Orson Welles (1915–1985)
Author of Citizen Kane [1941 film]
About the Author
Orson Welles was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin on May 6, 1915. He was as an actor, writer, director, and producer on radio, film, and television. He began his career on stage, directing and acting in plays under the Federal Theatre Project and then with his company Mercury Theatre. From 1938 to 1940, show more he wrote, directed, and acted in the Mercury Theatre of the Air, and as part of its programming, he broadcast H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds. He co-wrote, produced, directed, and starred in the movie Citizen Kane. He was also the director of the movies The Magnificent Ambersons, The Lady from Shanghai, Touch of Evil, and Chimes at Midnight. In addition to playing major roles in some of these films, he also starred in The Third Man and appeared in Someone to Love. He received a Special Oscar in April 1971 for "superlative artistry and versatility" and a Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute in 1975. He died on October 10, 1985 at the age of 70. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Description: Orson Welles, March 1, 1937
Photographer: Carl Van Vechten
Credit Line: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Van Vechten Collection, reproduction number LC-USZ62-119765
Series
Works by Orson Welles
My Lunches with Orson: Conversations between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles (2013) 235 copies, 18 reviews
The War of the Worlds [Orson Welles's Original 1938 Radio Adaptation] (1938) — Director — 88 copies, 5 reviews
Les Bravades: A Portfolio of Pictures Made for Rebecca Welles by Her Father (1996) 57 copies, 2 reviews
Essential Classics: Dramas (The Maltese Falcon / Citizen Kane / Ben-Hur) — Director — 5 copies
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd {radio dramatization} — Director — 5 copies
Five Film Noir Classics: D.O.A. / Detour / The Stranger / Scarlet Street / Killer Bait (2004) 4 copies
Everybody's Shakespeare; three plays edited for reading and arranged for staging — Editor — 4 copies
Macbeth & Othello d'après William Shakespeare réalisés par Orson Welles [Édition Collector] (2017) 3 copies
Les Miserables: Smithsonian Historical Performances [1937 recording] (1995) — Actor; Director — 3 copies, 1 review
Double Feature: Scarlet Street [and] The Stranger — Director — 2 copies
Great Commandments Collection, The 2 copies
The Hearts of Age [1934 film] 2 copies
Christmas Carol -- (Audio Cassette - 1 Hour) -- The Campbell Pklayhouse -- 12/23/38 -- Read by Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten and Ray Collins (1938) — Director; Performer; Adaptor — 2 copies
Olive Films Macbeth DVD 2 copies
Too Much Johnson 2 copies
Too Much Johnson [1938 film] — Director — 2 copies
The Other Side of the Wind 2 copies
La signora di Shanghai 1 copy
THE TRIAL 1 copy
El Proceso 1 copy
Stranger/Cause for Alarm — Director — 1 copy
Late Great Planet Earth, The 1 copy
El tercer hombre 1 copy
La Splendeur des Amberson 1 copy
Orson Welles [box set] 1 copy
Moby Dick 1 copy
The Shadow: Original Radio Show Featuring Orson Welles — Narrator — 1 copy
More of The Shadow All Starring Orson Welles (Murray Hill Radio Theatre) — Narrator — 1 copy
The Shadow Vol. 2: Fire Bug and Death From the Deep — Narrator; Narrator — 1 copy
Dom Quixote 1 copy
Edward G. Robinson Triple Feature Movie Marathon: The Red House/Scarlet Street/The Stranger (2002) — Director — 1 copy
Un pezzo grosso 1 copy
The stranger + Cause for alarm! [videorecording] — Director — 1 copy
Very Best of Orson Welles 1 copy
Citizen Kane Opera 1 copy
