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

• 2026War of the Worlds — narrator
• 2025Human Nature in Eleven Parts — Narrator "The Scorpion and the Frog" (archive footage)
• 2025The Scorpion and the Frog — Narrator (archive footage)
• 2025WeirdWorld — Troy2000 (Archive footage)
• 2024The Battle of Grovers Mill — Radio Host (voice) (archival footage), Original Story
• 2023From Introduction to Orson Welles’s Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight — Falstaff
• 2023Looking Back Before You Leap — General Zaroff (voice)
• 2021My Guest is Orson Welles
• 2020Hopper/Welles — Self, Director
• 2019Cerné par le diable — Thanks
• 2019Emergency: Donald Trump’s "Touch of Evil" — (archive footage)
• 2019Halston — Theme Song Performance
• 2018Silent Times — Thanks
• 2018The Brother Side of the Wake — Thanks
• 2018The Other Side of the Wind — Journalist (uncredited), Director, Editor, Screenplay
• 2017The Magic History of Cinema
• 2016Embers & Dust — Professor Richard Pierson / Self (voice) (archive sound)
• 2016Passage to Mars — Theme Song Performance
• Bucket — Thanks
• 2014Tim May Presents Reptile — Thanks
• 2013Too Much Johnson — Keystone Kop (uncredited), Director, Producer, Screenplay, Editor
• 2012Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen — (archive footage)
• 2012Magic Mirror Maze
• 2012The Debridement of Rome — Thanks
• Welcome to the Basement — Theme Song Performance
• 2011Incident at Barstow — Thanks
• Beer and Board Games — Thanks
• 2010Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff — Genghis Khan / Bayan (archive footage)
• 2010Dahmer vs. Gacy — Thanks
• 2010Jucy — Elephant Lamp (archive sound)
• L'antre du Mea — Thanks
• 2010Variations on a High School Romance — Thanks
• 2009Hollywood sul Tevere
• 2009Lucifer et moi — (archive footage 1982)
• 2008F for favor — Original Concept
• 2007The Deep — Russ Brewer, Director, Producer, Screenplay
• 2007The Hitchhiker — Original Concept
• 2005Orson Welles Talks With Roger Hill — (Self), Director
• 2005Orson Welles Uncut
• 2005The Well
• 2004The Hitch Hiker — Ronald Adams
• 2002Filming 'The Trial' — Self, Producer, Director
• 2002The Magnificent Ambersons — Original Film Writer
• 2002The Movie Movie (An Excerpt) — Archival Footage
• 2001Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV — Thanks
• 2001NASA: A Space Odyssey Vol. 3 — Narrator
• 2000Moby Dick — Captain Ahab / Starbuck / Ishmael (archive footage), Theatre Play, Director, Editor
• 1999According to Occam's Razor
• 1999Hi-Fi
• 1999One Man Band — Presenter / Various, Director, Writer, Editor
• 1999The Big Brass Ring — Writer
• 1998As Long as He Lives — Thanks
• 1998The Way to Santiago — Writer
• 1997The Big Brass Ring — Writer
• 1997The Hearts of Age — Original Concept
• 1996Treasury of Children's Stories — Theme Song Performance
• 1995Orson Welles: The One-Man Band — Self (archive footage), Director
• 1994Valentines. A Bouquet of Letters and Poetry of Lovers — Theme Song Performance
• 1993Historias Breves 0: Distant encounters — Thanks
• 1993It's All True — Self, Director
• 1993Rosabella - La storia italiana di Orson Welles
• 1992Don Quixote — Self, Director, Producer, Screenplay, Editor
• 1989Continental — Thanks
• 1989Dieter & Andreas — Thanks
• 1988On the tracks of a filmmaker — Orson Welles
• 1988Waxwork — Thanks
• 1987Someone to Love — Danny's Friend
• 1986It's All True: Four Men on a Raft — Director, Writer
• 1986The Transformers: The Movie — Unicron (voice)
• 1986Unseen Lollo — Himself, Director, Writer
• Moonlighting — Orson Welles, Thanks
• 1985Orson Welles' Magic Show — Self, Director, Writer, Producer
• Scene of the Crime — Creator
• 1985The Dreamers — Marcus Kleek, Director, Writer
• 1984Almonds and Raisins — Narrator
• 1984The Last Sailors: The Final Days of Working Sail — Narrator
• 1984The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh — himself, Director
• 1984Where Is Parsifal? — Klingsor
• 1983Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? — Magician (uncredited)
