Orson Welles filmography
Orson Welles was an American director, actor, writer, and producer who is best remembered for his innovative work in radio, theatre and film. He is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time.
While in his twenties, Welles directed a number of stage productions before creating the infamous 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds. Welles's directorial film debut Citizen Kane, in which he also starred as Charles Foster Kane, garnered him the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and nominations for Best Actor and Best Director. The film is consistently ranked as the greatest film ever made. Welles's second film was The Magnificent Ambersons, which he wrote and directed. He worked as actor, screenwriter, uncredited producer and uncredited co-director of 1943's Journey Into Fear, and directed and co-starred in 1946's The Stranger, his only substantial commercial success as a director. He then directed and starred in the film-noir The Lady from Shanghai, appearing opposite his estranged wife Rita Hayworth.
His 1951 film Othello won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1958, Universal-International released the Welles-directed Touch of Evil, in which he also starred alongside Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh. His The Trial received a nomination for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. He subsequently directed Chimes at Midnight, in which he also starred as Falstaff. Welles's last completed features were the essay films F for Fake and Filming Othello. Throughout his career, he also worked on numerous films which he abandoned due to legal issues, lack of funds, or loss of interest and which were never completed or released. Two of these unfinished feature films have been completed and released posthumously: Don Quixote and The Other Side of the Wind. However, many of Welles's other projects are now considered lost films.
Welles also had a successful career as an actor, appearing in dozens of films. In 1937, he collaborated with Ernest Hemingway on The Spanish Earth. In 1943, he starred opposite Joan Fontaine in Jane Eyre. His first appearance as Harry Lime in the 1949 film-noir The Third Man was heralded as "the most famous entrance in the history of the movies" by Roger Ebert. Also in 1949 he played Cesare Borgia in the film Prince of Foxes. In 1956, he appeared as Father Mapple in the John Huston-directed Moby Dick. His performance in Compulsion earned him the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor. Welles starred as Le Chiffre in the James Bond film Casino Royale. He portrayed Louis XVIII in Waterloo. In 1979, he appeared in The Muppet Movie. His performance in Butterfly garnered him a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Welles also narrated several documentaries, television series, and films, including King of Kings, Bugs Bunny: Superstar, and Mel Brooks's comedy film History of the World, Part I.
Welles was granted an Academy Honorary Award for his works in 1971. Four years later, he became the third recipient of the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award. In 1983, two years prior to his death, Welles received the Directors Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award.
Performance
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
| 1937 | ' | Narrator | ||
| 1940 | Swiss Family Robinson | Narrator | Uncredited | |
| 1941 | Citizen Kane trailer | Himself | ||
| 1941 | Citizen Kane | |||
| 1942 | Tanks | Narrator | Short documentary about the manufacture and use of the M–3 Army tank, distributed by the United States Office of War Information | |
| 1942 | ' | Narrator | ||
| 1943 | Journey into Fear | |||
| 1943 | Jane Eyre | Also associate producer | ||
| 1943 | Know Your Ally: Britain | Narrator/Bob | Short film | |
| 1944 | Follow the Boys | Himself | ||
| 1945 | Mexico City, Old and New | Narrator | Produced by the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs and the Mexican Tourist Association | |
| 1946 | Tomorrow Is Forever | /Erich Kessler | ||
| 1946 | ' | |||
| 1946 | Duel in the Sun | Narrator | Uncredited | |
| 1947 | ' | |||
| 1948 | Macbeth | Macbeth | ||
| 1949 | Black Magic | Cagliostro/Josef Balsamo | Also director of his own scenes | |
| 1949 | ' | Also writer of some of his own dialogue | ||
| 1949 | Prince of Foxes | |||
| 1950 | ' | Bayan | ||
| 1950 | Disorder | Himself | Short film | |
| 1951 | Othello | Othello | ||
| 1951 | Return to Glennascaul | Himself | Short film | |
| 1952 | Little World of Don Camillo | Voice of Christ | Also dubbing director, English-language version | |
| 1952 | Trent's Last Case | |||
| 1953 | Man, Beast and Virtue | |||