Herz der Finsternis. Nach einer Erzählung von Joseph Conrad: Hörspiel mit Sylvester Groth, Ulrich Matthes u.v.a. (2 CDs) (2016) 1 copy
The Trial / Escape From Sobibor [Double Feature Video] — Director — 1 copy
La Toison d'or 1 copy
Invasion from Mars - 305 1 copy
The Stranger / King Lear - Orson Welles Double Feature — Director — 1 copy
Orson Welles. Miracle à Hollywood. À bon entendeur. Théâtre. Traduit de l'anglais par Serge Greffet (1952) 1 copy
Columbus day 1 copy
The Man Who Knew Too Much / The Stranger / Beat the Devil — Director — 1 copy
Orson Welles As The Shadow — Artist — 1 copy
Dramatic Readings 1 copy
La Guerra De Los Mundos [War of the Worlds]: Adaptación emisión radiofónica [Adaptation Radio Broadcast] (2018) 1 copy
La invasión desde Marte 1 copy
Bible Time Favorites 1 copy
The Genius of Orson Welles 1 copy
Rita Hayworth: The Ultimate Collection — Director — 1 copy
The Complete Mr. Arkadin 1 copy
Associated Works
The Mel Brooks Collection (Blazing Saddles / Young Frankenstein / Silent Movie / Robin Hood: Men In Tights / To Be or Not to Be / History of the World, Part I / The Twelve Chairs… (2015) — Narrator — 140 copies
America Lost and Found: The BBS Story (Head / Easy Rider / Five Easy Pieces / Drive, He Said / The Last Picture Show / The King of Marvin Gardens / A Safe Place) (2010) — Actor — 39 copies
Austerlitz [1960 film] — Actor — 9 copies
Classic Television: Blooper Bonanza 1960's (featuring Laugh-In, McHale's Navy, Star Trek) — Actor — 6 copies
Almonds and Raisins: A History of the Yiddish Cinema — Narrator — 5 copies
Hollywood Legends Spotlight Collection [Harvey, Spartacus, Touch of Evil] (Universal's 100th Anniversary) (2012) — Director — 4 copies
Tyrone Power Collection — Actor — 4 copies
Future Shock [1972 film] — Narrator — 2 copies
The Shadow Vol. 2 — Performer — 2 copies
The Greatest Adventure: The Story Of Man's Voyage to the Moon — Narrator — 1 copy
Man, Beast and Virtue [1953 film] — Actor — 1 copy
The Man Who Saw Tomorrow: The Prophecies of Nostradamus [Videorecording] — Performer — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Welles, Orson
- Legal name
- Welles, George Orson
- Other names
- Уэллс, Орсон
- Birthdate
- 1915-05-06
- Date of death
- 1985-10-10
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Todd School for Boys
- Occupations
- actor
director
screenwriter
film producer
radio producer - Organizations
- Mercury Theatre
Federal Theatre Project
International Brotherhood of Magicians
Society of American Magicians - Awards and honors
- American Academy of Arts and Letters (1983)
Academy Award (Best Original Screenplay, 1941)
AFI Life Achievement Award (1975)
Academy Award (Honorary, 1970)
Légion d'Honneur (Commandeur, 1982)
D.W. Griffith Award (Directors Guild of America, 1984) (show all 9)
Académie des Beaux-Arts (1983)
The Academy of Magical Arts (Special Fellowship, 1984)
National Radio Hall of Fame (1988) - Relationships
- Feder, Chris Welles (daughter)
Houseman, John (colleague) - Short biography
- Orson Welles was gifted in many arts -- such as magic, piano, and painting -- as a child. After graduating from high school he skipped college in favor of a trip to Europe. Deciding to become an actor, he made his New York stage debut as Tybalt in "Romeo and Juliet" in 1934. He began working with John Houseman and formed the Mercury Theatre with him in 1937. In 1938 they produced the famous prank radio broadcast of "The War of the Worlds." Welles' first film to be seen in theaters was Citizen Kane (1941), considered by many to be the best film ever made. Appreciation of his talent and skill as a filmmaker has continued to climb since his death in 1985.
