His father, Richard Head Welles, was a well-to-do inventor, his mother, Beatrice (Ives) Welles, a beautiful concert pianist; Orson Welles was gifted in many arts (magic, piano, painting) as a child. When his mother died in 1924 (when he was nine) he traveled the world with his father. He was orphaned at 15 after his father's death in 1930 and became the ward of Dr. Maurice Bernstein of Chicago. In 1931, he graduated from the Todd School in Woodstock, Illinois. He turned down college offers for a sketching tour of Ireland. He tried unsuccessfully to enter the London and Broadway stages, traveling some more in Morocco and Spain, where he fought in the bullring.
Recommendations by Thornton Wilder and Alexander Woollcott got him into Katharine Cornell's road company, with which he made his New York debut as Tybalt in 1934. The same year, he married, directed his first short, and appeared on radio for the first time. He began working with John Houseman and formed the Mercury Theatre with him in 1937. In 1938, they produced "The Mercury Theatre on the Air", famous for its broadcast version of "The War of the Worlds" (intended as a Halloween prank). His first film to be seen by the public was Citizen Kane (1941), a commercial failure losing RKO $150,000, but regarded by many as the best film ever made. Many of his subsequent films were commercial failures and he exiled himself to Europe in 1948.
In 1956, he directed Touch of Evil (1958); it failed in the United States but won a prize at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. In 1975, in spite of all his box-office failures, he received the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 1984, the Directors Guild of America awarded him its highest honor, the D.W. Griffith Award. His reputation as a filmmaker steadily climbed thereafter.
Mark Cousins dives deep into the visual world of legendary director and actor Orson Welles to reveal a portrait of the artist as he's never been seen before.
When King Henry IV ascends to the throne, his heir, the Prince of Wales, is befriended by Sir John Falstaff, an old, overweight, fun-loving habitual liar. Through Falstaff's eyes we see the reign of King Henry IV and the rise of Henry V.
Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.
asMacbeth
2014 |
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
After earning a licence to kill, secret agent James Bond sets out on his first mission as 007. Bond must defeat a private banker funding terrorists in a high-stakes game of poker at Casino Royale, in Montenegro.
Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, mystifying post-war Vienna only to find himself investigating the mysterious sudden death of old friend Harry Lime.
asHarry Lime
1995 |
Orson Welles: The One-Man Band
1993 |
It's All True: Based on an Unfinished Film by Orson Welles
The Autobots must stop a colossal planet-consuming robot who goes after the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. At the same time, they must defend themselves against an all-out attack from the Decepticons.
asUnicron
1984 |
The Last Sailors: The Final Days of Working Sailas Narrator
1984 |
The Road to Bresson
1984 |
Where Is Parsifal?as Klingsor
1983 |
The Psychic Connectionas Narrator
1982 |
Genocideas Narrator
1981 |
Butterflyas Judge Rauch
1981 |
Filming 'the Trial'
1981 |
Search for the Titanic
1981 |
The Enchanted Journeyas Pippo
1981 |
The Man Who Saw Tomorrowas Narrator
1980 |
A Step Away
1980 |
The Secret Life of Nikola Teslaas J.P. Morgan
1978 |
Filming 'Othello'as Host
1978 |
Mysterious Castles of Clayas Narrator
1978 |
The Late Great Planet Earth
1977 |
Some Call It Greedas Narrator
1977 |
The Force Beyond
1977 |
The Lions of Capitalismas Narrator
1975 |
Bugs Bunny Superstaras Narrator
1975 |
The Challenge... A Tribute to Modern Art
1973 |
Above San Franciscoas Narrator
1973 |
F for Fake
1973 |
Kelly Country
1972 |
Get to Know Your Rabbitas Mr. Delasandro
1972 |
Necromancyas Mr. Cato
1972 |
The Shah of Iran
1972 |
Treasure Islandas Long John Silver
1971 |
Directed by John Fordas Narrator
1971 |
Ten Days Wonderas Théo Van Horn - un multimillionnaire qui vit en despote dans sa maison
1971 |
The Legend of Doom Houseas Cassavius
1971 |
A Safe Placeas The Magician
1970 |
A Horse Called Nijinskyas Narrator
1970 |
Soft Self-Portrait of Salvador Dalias Narrator
1970 |
The Deepas Russ Brewer
1970 |
Waterlooas Louis XVIII
1969 |
12 + 1as Maurice Markau
1969 |
Barbed Water
1969 |
Kampf um Rom II - Der Verratas Justinian
1969 |
Tepepaas Colonel Cascorro
1969 |
The Battle of Neretvaas Senator
1969 |
The Southern Staras Plankett
1969 |
To Build a Fireas Narrator
1968 |
House of Cardsas Leschenhaut
1968 |
Oedipus the Kingas Tiresias
1968 |
The Last Romanas Emperor Justinian
1967 |
I'll Never Forget What's'isnameas Jonathan Lute
1967 |
The Heroine
1967 |
The Sailor from Gibraltaras Louis de Mozambique
1966 |
A Man for All Seasonsas Cardinal Wolsey
1965 |
A King's Storyas Narrator
1965 |
Marco the Magnificentas Akerman, Marco's Tutor
1963 |
River of the Ocean
1963 |
Ro.Go.Pa.G.as The 'Director' (segment "La ricotta")
1963 |
The V.I.P.sas Max Buda
1961 |
The Tartarsas Burundai
1960 |
Crack in the Mirroras Hagolin
1960 |
David and Goliathas King Saul
1960 |
The Battle of Austerlitzas Robert Fulton
1959 |
Compulsionas Jonathan Wilk
1959 |
Ferry to Hong Kongas Captain Hart
1958 |
Masters of the Congo Jungleas Narrator, English Language Version
A Mexican official and his American wife are targeted in a Texas border town by the crime family he's trying to put behind bars for drug trafficking, as his concern grows over the tactics of the local detective whose cooperation he needs.
asPolice Captain Hank Quinlan
1957 |
Man in the Shadowas Virgil Renchler
1955 |
Confidential Reportas Gregory Arkadin
1954 |
Three Cases of Murderas Lord Mountdrago ("Lord Mountdrago" segment)
1954 |
Trouble in the Glenas Sanin Cejador y Mengues
1953 |
L'uomo la bestia e la virtùas Captain Perella - the Beast