• 1983Hot Money — Sheriff Paisley
• 1983The Psychic Connection — Narrator
• 1983The Witching — Mr. Cato
• 1982Butterfly — Judge Rauch
• 1982Genocide — Narrator (voice)
• 1982Slapstick of Another Kind — Aliens' Father (voice) (uncredited)
• 1982The Quest for Fire Adventure — Narrator
• 1982Trick or Treats — Other
• 1982Wagner e Venezia — Richard Wagner (voice)
• 1981A Gift of Harvest — Narrator
• 1981History of the World: Part I — Narrator (voice)
• Tales of the Klondike — Narrator
• 1981The Man Who Saw Tomorrow — Presenter / Narrator (voice)
• 1981The New Deal for Artists — Narrator (voice)
• 1981The War of the Worlds: Next Century — Thanks
• 1980A Step Away — English Narrator
• 1980Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park — Narrator
• Magnum, P.I. — Robin Masters (voice)
• Shōgun — Narrator
• 1980The Greenstone — Narrator (voice)
• 1980The Secret of Nikola Tesla — J.P. Morgan
• 1979Filming Othello — Host, Writer, Director
• 1979The Double McGuffin — Narrator (voice)
• 1979The Greatest Adventure--The Story of Man's Voyage to the Moon — Narrator
• 1979The Muppet Movie — Lew Lord
• 1979The New Media Bible: Book of Genesis — Narrator
• 1979The Orson Welles Show — Self, Director, Writer
• 1979To Try Again... and Succeed — Narrator (voice)
• A Woman Called Moses — Narrator (voice)
• 1978Mysterious Castles of Clay — Narrator
• 1978Orson Welles at The Magic Castle — Self, Writer
• 1978The Biggest Battle — Narratore
• The Magic of David Copperfield — Host
• 1977From Fiber to Fabric: Wool's a Natural — Narrator
• 1977Hot Tomorrows — Parklawn Mortuary (voice)
• 1977It Happened One Christmas — Henry F. Potter
• 1977The Lions of Capitalism: Some Call It Greed — Narrator
• 1977The Rime of the Ancient Mariner — Narrator
• 1976A Mother's Tale — Narrator
• 1976Bugs Bunny Superstar — Narrator (voice)
• 1976NBC: The First Fifty Years — Self / Narrator, Writer
• 1976Voyage of the Damned — José Estedes
• 19753 A.M. — Editorial Services
• 1975Magnificent Monsters of the Deep — Narrator
• 1975Rikki-Tikki-Tavi — Narrator / Nag / Chuchundra (voice)
• 1975Who's Out There? — Host
• 1974A Legend a Lifetime: Citizen Welles
• 1974And Then There Were None — Voice on Tape
• Crónicas fantásticas — Thanks
• 1974The Challenge... A Tribute to Modern Art — Narrator
• 1973F for Fake — Self, Director, Writer, Editor
• 1973Kelly Country — Narrator
• Orson Welles' Great Mysteries — Self - Host, Director, Screenplay, Creator
• 1973The Battle of Sutjeska — Winston Churchill
• 1973The Cave — Narrator
• 1973The Monkey's Paw — Host
• 1972Future Shock — Narrator
• 1972Get to Know Your Rabbit — Mr. Delasandro
• 1972Malpertuis — Cassavius
• 1972Necromancy — Mr. Cato
• 1972The Man Who Came to Dinner — Sheridan Whiteside
• 1972Treasure Island — Long John Silver, Writer
• 1971A Safe Place — The Magician
• 1971Directed by John Ford — Narrator (voice)
• 1971Flame of Persia — Narrator
• 1971Freedom River — Narrator, Producer
• 1971Sentinels of Silence
• 1971Ten Days' Wonder — Théo Van Horn
• The Silent Years
• 1970A Horse Called Nijinsky — Narrator
• 1970An Evening with Orson Welles: American Heritage, Vol. I – Selections from George Ade, Thomas Wolfe, Mark Twain — Director, Producer, Writer
• 1970An Evening with Orson Welles: American Heritage, Vol. II – Clarence Darrow — Director, Producer, Writer
• 1970An Evening with Orson Welles: My Little Boy — Director, Producer, Writer
• 1970An Evening with Orson Welles: The Golden Honeymoon — Director, Writer, Producer, Editor
• 1970An Evening with Orson Welles: The Happy Prince — Director, Producer, Writer
• 1970An Evening with Orson Welles: Two Wise Old Men – Socrates and Noah — Director, Producer, Writer
• 1970Catch-22 — Brigadier General Dreedle
• 1970Is It Always Right to Be Right? — Narrator
• Night Gallery — Narrator
• 1970Start the Revolution Without Me — The Narrator
• 1970The Enemy Before Us — Narrator
• 1970The Kremlin Letter — Bresnavitch
• 1970The Merchant of Venice (Rushes) — Shylock, Director
