Directing
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.
Filmography
Charmed Lives: A Family Romance
Film · 2028
Proust Palimpsesto: Pastiches e Misturas
Film · 2026
The Making Of
Film · 2026
War of the Worlds
Film · 2026
The Scorpion and the Frog
Film · 2025
Human Nature in Eleven Parts
Film · 2025
WeirdWorld
Film · 2025
Titanic: Secrets of the Shipwreck
Series · 2025
Othelo The Great
Film · 2024
The Battle of Grovers Mill
Film · 2024
Aliens Uncovered: Close Encounters
Film · 2024
Jim Henson Idea Man
Film · 2024
From Introduction to Orson Welles’s Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight
Film · 2023
Looking Back Before You Leap
Film · 2023
It's Pretty, but is it Art?
Film · 2023
American: An Odyssey to 1947
Film · 2022
Clint Eastwood: The Last Legend
Film · 2022
Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues
Film · 2022
The Welles Raft
Film · 2022
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street
Film · 2021
Parkinson at 50
Film · 2021
Tall Tales: The Ireland of Orson Welles
Film · 2021
The Blinding of Isaac Woodard
Film · 2021
The Real Charlie Chaplin
Film · 2021
Morceaux de Cannes
Film · 2021
My Guest is Orson Welles
Film · 2021
Hopper/Welles
Film · 2020
Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind
Film · 2020
Emergency: Donald Trump’s "Touch of Evil"
Film · 2019
LIFE BEYOND
Series · 2019
The Other Side of the Wind
Film · 2018
They'll Love Me When I'm Dead
Film · 2018
The Eyes of Orson Welles
Film · 2018
Jeanne Moreau: Free Spirit
Film · 2018
The Magic History of Cinema
Film · 2017
Embers & Dust
Film · 2016
Decadence and Downfall: The Shah of Iran's Ultimate Party
Film · 2016
This Is Orson Welles
Film · 2015
Alfonso Sansone: Producer by Chance
Film · 2014
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
Film · 2014
Too Much Johnson
Film · 2013
Jodorowsky's Dune
Film · 2013
Talking Pictures
Series · 2013
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen
Film · 2012
The Shadow Knows
Film · 2012
Magic Mirror Maze
Film · 2012
Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure
Film · 2011
Orson Welles: The Paris Interview
Film · 2010
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff
Film · 2010
Jucy
Film · 2010
Lucifer et moi
Film · 2009
Hollywood sul Tevere
Film · 2009
The Deep
Film · 2007
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
Film · 2007
The Well
Film · 2005
Filmmakers vs. Tycoons
Film · 2005
The Other Side of Welles
Film · 2005
Lost in "The Thinking"
Film · 2005
Orson Welles Talks With Roger Hill
Film · 2005
Orson Welles Uncut
Film · 2005
The Hitch Hiker
Film · 2004
The UFO Conspiracy
Film · 2004
Parkinson
Series · 2004
The Dominici Affair by Orson Welles
Film · 2003
Filming 'The Trial'
Film · 2002
Lost in La Mancha
Film · 2002
Heart of the Festival
Film · 2002
The Movie Movie (An Excerpt)
Film · 2002
The Paranormal Peter Sellers
Film · 2001
A Huey P. Newton Story
Film · 2001
NASA: A Space Odyssey Vol. 3
Film · 2001
Orson Welles in the Land of Don Quixote
Film · 2000
Moby Dick
Film · 2000
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces
Film · 2000
According to Occam's Razor
Film · 1999
Hi-Fi
Film · 1999
One Man Band
Film · 1999
The Best of the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
Film · 1998
Celebração - 100 Anos do Cinema Nacional
Film · 1997
It's All Brazil
Film · 1997
Who Is Henry Jaglom?
Film · 1997
The Battle Over Citizen Kane
Film · 1996
Orson Welles: The One-Man Band
Film · 1995
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
Film · 1995
It's All True
Film · 1993
Working with Orson Welles
Film · 1993
La Classe américaine
Film · 1993
Rosabella - La storia italiana di Orson Welles
Film · 1993
Don Quixote
Film · 1992
Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
Film · 1991
The Complete 'Citizen Kane'
Film · 1991
Welles' Language
Film · 1990
Rita Hayworth: Dancing Into the Dream
Film · 1990
With Orson Welles: Stories from a Life in Film
Film · 1990
On the tracks of a filmmaker
Film · 1988
American Experience
Series · 1988
Someone to Love
Film · 1987
The Transformers: The Movie
Film · 1986
The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years
Film · 1986
It's Not All True
Film · 1986
Unseen Lollo
Film · 1986
The Dreamers
Film · 1985
Orson Welles' Magic Show
Film · 1985
Moonlighting
Series · 1985
Scene of the Crime
Series · 1985
Where Is Parsifal?
Film · 1984
The Road to Bresson
Film · 1984
The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh
Film · 1984
The Last Sailors: The Final Days of Working Sail
Film · 1984
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Michael Landon
Film · 1984
In Our Hands
Film · 1984
Almonds and Raisins
Film · 1984
The Witching
Film · 1983
Hot Money
Film · 1983
Orson Welles at the Cinémathèque Française
Film · 1983
King Penguin: Stranded Beyond the Falklands
Film · 1983
The Psychic Connection
Film · 1983
Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?
