Directing
Orson Welles
Born 1915-05-06 · Died 1985-10-10
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."
Acting
Charmed Lives: A Family Romance
2028 · Self (archive footage)
War of the Worlds
2026 · narrator
The Making Of
2026 · Self (archival)
Proust Palimpsesto: Pastiches e Misturas
2026 · Self / The Director / Sir John Falstaff (archive footage) (uncredited)
WeirdWorld
2025 · Troy2000 (Archive footage)
Human Nature in Eleven Parts
2025 · Narrator "The Scorpion and the Frog" (archive footage)
The Scorpion and the Frog
2025 · Narrator (archive footage)
Othelo The Great
2024 · Self (archive footage)
The Battle of Grovers Mill
2024 · Radio Host (voice) (archival footage)
Aliens Uncovered: Close Encounters
2024 · Self
Jim Henson Idea Man
2024 · Self (archive footage)
From Introduction to Orson Welles’s Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight
2023 · Falstaff
It's Pretty, but is it Art?
2023 · Self (voiceover)
Looking Back Before You Leap
2023 · General Zaroff (voice)
Clint Eastwood: The Last Legend
2022 · Self (archive footage)
American: An Odyssey to 1947
2022 · Self (archive footage)
Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues
2022 · Self (archive footage)
The Welles Raft
2022 · Himself (Archive Footage)
My Guest is Orson Welles
2021
The Real Charlie Chaplin
2021 · Self (archive footage)
Tall Tales: The Ireland of Orson Welles
2021 · Self
Parkinson at 50
2021 · Self (archive footage)
Morceaux de Cannes
2021 · Self (archive footage)
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street
2021 · Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Blinding of Isaac Woodard
2021 · Self (archive footage)
Hopper/Welles
2020 · Self
Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind
2020 · Self (archive footage)
Emergency: Donald Trump’s "Touch of Evil"
2019 · (archive footage)
The Other Side of the Wind
2018 · Journalist (uncredited)
They'll Love Me When I'm Dead
2018 · Self (archive footage)
The Eyes of Orson Welles
2018 · Self - Filmmaker / Various Roles (archive footage)
Jeanne Moreau: Free Spirit
2018 · Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
Director
Hopper/Welles
2020
The Other Side of the Wind
2018
Too Much Johnson
2013
The Deep
2007
Orson Welles Talks With Roger Hill
2005
Filming 'The Trial'
2002
Moby Dick
2000
One Man Band
1999
Orson Welles: The One-Man Band
1995
It's All True
1993
Don Quixote
1992
Unseen Lollo
1986
It's All True: Four Men on a Raft
1986
The Dreamers
1985
Orson Welles' Magic Show
1985
The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh
1984
Writer
One Man Band
1999
The Big Brass Ring
1999
The Way to Santiago
1998
The Big Brass Ring
1997
Unseen Lollo
1986
It's All True: Four Men on a Raft
1986
The Dreamers
1985
Orson Welles' Magic Show
1985
Filming Othello
1979
The Orson Welles Show
1979
Orson Welles at The Magic Castle
1978
NBC: The First Fifty Years
1976
F for Fake
1973
Treasure Island
1972
An Evening with Orson Welles: The Golden Honeymoon
1970
An Evening with Orson Welles: The Happy Prince
1970
Producer
Too Much Johnson
2013
The Deep
2007
Filming 'The Trial'
2002
Don Quixote
1992
Orson Welles' Magic Show
1985
Freedom River
1971
An Evening with Orson Welles: The Golden Honeymoon
1970
An Evening with Orson Welles: The Happy Prince
1970
An Evening with Orson Welles: American Heritage, Vol. I – Selections from George Ade, Thomas Wolfe, Mark Twain
1970
An Evening with Orson Welles: American Heritage, Vol. II – Clarence Darrow
1970
An Evening with Orson Welles: Two Wise Old Men – Socrates and Noah
1970
An Evening with Orson Welles: My Little Boy
1970
The Merchant of Venice
1969
Vienna
1968
The Fountain of Youth
1958
Orson Welles and People: Camille, the Naked Lady and the Musketeers
1956
Screenplay
The Other Side of the Wind
2018
Too Much Johnson
2013
The Deep
2007
Don Quixote
1992
The Merchant of Venice
1969
The Immortal Story
1968
Chimes at Midnight
1965
The Trial
1962
Touch of Evil
1958
Mr. Arkadin
1955
Othello
1951
Macbeth
1948
The Lady from Shanghai
1947
Journey into Fear
1943
It's All True
1943
The Magnificent Ambersons
1942