Orson Welles

George Orson Welles
1915 - 1985 (heart attack)
American born Kenosha

Height 6' 1½" (1.87 m) . His father was a well-to-do inventor, his mother a beautiful concert pianist; Orson Welles was gifted in many arts (magic, piano, painting) as a child. When his mother died (he was nine) he traveled the world with his father. When his father died (he was fifteen) he became the ward of Chicago's Dr. Maurice Bernstein. 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 Katherine 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 next films were commercial failures and he exiled himself to Europe in 1948. In 1956 he directed Touch of Evil (1958); it failed in the U.S. 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 film maker has climbed steadily ever since. Spouse Paola Mori (8 May 1955 - 10 October 1985) (his death) 1 child, Rita Hayworth (7 September 1943 - 1 December 1948) (divorced) 1 child, Virginia Nicholson (14 November 1934 - 1 February 1940) (divorced) 1 child.

The Hitch Hiker (2004) , Moby Dick (1999) , Someone to Love (1987) , The Transformers: The Movie (1986) , The Enchanted Journey (1984) , Hot Money (1983) , Where Is Parsifal? (1983) , Butterfly (1982) , Slapstick (Of Another Kind) (1982) , History of the World: Part I (1981) , "Tales of the Klondike" (1981) , "Magnum, P.I." (1981) , Shogun (1980/I) , "Shogun" (1980/II) , Tajna Nikole Tesle (1980) , The Greenstone (1980) , The Double McGuffin (1979) , The Muppet Movie (1979) , The New Media Bible: Book of Genesis (1979) , A Woman Called Moses (1978) , Grande attacco, Il (1978) , It Happened One Christmas (1977) , Hot Tomorrows (1977) , Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1977), Some Call It Greed (1977) , Voyage of the Damned (1976) , Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (1975) , And Then There Were None (1974) , Necromancy (1972) , The Man Who Came to Dinner (1972) , Treasure Island (1972) , Get to Know Your Rabbit (1972) , Décade prodigieuse, La (1971) , "Night Gallery" (1971) , A Safe Place (1971) , Freedom River (1971) , Malpertuis (1971) , London (1971) , Waterloo (1970/I) , "The Name of the Game" (1970) , Catch-22 (1970) , Start the Revolution Without Me (1970) , The Kremlin Letter (1970) , Is It Always Right to Be Right? (1970) , The Deep (1970) , Upon This Rock (1970) , The Golden Honeymoon (1970) , Bitka na Neretvi (1969) , 12 + 1 (1969) , The Southern Star (1969) , Kampf um Rom II - Der Verrat (1969) , The Merchant of Venice (1969) , Kampf um Rom I (1968) , House of Cards (1968) , The Immortal Story (1968) , Tepepa (1968) , I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967) , Oedipus the King (1967) , The Sailor from Gibraltar (1967) , Casino Royale (1967) , A Man for All Seasons (1966) , Paris brûle-t-il? (1966) , Campanadas a medianoche (1965) , Fabuleuse aventure de Marco Polo, La (1965) , A King's Story (1965) , The V.I.P.s (1963) , Ro.Go.Pa.G. (1963) , Procès, Le (1962) , Tartari, I (1961) , King of Kings (1961) , La Fayette (1961) , Austerlitz (1960) , Crack in the Mirror (1960) , David e Golia (1960) , Ferry to Hong Kong (1959) , Compulsion (1959) , High Journey (1959), The Roots of Heaven (1958) , The Fountain of Youth (1958) , The Vikings (1958) , Touch of Evil (1958) , The Long, Hot Summer (1958) , Man in the Shadow (1957/I) , Moby Dick (1956) , "Ford Star Jubilee" (1956) , "The Orson Welles Sketchbook" (1955) , Mr. Arkadin (1955) , Napoléon (1955) , Three Cases of Murder (1955) , Moby Dick Rehearsed (1955) , Trouble in the Glen (1954) , Si Versailles m'était conté (1954) , King Lear (1953) , Uomo, la bestia e la virtù, L' (1953) , Trent's Last Case (1952) , The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice (1952) , Petit monde de Don Camillo, Le (1952) , The Black Rose (1950) , Prince of Foxes (1949) , Black Magic (1949) , The Third Man (1949) , Macbeth (1948) , The Lady from Shanghai (1947) , Duel in the Sun (1946) , The Stranger (1946) , Tomorrow Is Forever (1946) , Jane Eyre (1944) , Journey Into Fear (1943) , The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) , Citizen Kane (1941) , Swiss Family Robinson (1940) , Too Much Johnson (1938) , The Hearts of Age (1934)