Island
1972
Mr. Arkadin
1955
The Battle of Sutjeska
1973
The Fight for Rome
1968
The Best of the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
1998
The Black Rose
1950
Royal Affairs in Versailles
1953
Ro.Go.Pa.G.
1963
They'll Love Me When I'm Dead
2018
David and Goliath
1960
The V.I.P.s
1963
Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues
2022
The Biggest Battle
1978
The Eyes of Orson Welles
2018
Marco the Magnificent
1965
Lafayette
1962
The Secret of Nikola Tesla
1980
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
1975
Twelve Plus One
1969
Show-Business at War
1943
House of Cards
1968
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
1974
South Seas Adventure
1958
Man in the Shadow
1957
It Happened One Christmas
1977
Prince of Foxes
1949
Lost in La Mancha
2002
The Kremlin Letter
1970
Black Magic
1949
Rosabella - La storia italiana di Orson Welles
1993
Journey into Fear
1943
The Immortal Story
1968
Tepepa
1969
Necromancy
1972
The Man Who Saw Tomorrow
1981
I'll Never Forget What's'isname
1967
The Fight for Rome II - The Betrayal
1969
The Battle of Austerlitz
1960
Where Is Parsifal?
1984
Slapstick of Another Kind
1982
Filmmakers vs. Tycoons
2005
Titanic: Secrets of the Shipwreck
2025
The Battle Over Citizen Kane
1996
Magic with the Stars
1982
Hot Tomorrows
1977
Hot Money
1983
Jucy
2010
Malpertuis
1972
Heart of the Festival
2002
The Southern Star
1969
Bugs Bunny Superstar
1976
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
2007
Working with Orson Welles
1993
Ferry to Hong Kong
1959
The New Deal for Artists
1981
Tomorrow Is Forever
1946
Genocide
1982
Trent's Last Case
1952
Who Is Henry Jaglom?
1997
Morceaux de Cannes
2021
Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?
1983
The Silent Years
1971
A Huey P. Newton Story
2001
Man, Beast and Virtue
1953
The Roots of Heaven
1958
LIFE BEYOND
2019
A Safe Place
1971
The Real Charlie Chaplin
2021
Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
1991
The Blinding of Isaac Woodard
2021
Get to Know Your Rabbit
1972
Parkinson at 50
2021
Follow the Boys
1944
The Orson Welles Show
1979
Hopper/Welles
2020
The Sailor from Gibraltar
1967
The Paranormal Peter Sellers
2001
Jeanne Moreau: Free Spirit
2018
King Lear
1953
NBC: The First Fifty Years
1976
Around the World of Mike Todd
1968
Three Cases of Murder
1955
The Tartars
1961
Crack in the Mirror
1960
Trouble in the Glen
1954
The Deep
2007
The Man Who Came to Dinner
1972
With Orson Welles: Stories from a Life in Film
1990
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces
2000
Swiss Family Robinson
1940
On the tracks of a filmmaker
1988
The Merchant of Venice
1969
An Evening with Orson Welles: The Golden Honeymoon
1970
American: An Odyssey to 1947
2022
Don Quixote
1992
Too Much Johnson
1938
Frank Sinatra: The First 40 Years
1979
Orson Welles: The One-Man Band
1995
Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure
2011
Ten Days' Wonder
1971
Moby Dick
2000
This Is Orson Welles
2015
It's All True
1993
Proust Palimpsesto: Pastiches e Misturas
2026
Sentinels of Silence
1971
Filming Othello
1979
Tall Tales: The Ireland of Orson Welles
2021
The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh
1984
Future Shock
1972
Portrait d'Orson Welles
1968
Celebração - 100 Anos do Cinema Nacional
1997
Know Your Ally: Britain
1944
The Witching
1983
The Double McGuffin
1979
Rita Hayworth: Dancing Into the Dream
1990
Hollywood sul Tevere
2009
The Shadow Knows
2012
Tales of the Klondike
1981
Baryshnikov in Hollywood
1982
Who's Out There?