• 1970Upon This Rock — Michelangelo (voice)
• 1970Waterloo — Louis XVIII
• 1969Soft Self-Portrait of Salvador Dali — Narrator (voice)
• 1969Tepepa — Colonel Cascorro
• 1969The Battle of Neretva — Četnik
• 1969The Fight for Rome II - The Betrayal — Justinian
• 1969The Merchant of Venice — Shylock, Producer, Screenplay, Director, Editor
• 1969The Southern Star — Plankett
• 1969To Build a Fire — Narrator (voice)
• 1969Twelve Plus One — Markan
• 1968House of Cards — Leschenhaut
• 1968Oedipus the King — Tiresias
• 1968The Fight for Rome — Justinian
• 1968The Immortal Story — Charles Clay, Director, Screenplay
• The Name of the Game — Narrator
• 1968Vienna — Himself, Director, Writer, Producer
• 1967Beggars Would Ride — Narrator
• 1967Casino Royale — Le Chiffre
• 1967I'll Never Forget What's'isname — Jonathan Lute
• 1967Ten Days That Shook the World — Narrator
• 1967The Sailor from Gibraltar — Louis de Mozambique
• 1966A Man for All Seasons — Cardinal Wolsey
• 1966Is Paris Burning? — Konsul Nordling
• 1966The Bible: In the Beginning... — Additional Writing, Scenario Writer
• 1965A King's Story — Narrator
• 1965Americans on Everest — Narrator- Self
• 1965Chimes at Midnight — Falstaff, Director, Screenplay, Costume Design
• 1965Marco the Magnificent — Akerman, Marco's Teacher
• National Geographic Specials — Narrator
• 1965Profile No. 6: Orson Welles
• In the Land of Don Quixote — Himself, Director, Editor, Additional Camera, Producer, Creator
• Shindig! — Theme Song Performance
• 1964The Finest Hours — Narrator (voice)
• 1963La ricotta
• 1963Ro.Go.Pa.G. — The 'Director' (segment "La ricotta")
• 1963The V.I.P.s — Max Buda
• 1962Lafayette — Benjamin Franklin
• 1962River of the Ocean — Narrator (English)
• 1962The Trial — Albert Hastler, Screenplay, Director, Editor
• 1961King of Kings — Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
• Survival — Narrator
• Tempo — Self, Director, Writer
• 1961The Tartars — Burundai
• 1960An Arabian Night — Storyteller
• 1960Austerlitz — Robert Fulton
• 1960Crack in the Mirror — Hagolin / Lamerciere
• 1960David and Goliath — King Saul
• 1960Five Columns on the Front Page: Hong Kong as seen by Orson Welles — Self (narrator), Director
• 1959Compulsion — Jonathan Wilk
• 1959Ferry to Hong Kong — Captain Hart
• 1959High Journey — Narrator
• Colgate Theatre — Music Arranger, Director, Screenplay, Producer
• 1958Lords of the Forest — Narrator (voice)
• Monitor
• 1958Orson Welles at Large: Portrait of Gina — Self - Host, Director, Writer
• 1958South Seas Adventure — Narrator
• 1958The Fountain of Youth — the narrator, Director, Producer, Writer, Production Design, Music Arranger
• 1958The Long, Hot Summer — Will Varner
• 1958The Roots of Heaven — Cy Sedgewick
• 1958The Vikings — Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
• 1958Touch of Evil — Police Captain Hank Quinlan, Screenplay, Director
• 1957Man in the Shadow — Virgil Renchler
• 1956Moby Dick — Father Mapple
• 1956Orson Welles and People: Camille, the Naked Lady and the Musketeers — Self - Narrator (voice), Director, Writer, Producer, Production Designer, Music Arranger
• Around the World with Orson Welles — Host: Orson Welles, Director, Writer, Creator
• Ford Star Jubilee — Oscar Jaffe
• 1955Moby Dick—Rehearsed — An Actor Manager /Father Mapple /Ahab, Director, Writer
• 1955Mr. Arkadin — Gregory Arkadin, Director, Story, Screenplay, Producer, Costume Design, Editor, Production Design, Art Direction
• 1955Napoleon — Sir Hudson Lowe
• Orson Welles' Sketch Book — Himself - Host, Director, Writer, Creator
• 1955The Land of the Basques — Himself, Director
• 1955Three Cases of Murder — Lord Mountdrago ("Lord Mountdrago" segment), Theme Song Performance
• 1954Trouble in the Glen — Sanin Cejador y Mengues
• 1953King Lear — King Lear
• 1953Man, Beast and Virtue — Captain Perella, the Beast
• 1953Royal Affairs in Versailles — Benjamin Franklin
• Omnibus — King Lear
• 1952Return to Glennascaul — Narrator