Film · 1983
Butterfly
Film · 1982
Slapstick of Another Kind
Film · 1982
Magic with the Stars
Film · 1982
The Quest for Fire Adventure
Film · 1982
Genocide
Film · 1982
Baryshnikov in Hollywood
Film · 1982
Natalie - A Tribute to a Very Special Lady
Film · 1982
Let Poland Be Poland
Film · 1982
Doug Henning's World of Magic
Film · 1982
Wagner e Venezia
Film · 1982
Night of 100 Stars
Film · 1982
The Orson Welles Story
Film · 1982
History of the World: Part I
Film · 1981
The Man Who Saw Tomorrow
Film · 1981
Search for the Titanic
Film · 1981
A Gift of Harvest
Film · 1981
Brasil
Film · 1981
Tales of the Klondike
Series · 1981
The Secret of Nikola Tesla
Film · 1980
A Step Away
Film · 1980
The Greenstone
Film · 1980
Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park
Film · 1980
Shōgun
Series · 1980
Magnum, P.I.
Series · 1980
Filming Othello
Film · 1979
The Greatest Adventure--The Story of Man's Voyage to the Moon
Film · 1979
The Muppet Movie
Film · 1979
The Orson Welles Show
Film · 1979
Frank Sinatra: The First 40 Years
Film · 1979
To Try Again... and Succeed
Film · 1979
The Double McGuffin
Film · 1979
The New Media Bible: Book of Genesis
Film · 1979
The Biggest Battle
Film · 1978
The Late Great Planet Earth
Film · 1978
Mysterious Castles of Clay
Film · 1978
Caesar's Guide to Gaming with Orson Welles
Film · 1978
Orson Welles at The Magic Castle
Film · 1978
The Magic of David Copperfield
Series · 1978
A Woman Called Moses
Series · 1978
Hot Tomorrows
Film · 1977
The Force Beyond
Film · 1977
It Happened One Christmas
Film · 1977
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Film · 1977
Tut: The Boy King
Film · 1977
From Fiber to Fabric: Wool's a Natural
Film · 1977
The Lions of Capitalism: Some Call It Greed
Film · 1977
The Shirley MacLaine Special: Where Do We Go from Here?
Film · 1977
Voyage of the Damned
Film · 1976
Bugs Bunny Superstar
Film · 1976
The New Deal for Artists
Film · 1976
NBC: The First Fifty Years
Film · 1976
A Mother's Tale
Film · 1976
Cérémonie des César
Series · 1976
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
Film · 1975
Who's Out There?
Film · 1975
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Film · 1975
Orson Welles - Das vermarktete Genie
Film · 1975
Magnificent Monsters of the Deep
Film · 1975
Doug Henning's World of Magic
Series · 1975
And Then There Were None
Film · 1974
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
Film · 1974
The Challenge... A Tribute to Modern Art
Film · 1974
A Legend a Lifetime: Citizen Welles
Film · 1974
Dinah!
Series · 1974
F for Fake
Film · 1973
The Battle of Sutjeska
Film · 1973
The Cave
Film · 1973
Power and Corruption
Film · 1973
Kelly Country
Film · 1973
The Monkey's Paw
Film · 1973
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries
Series · 1973
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
Series · 1973
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
Series · 1973
Treasure Island
Film · 1972
Necromancy
Film · 1972
Malpertuis
Film · 1972
Future Shock
Film · 1972
Get to Know Your Rabbit
Film · 1972
The Man Who Came to Dinner
Film · 1972
Jeanne Moreau : Vive le cinéma !
Film · 1972
A Safe Place
Film · 1971
Ten Days' Wonder
Film · 1971
Sentinels of Silence
Film · 1971
Flame of Persia
Film · 1971
Directed by John Ford
Film · 1971
Freedom River
Film · 1971
V.I.P. Schaukel
Series · 1971
The Silent Years
Series · 1971
Catch-22
Film · 1970
Waterloo
Film · 1970
The Kremlin Letter
Film · 1970
Is It Always Right to Be Right?
