Profile
Orson Welles
Broadcaster + Director + Actor
Male
Born
May 6, 1915
Hometown
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Died
Oct 10, 1985
Nationality
American
Alma Mater
Todd School for Boys
Other Names
Welles, George Orson
George Orson Welles was an American actor, director, writer and producer who worked extensively in theater, radio and film.
Family
Discover the family history of Orson Welles.
Orson Welles
d.1985
parents
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Richard Head WellesFather -
Beatrice IvesMother
children
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Rebecca WellesDaughter, d.2004 -
Beatrice WellesDaughter
News + Updates
Browse recent news and stories about Orson Welles.
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Karl Rove, The Movie? Texan Richard Linklater Will Film It. Orlando Sentinel (Blog)Google News - Sep 01, 2011
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Dark Matters: Twisted But True Series Premiere Pop MattersGoogle News - Aug 31, 2011
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Photographer Diane Arbus: A 'Slow Motion' Analysis NprGoogle News - Aug 30, 2011
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The Glorious Tragedy Of Julia Caesar Wall Street JournalGoogle News - Aug 25, 2011
Timeline
Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of Orson Welles.
CHILDHOOD

1915
Birth
Welles was born May 6, 1915, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, son of Richard Hodgdon Head Welles (1873, Missouri – December 28, 1930, Chicago, Illinois) and Beatrice (née Ives; 1882 or 1883, Springfield, Illinois – May 10, 1924, Chicago, Illinois).
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1924
9 Years Old
Beatrice died of jaundice in 1924 in a Chicago hospital a few days after Welles's ninth birthday.
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TEENAGE
1931
16 Years Old
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Welles made his stage debut at the Gate in 1931, appearing in Jew Suss as the Duke.
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1933
18 Years Old
An introduction by Thornton Wilder led Welles to the New York stage. In 1933, he toured in three off-Broadway productions with Katharine Cornell's company, including two roles in Romeo and Juliet.
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1934
19 Years Old
He married Chicago actress Virginia Nicholson in 1934 and that year he shot an eight-minute silent short film, The Hearts of Age with her.
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TWENTIES
A few minutes of the Welles production of Macbeth was recorded on film in a 1937 documentary called We Work Again.
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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' novel The War of the Worlds performed for the radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air.
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On October 28, 1940, Welles met H.G. Wells in San Antonio, Texas; a local radio station KTSA recorded the conversation, which was likely the only meeting between the two.
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Welles guest-starred on a great variety of shows, notably guest-hosting Jack Benny shows for a month in 1943.
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THIRTIES

In 1946, International Pictures released Welles's film The Stranger, starring Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, and Welles.
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The film Welles was obliged to make for Cohn in exchange for Cohn's help in completing Around the World in Eighty Days ended up being The Lady from Shanghai, filmed in 1947 for Columbia Pictures.
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They had one child, Rebecca Welles, and divorced five years later in 1948.

Welles also appeared as Cesare Borgia in the 1949 Italian film Prince of Foxes, with Tyrone Power and Mercury Theatre alumnus Everett Sloane, and as the Mongol warrior Bayan in the 1950 film version of the novel The Black Rose (again with Tyrone Power).
FORTIES
In 1955, Welles also directed two television series for the BBC.
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In 1956, Welles completed Portrait of Gina.
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In 1962 Welles directed his adaptation of The Trial, based on the novel by Franz Kafka and produced by Alexander Salkind and Michael Salkind.
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FIFTIES

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He continued taking what work he could find acting, narrating or hosting other people's work, and began filming Chimes at Midnight, which was completed in 1966.
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1967
52 Years Old
In 1967 Welles began directing The Deep, based on the novel Dead Calm by Charles Williams and filmed off the shore of Yugoslavia.
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1968
53 Years Old
In 1968 Welles began filming a TV special for CBS under the title Orson's Bag, combining travelogue, comedy skits and a condensation of Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice with Welles as Shylock.
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In 1969, Welles authorized the use of his name for a cinema in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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Drawn by the numerous offers he received to work in television and films, and upset by a tabloid scandal reporting his affair with Kodar, Welles abandoned the editing of Don Quixote and moved back to America in 1970.
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1971
56 Years Old
In 1971 Welles directed a short adaptation of Moby-Dick, a one-man performance on a bare stage, reminiscent of his 1955 stage production Moby Dick—Rehearsed.
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1972
57 Years Old
In 1972, Welles acted as on-screen narrator for the film documentary version of Alvin Toffler's 1970 book Future Shock.
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In 1973, Welles completed F for Fake, a personal essay film about art forger Elmyr de Hory and the biographer Clifford Irving.
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LATE ADULTHOOD
In 1982 the BBC broadcast The Orson Welles Story in the Arena series.
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In 1984, Welles narrated the short-lived television series Scene of the Crime.
On October 10, 1985, Welles did his final interview on The Merv Griffin Show.
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Original Authors of this text are noted on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Welles.
Text is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Text is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.



