• 1952Trent's Last Case — Sigsbee Manderson
• Hallmark Hall of Fame — Sheridan Whiteside
• I Love Lucy — Orson Welles
• 1951Othello — Othello, Director, Producer, Screenplay
• 1950The Black Rose — Bayan
• 1950The Miracle of St. Anne — The Director, Writer
• 1949Black Magic — Joseph Balsamo aka Count Cagliostro, Co-Director
• 1949Prince of Foxes — Cesare Borgia
• 1949The Third Man — Harry Lime
• 1948Macbeth — Macbeth, Director, Screenplay, Producer, Costume Design, Set Designer
• 1947Monsieur Verdoux — Story
• 1947The Lady from Shanghai — Michael O'Hara, Screenplay, Producer, Director
• 1946Battle for Survival — Narrator
• 1946Duel in the Sun — Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
• 1946The Stranger — Prof. Charles Rankin, Director, Co-Writer
• 1946Tomorrow Is Forever — John Andrew MacDonald
• 1945Mexico City, Old and New — Narrator
• 1944Follow the Boys — Orson Welles (uncredited)
• 1944Know Your Ally: Britain — Narrator/Bob (helpful taxi passenger)
• 1943It's All True — Director, Screenplay
• 1943Jane Eyre — Edward Rochester, Associate Producer
• 1943Journey into Fear — Colonel Haki, Screenplay, Producer
• 1942The Magnificent Ambersons — Narrator (voice), Screenplay, Director, Producer, Additional Photography
• 1941Citizen Kane — Charles Foster Kane, Screenplay, Director, Producer
• 1940Swiss Family Robinson — Opening Narrator (uncredited)
• 1939The Green Goddess — Rajah/Narrator, Director, Adaptation, Producer
• 1937The Spanish Earth — Narrator (voice)
• 1934The Hearts of Age — Death, Director, Writer
• 1933Twelfth Night — Narrator, Director, Costume Design, Adaptation, Director of Photography
• Something Else — Original Concept
• Voyage of the Brigantine Yankee — Narrator

Appearances as themselves (112)

• 2028Charmed Lives: A Family Romance — Self (archive footage)
• 2026Proust Palimpsesto: Pastiches e Misturas — Self / The Director / Sir John Falstaff (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 2026The Making Of — Self (archival)
• Titanic: Secrets of the Shipwreck — Self (archive footage)
• 2024Aliens Uncovered: Close Encounters — Self
• 2024Jim Henson Idea Man — Self (archive footage)
• 2024Othelo The Great — Self (archive footage)
• 2023It's Pretty, but is it Art? — Self (voiceover)
• 2022American: An Odyssey to 1947 — Self (archive footage)
• 2022Clint Eastwood: The Last Legend — Self (archive footage)
• 2022Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues — Self (archive footage)
• 2022The Welles Raft — Himself (Archive Footage)
• 2021Morceaux de Cannes — Self (archive footage)
• 2021Parkinson at 50 — Self (archive footage)
• 2021Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 2021Tall Tales: The Ireland of Orson Welles — Self
• 2021The Blinding of Isaac Woodard — Self (archive footage)
• 2021The Real Charlie Chaplin — Self (archive footage)
• 2020Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind — Self (archive footage)
• LIFE BEYOND — Self (voice)
• 2018Jeanne Moreau: Free Spirit — Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
• 2018The Eyes of Orson Welles — Self - Filmmaker / Various Roles (archive footage)
• 2018They'll Love Me When I'm Dead — Self (archive footage)
• 2016Decadence and Downfall: The Shah of Iran's Ultimate Party — Self (archive footage) (voice)
• 2015This Is Orson Welles — Self
• 2014Alfonso Sansone: Producer by Chance — Self (archive footage)
• 2014Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles — Self - Filmmaker / Various Roles (archive footage)
• 2013Jodorowsky's Dune — Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
• Talking Pictures — Self (archive footage)
• 2012The Shadow Knows — Self (archive footage)
• 2011Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure — Self
• 2010Orson Welles: The Paris Interview — Himself
• 2007Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story — Self (archive)
• 2005Filmmakers vs. Tycoons — Self (archive footage)
• 2005Lost in "The Thinking" — Self (archive footage)