Film · 1970
Upon This Rock
Film · 1970
Start the Revolution Without Me
Film · 1970
An Evening with Orson Welles: The Golden Honeymoon
Film · 1970
A Horse Called Nijinsky
Film · 1970
The Enemy Before Us
Film · 1970
The Merchant of Venice (Rushes)
Film · 1970
An Evening with Orson Welles: The Happy Prince
Film · 1970
An Evening with Orson Welles: American Heritage, Vol. I – Selections from George Ade, Thomas Wolfe, Mark Twain
Film · 1970
An Evening with Orson Welles: American Heritage, Vol. II – Clarence Darrow
Film · 1970
An Evening with Orson Welles: Two Wise Old Men – Socrates and Noah
Film · 1970
An Evening with Orson Welles: My Little Boy
Film · 1970
Night Gallery
Series · 1970
Twelve Plus One
Film · 1969
The Battle of Neretva
Film · 1969
The Southern Star
Film · 1969
Tepepa
Film · 1969
To Build a Fire
Film · 1969
The Merchant of Venice
Film · 1969
Soft Self-Portrait of Salvador Dali
Film · 1969
The Fight for Rome II - The Betrayal
Film · 1969
House of Cards
Film · 1968
The Immortal Story
Film · 1968
The Fight for Rome
Film · 1968
Vienna
Film · 1968
Portrait: Orson Welles
Film · 1968
Oedipus the King
Film · 1968
Around the World of Mike Todd
Film · 1968
The Dick Cavett Show
Series · 1968
The Name of the Game
Series · 1968
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Series · 1968
Casino Royale
Film · 1967
I'll Never Forget What's'isname
Film · 1967
The Sailor from Gibraltar
Film · 1967
Ten Days That Shook the World
Film · 1967
Disorder Is 20 Years Old
Film · 1967
Beggars Would Ride
Film · 1967
Omnibus
Series · 1967
A Man for All Seasons
Film · 1966
Is Paris Burning?
Film · 1966
Orson Welles in Spain
Film · 1966
Chimes at Midnight
Film · 1965
Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees
Film · 1965
Marco the Magnificent
Film · 1965
A King's Story
Film · 1965
Americans on Everest
Film · 1965
Profile No. 6: Orson Welles
Film · 1965
National Geographic Specials
Series · 1965
The Finest Hours
Film · 1964
In the Land of Don Quixote
Series · 1964
Pour le plaisir
Series · 1964
The V.I.P.s
Film · 1963
Ro.Go.Pa.G.
Film · 1963
La ricotta
Film · 1963
Hollywood and the Stars
Series · 1963
The Trial
Film · 1962
Lafayette
Film · 1962
River of the Ocean
Film · 1962
The Merv Griffin Show
Series · 1962
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Series · 1962
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Series · 1962
The Tartars
Film · 1961
King of Kings
Film · 1961
Tempo
Series · 1961
Survival
Series · 1961
David and Goliath
Film · 1960
Crack in the Mirror
Film · 1960
Austerlitz
Film · 1960
An Arabian Night
Film · 1960
Five Columns on the Front Page: Hong Kong as seen by Orson Welles
Film · 1960
Compulsion
Film · 1959
Ferry to Hong Kong
Film · 1959
High Journey
Film · 1959
Touch of Evil
Film · 1958
The Long, Hot Summer
Film · 1958
The Vikings
Film · 1958
The Fountain of Youth
Film · 1958
The Roots of Heaven
Film · 1958
Orson Welles at Large: Portrait of Gina
Film · 1958
Lords of the Forest
Film · 1958
South Seas Adventure
Film · 1958
Colgate Theatre
Series · 1958
Monitor
Series · 1958
Man in the Shadow
Film · 1957
Moby Dick
Film · 1956
Out of Darkness
Film · 1956
Orson Welles and People: Camille, the Naked Lady and the Musketeers
Film · 1956
The Steve Allen Show
Series · 1956
Cinépanorama
Series · 1956
Napoleon
Film · 1955
Mr. Arkadin
Film · 1955
Three Cases of Murder
Film · 1955
The Land of the Basques
Film · 1955
Moby Dick—Rehearsed
Film · 1955
Around the World with Orson Welles
Series · 1955
Orson Welles' Sketch Book
Series · 1955
Ford Star Jubilee
Series · 1955
Trouble in the Glen
Film · 1954
Reflets de Cannes
Series · 1954
Royal Affairs in Versailles
Film · 1953
Man, Beast and Virtue
Film · 1953
King Lear
Film · 1953
Trent's Last Case
Film · 1952
Return to Glennascaul
Film · 1952
Omnibus
Series · 1952
Othello
Film · 1951
I Love Lucy
Series · 1951
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Series · 1951
The Black Rose
Film · 1950
Disorder
Film · 1950
The Miracle of St. Anne
Film · 1950
What's My Line?
Series · 1950
The Third Man
Film · 1949
Prince of Foxes
Film · 1949
Black Magic
Film · 1949
Macbeth
Film · 1948
The Ed Sullivan Show
Series · 1948
The Lady from Shanghai
Film · 1947
The Stranger
Film · 1946
Tomorrow Is Forever
Film · 1946
Duel in the Sun
Film · 1946
Battle for Survival
Film · 1946
Mexico City, Old and New
Film · 1945
Follow the Boys
Film · 1944
Know Your Ally: Britain
Film · 1944
Journey into Fear
Film · 1943
Jane Eyre
Film · 1943
Show-Business at War
Film · 1943
The Magnificent Ambersons
Film · 1942
Citizen Kane
Film · 1941
Swiss Family Robinson
Film · 1940
The Green Goddess
Film · 1939
The Spanish Earth
Film · 1937
The Hearts of Age
Film · 1934
Twelfth Night
Film · 1933
Something Else
Film
Voyage of the Brigantine Yankee
Film