1975
Natalie - A Tribute to a Very Special Lady
1982
The Last Sailors: The Final Days of Working Sail
1984
The Other Side of Welles
2005
Looking Back Before You Leap
2023
Return to Glennascaul
1953
Filming 'The Trial'
1981
Alfonso Sansone: Producer by Chance
2014
The Complete 'Citizen Kane'
1991
To Build a Fire
1969
Orson Welles' Magic Show
1985
The Well
2005
Search for the Titanic
1981
Someone to Love
1987
Ten Days That Shook the World
1967
Orson Welles in the Land of Don Quixote
2000
Aliens Uncovered: Close Encounters
2024
The UFO Conspiracy
2004
The Late Great Planet Earth
1978
The Finest Hours
1964
According to Occam's Razor
1999
Let Poland Be Poland
1982
Mysterious Castles of Clay
1978
The Spanish Earth
1937
Disorder
1950
Vienna
1968
The Fountain of Youth
1958
The Dreamers
1985
Upon This Rock
1970
Orson Welles in Spain
1966
Brasil
1981
It's All Brazil
1997
Doug Henning's World of Magic
1982
Battle for Survival
1946
The Lions of Capitalism: Some Call It Greed
1977
The Road to Bresson
1984
The Shirley MacLaine Special: Where Do We Go from Here?
1977
The Dominici Affair by Orson Welles
2003
Moby Dick—Rehearsed
1955
The Force Beyond
1977
The Cave
1973
The New Media Bible: Book of Genesis
1979
Lost in "The Thinking"
2005
The Battle of Grovers Mill
2024
Flame of Persia
1971
A Horse Called Nijinsky
1970
One Man Band
1999
Twelfth Night
1933
Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees
1965
Embers & Dust
2016
Emergency: Donald Trump’s "Touch of Evil"
2019
A Mother's Tale
1976
Orson Welles at the Cinémathèque Française
1983
Lucifer et moi
2009
Freedom River
1971
Orson Welles: The Paris Interview
2010
In Our Hands
1984
Welles' Language
1990
Othelo The Great
2024
Jeanne Moreau : Vive le cinéma !
1972
The Orson Welles Story
1982
Orson Welles at Large: Portrait of Gina
1958
It's Not All True
1986
It's Pretty, but is it Art?
2023
The Greenstone
1980
Tut: The Boy King
1978
Soft Self-Portrait of Salvador Dali
1969
Orson Welles' Sketch Book
1955
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Michael Landon
1984
Magic Mirror Maze
2012
Is It Always Right to Be Right?
1970
NASA: A Space Odyssey Vol. 3
2001
The Land of the Basques
1955
Almonds and Raisins
1984
The Scorpion and the Frog
2025
Voyage of the Brigantine Yankee
—
Orson Welles Talks With Roger Hill
2005
The Magic History of Cinema
2017
Orson Welles and People: Camille, the Naked Lady and the Musketeers
1956
Hi-Fi
1999
The Quest for Fire Adventure
1982
The Welles Raft
2022
Beggars Would Ride
1967
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
1977
The Challenge... A Tribute to Modern Art
1974
Five Columns on the Front Page: Hong Kong as seen by Orson Welles
1960
Lords of the Forest
1958
Out of Darkness
1956
The Enemy Before Us
1970
From Fiber to Fabric: Wool's a Natural
1977
Kelly Country
1973
River of the Ocean
1962
The Hitch Hiker
2004
An Evening with Orson Welles: American Heritage, Vol. II – Clarence Darrow
1970
The Hearts of Age
1934
Something Else
—
La ricotta
1963
Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park
1980
Wagner e Venezia
1982
From Introduction to Orson Welles’s Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight
2023
A Step Away
1980
A Gift of Harvest
1981
The Greatest Adventure--The Story of Man's Voyage to the Moon
1979
King Penguin: Stranded Beyond the Falklands
1983
The Green Goddess
1939
A King's Story
1965
An Arabian Night
1960
Power and Corruption
1973
Magnificent Monsters of the Deep
1975
The Cave: a parable told by Orson Welles
1973
The Merchant of Venice (Rushes)
1970
Orson Welles - Das vermarktete Genie
1975
Disorder Is 20 Years Old
1967
A Legend a Lifetime: Citizen Welles
1974
Profile No. 6: Orson Welles
1965
Human Nature in Eleven Parts
2025
High Journey
1959
The Psychic Connection
1983
Orson Welles at The Magic Castle
1978
To Try Again... and Succeed
1979
Unseen Lollo
1986
The Miracle of St. Anne
1950
An Evening with Orson Welles: American Heritage, Vol. I – Selections from George Ade, Thomas Wolfe, Mark Twain
1970
Americans on Everest
1965
WeirdWorld
2025
An Evening with Orson Welles: My Little Boy
1970
The Movie Movie (An Excerpt)
2002
Caesar's Guide to Gaming with Orson Welles
1978
Orson Welles Uncut
2005
An Evening with Orson Welles: Two Wise Old Men – Socrates and Noah
1970
Mexico City, Old and New
1945
An Evening with Orson Welles: The Happy Prince
1970