• 2005The Other Side of Welles — Self (archive footage)
• Parkinson — Self - Guest (archive footage)
• 2004The UFO Conspiracy — Self (archive sound)
• 2003The Dominici Affair by Orson Welles — Self (archive footage)
• 2002Heart of the Festival — Self (archive footage)
• 2002Lost in La Mancha — Self (archive footage)
• 2001A Huey P. Newton Story — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 2001The Paranormal Peter Sellers — Self (Archive footage)
• 2000Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces — Self (archive footage)
• 2000Orson Welles in the Land of Don Quixote — Self (Archive footage)
• 1998The Best of the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts — Self - Roaster (archive footage)
• 1997Celebração - 100 Anos do Cinema Nacional — Self
• 1997It's All Brazil — Self (archive footage)
• 1997Who Is Henry Jaglom? — Self (archive footage)
• 1996The Battle Over Citizen Kane — Self (archive footage)
• 1995The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies — Self (archive footage)
• 1993La Classe américaine — Self (archive footage)
• 1993Working with Orson Welles — Himself (Archive Footage)
• 1991Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio — Self - Professor in War of the Worlds Broadcast (archive sound)
• 1991The Complete 'Citizen Kane' — Self (archive footage)
• 1990Rita Hayworth: Dancing Into the Dream — Self (archive footage)
• 1990Welles' Language — Self (archive footage)
• 1990With Orson Welles: Stories from a Life in Film — Self (archive footage)
• American Experience — Self (archive footage)
• 1986It's Not All True — Himself (archive footage)
• 1986The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years — Self (archive footage)
• 1984In Our Hands — Himself
• 1984The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Michael Landon — Self
• 1984The Road to Bresson — Self
• 1983King Penguin: Stranded Beyond the Falklands — Self - Narrator
• 1983Orson Welles at the Cinémathèque Française — Himself
• 1982Baryshnikov in Hollywood — Self - Narrator
• 1982Doug Henning's World of Magic — Self - Special Guest
• 1982Let Poland Be Poland — Self
• 1982Magic with the Stars — Self - Host
• 1982Natalie - A Tribute to a Very Special Lady — Self
• 1982Night of 100 Stars — Self
• 1982The Orson Welles Story — Self
• 1981Brasil — Self (archive footage)
• 1981Search for the Titanic — Self - Host
• 1979Frank Sinatra: The First 40 Years — Self
• 1978Caesar's Guide to Gaming with Orson Welles — Himself
• 1978The Late Great Planet Earth — Self
• 1977The Force Beyond — Himself (archive footage)
• 1977The Shirley MacLaine Special: Where Do We Go from Here? — Self
• 1977Tut: The Boy King — Himself - Host
• Cérémonie des César — Self - President
• 1975Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? — Self (archive footage)
• Doug Henning's World of Magic — Self
• 1975Orson Welles - Das vermarktete Genie — Self
• Dinah! — Self
• 1974Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 1973Power and Corruption — Himself
• The American Film Institute Salute to ... — Self
• The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts — Self
• 1972Jeanne Moreau : Vive le cinéma ! — Self
• V.I.P. Schaukel — Self
• 1968Around the World of Mike Todd — Self - Narrator
• 1968Portrait: Orson Welles — Self
• Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In — Self
• The Dick Cavett Show — Self - Guest
• 1967Disorder Is 20 Years Old — Self
• Omnibus — Self - Presenter
• 1966Orson Welles in Spain — Himself
• 1965Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees — Self - Narrator (voice)
• Pour le plaisir — Self
• Hollywood and the Stars — Self (archive footage)
• The Merv Griffin Show — Self
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson — Self, Self - Guest Host
• Cinépanorama — Self
• 1956Out of Darkness — Self - Narrator
• The Steve Allen Show — Self
• Reflets de Cannes — Self
• 1950Disorder — Self
• What's My Line? — Self
• The Ed Sullivan Show — Self
• 1943Show-Business at War — Self