| 1954 | Royal Affairs in Versailles | |||
| 1954 | Trouble in the Glen | |||
| 1955 | Three Cases of Murder | |||
| 1955 | Napoléon | |||
| 1955 | Mr. Arkadin | |||
| 1956 | Moby Dick | |||
| 1957 | Man in the Shadow | |||
| 1958 | ' | |||
| 1958 | Touch of Evil | |||
| 1958 | ' | Narrator | Uncredited | |
| 1958 | South Seas Adventure | Narrator | ||
| 1958 | ' | |||
| 1959 | Masters of the Congo Jungle | Narrator | ||
| 1959 | Compulsion | |||
| 1959 | Ferry to Hong Kong | |||
| 1959 | High Journey | Narrator | ||
| 1960 | David and Goliath | Also director of his own scenes | ||
| 1960 | Crack in the Mirror | Hagolin/Lamerciere | ||
| 1960 | Austerlitz | |||
| 1961 | Lafayette | |||
| 1961 | ' | Burundai | ||
| 1961 | King of Kings | Narrator | ||
| 1962 | The Trial | |||
| 1962 | River of the Ocean | Narrator | ||
| 1962 | Ro.Go.Pa.G. | Film Director | "La ricotta" segment | |
| 1963 | The V.I.P.s | Max Buda | ||
| 1964 | In the Land of Don Quixote | Himself | ||
| 1964 | ' | Narrator | ||
| 1965 | ' | Narrator | ||
| 1965 | Marco the Magnificent | Ackermann | ||
| 1965 | Chimes at Midnight | |||
| 1966 | Is Paris Burning? | |||
| 1966 | ' | |||
| 1967 | Casino Royale | |||
| 1967 | ' | Louis of Mozambique | ||
| 1967 | I'll Never Forget What's'isname | |||
| 1968 | ' | |||
| 1968 | Oedipus the King | Tiresias | ||
| 1968 | Around the World of Mike Todd | Narrator | ||
| 1968 | House of Cards | |||
| 1968–1969 | Kampf um Rom | |||
| 1969 | Tepepa | |||
| 1969 | ' | Plankett | Also director of the opening scenes | |
| 1969 | ' | Shylock | Short film | |
| 1969 | 12 + 1 | |||
| 1969 | Battle of Neretva | Chetnik senator | ||
| 1970 | ' | Bresnavitch | ||
| 1970 | ' | Narrator | ||
| 1970 | Start the Revolution Without Me | Narrator | ||
| 1970 | Catch-22 | |||
| 1970 | Salvador Dalí: A Soft Self-Portrait | Narrator | ||
| 1970 | Waterloo | Louis XVIII | ||
| 1970 | Is It Always Right to Be Right? | Narrator | Animated short film | |
| 1970 | To Build a Fire | Narrator | ||
| 1971 | Malpertuis | |||
| 1971 | ' | Magician | ||
| 1971 | Ten Days' Wonder | |||
| 1971 | Freedom River | Narrator | ||
| 1971 | Sentinels of Silence | Narrator | Short film | |
| 1971 | Directed by John Ford | Narrator | ||
| 1972 | Necromancy | |||
| 1972 | Get to Know Your Rabbit | |||
| 1972 | Treasure Island | |||
| 1972 | Flames of Persia | Narrator | ||
| 1973 | Kelly Country | Narrator | ||
| 1973 | Who's Out There? | Himself | Short film | |
| 1973 | Battle of Sutjeska | |||
| 1973 | F for Fake | Himself | ||
| 1973 | Power and Corruption | Himself | Short educational film about Macbeth | |
| 1974 | And Then There Were None | Voice | ||
| 1974 | ' | Himself | ||
| 1975 | Bugs Bunny: Superstar | Narrator | ||
| 1975 | Rikki-Tikki-Tavi | Narrator | Animated short film | |
| 1976 | F for Fake trailer | Himself | ||
| 1976 | Voyage of the Damned | |||
| 1977 | ' | Narrator | ||
| 1977 | ' | Narrator | ||
| 1978 | Mysterious Castles of Clay | Narrator | ||
| 1978 | CPR For Citizens | Narrator | Educational film | |
| 1978 | ' | Narrator | English-language version | |
| 1979 | ' | Himself | ||
| 1979 | ' | |||
| 1979 | ' | Narrator | ||
| 1980 | ' | Narrator | ||
| 1980 | ' | |||
| 1980 | Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park | Narrator | ||
| 1981 | Search for the Titanic | Himself | ||
| 1981 | ' | Himself | ||
| 1981 | History of the World, Part I | Narrator | ||
| 1981 | ' | Narrator | Short film | |
| 1982 | Butterfly | |||
| 1982 | Genocide | Narrator | ||
| 1982 | Slapstick of Another Kind | Alien Father | ||
| 1984 | Where Is Parsifal? | Klingsor | ||
| 1984 | In Our Hands | Himself | ||
| 1984 | ' | Narrator | ||
| 1985 | Almonds and Raisins | Narrator | ||
| 1986 | ' | Pippo | Voice, English-language version; recorded in 1985; released posthumously | |
| 1986 | Hot Money | |||
| 1986 | ' | Unicron | Voice, recorded in 1985; released posthumously | |
| 1987 | Someone to Love | Danny's friend | Filmed in 1985; released posthumously |
Uncompleted films and television programs
| Year | Title | Role | |
| 1942 | It's All True | Narrator | |
| 1955 | "" | Presenter | |
| 1955 | Moby Dick—Rehearsed | Actor-Manager, Father Mapple, Captain Ahab | |
| 1957–1972 | Don Quixote | Himself, narrator, voice of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza | |
| 1967–1970 | ' | ||
| 1968 | Vienna | Himself | |
| 1968–1971 | One Man Band | Himself, one-man band, police constable, old battle-axe, old sailor, woman selling violets and dirty postcards, Chinese manager of Ye Olde Strip Club, recorder-player, four old English lords, Count Plumfield | |
| 1976–1985 | Orson Welles' Magic Show | Himself | |
| 1980 | ' | ||
| 1981 | Filming The Trial | Himself | |
| 1985 | King Lear |