Orson Welles

American actor and filmmaker (1915–1985)

  • Audience1.1K
  • Fame74.1
  • Momentum0.0
Source-basedFalling
1.1K youtube followers
  • Audience1.1K
  • Fame74.1
  • Momentum0.0
  • Directors rank#49
  • Wikipedia187.9K
Lived 1915–1985, aged 70United States
  • Biggest on YouTube
    1.1K
    @@raykellywellesnet
  • Wikipedia
    88 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Era
    1915–1985
    Aged 70
  • Known for
    Citizen Kane
    1941
Summary
Updated 2026-06-21

At 23, he convinced America that Martians had landed — a radio hoax that turned into the kind of contract Hollywood had never given anyone. He spent the rest of his life making films the studios didn't understand and chasing money they wouldn't give him.

Biography

About

Welles was directing high-profile stage productions in New York by 21, starting with a 1936 Macbeth with an African-American cast and ending with The Cradle Will Rock in 1937. He and John Houseman founded the Mercury Theatre, which ran Broadway productions through 1941. In 1938, his radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds made some listeners believe a Martian invasion was real, rocketing him to international fame and drawing Hollywood offers. His first film was Citizen Kane (1941), which he co-wrote, produced, directed, and starred in — consistently ranked among the greatest fi…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Orson Welles

Orson Welles
said
Just breathe at the end of the line or on the punctuation — if you lose that, and lose the iambic pentameter, you'll lose all the sense of what you're saying.
To actor Keith Baxter (probably in 1964) during production of Chimes at Midnight, from an interview of Baxter by Geoff Andrew at a British
Orson Welles
said
I have always been more interested in experiment, than in accomplishment.
1960–1985
Orson Welles
said
I don't take art as seriously as politics.
1960–1985
Orson Welles
said
I don't regard my career as something so precious that it comes before my convictions.
From an interview with Bernard Braden in Orson Welles: The Paris Interview for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (1960)
Orson Welles
said
As for my style, for my vision of the cinema, editing is not simply one aspect; it's the aspect.
From André Bazin "Interview with Orson Welles", Cahiers du Cinéma, no. 84 (June 1958), as cited in Jean Mitry and Christopher King The
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Listen & Watch

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On YouTube

Deep cuts

Filmography

Low confidence
Deep cuts

TV credits

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Deep cuts

Awards

Low confidence
  • Commander of the Legion of Honour
  • AFI Life Achievement Award
  • honorary doctorate from the University of Paris-VII
By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Falling
74.1
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Historical30.8
Source confidence75.0
Completeness85.0
Global rank
Country rank
Category rank
#49
Receipts

Sources

  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence