
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