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA
- Places of residence
- Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA (birthplace)
- Place of death
- Hollywood, California, USA
- Burial location
- Cremated, Ashes given to family or friend. (Specifically: Ashes are buried in an old well covered by flowers, within the rural property of retired bullfighter Antonio Ordonez, Ronda, Spain)
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Discussions
The "Best" Of Orson Welles... in Pro and Con (September 2013)
Reviews
I wouldn't call myself an Orson Welles devotee but I do admire his work and I find his life story fascinating, particularly as told by Simon Callow in the first volume of his biography, [Orson Welles: The Road to Xanadu]. There's something undeniably tragic about his trajectory - the boy genius who can do no wrong, who knocks it out of the park with his very first film and is never able to duplicate that initial success, despite flashes of brilliance that tantalize with huge helpings of "if show more only.". He ends his life with half a dozen projects in some suspended state of development, shilling crap wine on TV and regularly eating lunch at Ma Maison with his friend and fellow filmmaker Henry Jaglom. Recognizing that he had gained intimate access to one of the great creative talents of the 20th century, Jaglom had the foresight to record their lunchtime conversations over several years. This book is composed of transcriptions of those conversations and it is absolutely fascinating. Welles is brilliant, irascible, has an opinion about everything and everyone and is unsparing in both his praise and damnation of former colleagues, friends, wives and enemies. And Jaglom seems to know how to ask all the right questions to tease those opinions out of him.
I can't remember when I've enjoyed a book more. show less
I can't remember when I've enjoyed a book more. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
Orson Welles' ornate, twisting noir is a superb exercise in cinematic style. The plot has Michael O'Hara (Wells) being seduced into the ambit of the beautiful Elsa Bannister (Rita Hayworth), her crippled hot-shot lawyer husband Arthur (Everett Sloane) and his law partner, the scheming George Grisby (Glenn Anders). Grisby plans on staging his own disappearance with the help of Michael, but things go murderously wrong. The script has all the dark meanderings and tortured twists that you would show more expect from a film noir and the leading cast is uniformly first rate. It is Welles' stylish direction and brilliant set pieces (allied to Charles Lawton, Jr.'s magnificent photography) that set this film apart. Each individual scene is expertly composed and choreographed and they lead incrementally to a stunning German Expressionistic-heavy climactic scene in a hall of mirrors. A stunning climax to a first rate noir thriller. show less
Fat and terribly rude. That line from Four Weddings and a Funeral might have been what I took away from this book had I not "grown up Welles." My memories of his films and voice and Carson guest appearances colored this strange series of interrupted interviews and asides with a melancholy for the sometimes sad genius that is presented here. He was an amazing director and actor with the somewhat undisiplined intellect of a poet and rogue thinker. All that is on display in this quirky volume show more that I read in one sitting and two martinis. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
First read this one in college. Up to that point, I had seen Welles as an intelligent guy who made a movie in his youth, burned some bridges, and faded away into obscurity. One movie to both define and swiftly ruin his career. In short, a one trick pony.
Wrong, Past Me. Very wrong indeed.
Here was a man who could very well have done anything with his life, but since the love of the theatre and performing arts held him so, he couldn't ignore the joy it brought; this joy led him to spending most show more of his life doing whatever he could to raise money to make the next film. That was the goal.
Peter made Orson come to life for me with the interviews, brought to light just how in depth the man was, how funny he could be, and truly succeeded in displaying Welles as a man of passion-- of experience, very much the portrait of a lifelong perfectionist never truly satisfied, even in exhibiting the elements of his underrated greatness.
How lucky he must have been to had known him. show less
Wrong, Past Me. Very wrong indeed.
Here was a man who could very well have done anything with his life, but since the love of the theatre and performing arts held him so, he couldn't ignore the joy it brought; this joy led him to spending most show more of his life doing whatever he could to raise money to make the next film. That was the goal.
Peter made Orson come to life for me with the interviews, brought to light just how in depth the man was, how funny he could be, and truly succeeded in displaying Welles as a man of passion-- of experience, very much the portrait of a lifelong perfectionist never truly satisfied, even in exhibiting the elements of his underrated greatness.
How lucky he must have been to had known him. show less
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