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In Memoriam · 1915 – 1985
Orson Welles

Person · Actor

Orson Welles

A prodigious visionary defies Hollywood's constraints and redefines cinema through bold innovation, leaving a legacy as one of the most influential filmmakers in history.

Born
June 17, 1915
Died
1985
From
Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA·Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA
Height
1.83 m (6'0")
  • Also:
  • Writer
  • Director
191
Credits on file
10
Decades active
14
Awards

In short · Acted for 10 decades — 191 credits, 8 Academy Award wins.

Recent & in release

  1. In release

    Charmed Lives: A Family Romance

  2. Award win

    Commander Of The Legion Of Honour — Commander of the Legion of Honour

  3. Award win

    Afi Life Achievement Award — AFI Life Achievement Award

  4. Award win

    Honorary Doctorate From The University Of Paris Vii — honorary doctorate from the University of Paris-VII

  5. Award win

    Academy Honorary Award — Academy Honorary Award

Biography

His father, Richard Head Welles, was a well-to-do inventor, his mother, Beatrice (Ives) Welles, a beautiful concert pianist; Orson Welles was gifted in many arts (magic, piano, painting) as a child. When his mother died in 1924 (when he was nine) he traveled the world with his father. He was orphaned at 15 after his father's death in 1930 and became the ward of Dr. Maurice Bernstein of Chicago. In 1931, he graduated from the Todd School in Woodstock, Illinois. He turned down college offers for a sketching tour of Ireland. He tried unsuccessfully to enter the London and Broadway stages, traveling some more in Morocco and Spain, where he fought in the bullring. Recommendations by Thornton Wilder and Alexander Woollcott got him into Katharine Cornell's road company, with which he made his New York debut as Tybalt in 1934. The same year, he married, directed his first short, and appeared on radio for the first time. He began working with John Houseman and formed the Mercury Theatre with him in 1937. In 1938, they produced "The Mercury Theatre on the Air", famous for its broadcast version of "The War of the Worlds" (intended as a Halloween prank). His first film to be seen by the public was Citizen Kane (1941), a commercial failure losing RKO $150,000, but regarded by many as the best film ever made. Many of his subsequent films were commercial failures and he exiled himself to Europe in 1948. In 1956, he directed Touch of Evil (1958); it failed in the United States but won a prize at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. In 1975, in spite of all his box-office failures, he received the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 1984, the Directors Guild of America awarded him its highest honor, the D.W. Griffith Award. His reputation as a filmmaker steadily climbed thereafter.

Family & relationships

Parents
Richard Head Welles
Other
Richard Ives Welles(Sibling)

Filmography · 144 of 144

Streaming

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Director

6 credits

Writer

3 credits

Actor

101 credits

Editor

5 credits

Other crew

29 credits

Awards & Nominations

8 wins · 6 nominations

Golden Lion

  • Won1970Golden Lion

Palme D Or

  • Won1952Palme d'Or

Golden Raspberry Award

  • Nom1983Worst Supporting Actor - Razzie Award

Academy Award

  • Nom1942Best Director
  • Nom1942Best Actor
  • Nom1942Best Writing, Original Screenplay
More awards & festivals (8) — regional academies & film-festival prizes

Academy Awards

  • Won1970Oscar — Honorary Award
  • Won1941Oscar — Writing (original Screenplay)
  • Nom1941Oscar — Actor in a Leading Role
  • Nom1941Oscar — Directing

Commander Of The Legion Of Honour

  • Won1982Commander of the Legion of Honour

Afi Life Achievement Award

  • Won1975AFI Life Achievement Award

Honorary Doctorate From The University Of Paris Vii

  • Won1974honorary doctorate from the University of Paris-VII

Academy Honorary Award

  • Won1970Academy Honorary Award

Originals

Streaming originals this person worked on.

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Additional credits47Show

Non-headline appearances — talk-show, awards-show, panel, and archive-footage credits, kept separate from the main filmography.

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