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Directing

Orson Welles

Career: Active from 1933 to 2026, busiest in 1970 with 12 main titles.

Leading roles: 116
top three billing

Average score: 65/100

Highest rated: Citizen Kane
91/100

What stands out

Compared with the average well-known movie, over 95 of their titles. Select a trait to filter titles.

Orson Welles Catalog average

Rarely in their work

Contemporary Realism
2.1, average 5.4
Situational Comedy
1.7, average 2.7
Coming of Age
2.0, average 3.0
Pop Culture
1.2, average 2.2

Main genres

Select a genre to see those titles.

Recurring tags

Political Intrigue 10
Psychological Thriller 8
Social Commentary 8
Character Study 7
Historical Drama 7
Historical Epic 5
Orson Welles 5
Orson Welles Narration 5
Character-Driven 5
Complex Characters 4
Thought-Provoking 4
Moral Ambiguity 4

Works often with

People in at least two of their main titles.

Movies and TV shows

244

Type

Role

Score

Decade

Genre

Group by

Upcoming

2 titles

Voyage of the Brigantine Yankee

as Narrator

Original Concept

2020s

9 titles · average score 57

Money Plane the Movie the Month: Honey Planet

as Prototype Jack

War of the Worlds

as narrator

WeirdWorld

as Troy2000 (Archive footage)

The Scorpion and the Frog

as Narrator (archive footage)

Human Nature in Eleven Parts

as Narrator "The Scorpion and the Frog" (archive footage)

The Battle of Grovers Mill

as Radio Host (voice) (archival footage)

Looking Back Before You Leap

as General Zaroff (voice)

From Introduction to Orson Welles’s Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight

as Falstaff

Hopper/Welles

57

Director

2010s

17 titles · average score 59

Halston

69

Theme Song Performance

The Other Side of the Wind

73

as Journalist (uncredited)

Thanks

The Brother Side of the Wake

Thanks

Embers & Dust

as Professor Richard Pierson / Self (voice) (archive sound)

Passage to Mars

39

Theme Song Performance

Too Much Johnson

55

as Keystone Kop (uncredited)

Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen

78

as (archive footage)

Dahmer vs. Gacy

33

Thanks

Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff

71

as Genghis Khan / Bayan (archive footage)

Jucy

as Elephant Lamp (archive sound)

Variations on a High School Romance

Thanks

2000s

12 titles · average score 59

Lucifer et moi

as (archive footage 1982)

Original Concept

The Deep

67

as Russ Brewer

The Hitchhiker

39

Original Concept

Orson Welles Talks With Roger Hill

as (Self)

The Hitch Hiker

as Ronald Adams

Filming 'The Trial'

74

Director, Producer

The Magnificent Ambersons

59

Original Film Writer

The Movie Movie (An Excerpt)

as (archive footage)

Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV

57

Thanks

NASA: A Space Odyssey Vol. 3

as Narrator

Moby Dick

as Captain Ahab / Starbuck / Ishmael (archive footage)

1990s

11 titles · average score 59

The Big Brass Ring

47

Writer

One Man Band

as Presenter / Various

The Way to Santiago

Writer

As Long as He Lives

Thanks

The Big Brass Ring

Writer

The Hearts of Age

Original Concept

Treasury of Children's Stories

Theme Song Performance

Valentines. A Bouquet of Letters and Poetry of Lovers

Theme Song Performance

It's All True

77

Director

Historias Breves 0: Distant encounters

Thanks

Don Quixote

51

Screenplay, Editor

1980s

37 titles · average score 61

The Transformers: The Movie

64

as Unicron (voice)

Scene of the Crime

TV show · Creator

Moonlighting

78

TV show · as Orson Welles

The Dreamers

as Marcus Kleek

Orson Welles' Magic Show

Writer, Producer

The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh

62

Director

Butterfly

43

as Judge Rauch

Genocide

74

as Narrator (voice)

The Man Who Saw Tomorrow

64

as Presenter / Narrator (voice)

Tales of the Klondike

TV show · as Narrator

The Secret of Nikola Tesla

67

as J.P. Morgan

The Greenstone

as Narrator (voice)

1970s

57 titles · average score 63

It Happened One Christmas

54

as Henry F. Potter

Bugs Bunny Superstar

67

as Narrator (voice)

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

75

as Narrator / Nag / Chuchundra (voice)

F for Fake

83

Director, Writer

Treasure Island

48

as Long John Silver

Malpertuis

65

as Cassavius

57

as Narrator

Necromancy

39

as Mr. Cato

The Man Who Came to Dinner

as Sheridan Whiteside

Directed by John Ford

76

as Narrator (voice)

A Safe Place

41

as The Magician

Waterloo

51

as Louis XVIII

1960s

42 titles · average score 62

Tepepa

62

as Colonel Cascorro

House of Cards

55

as Leschenhaut

Vienna

61

Director, Writer

The Immortal Story

81

as Charles Clay

The Fight for Rome

59

as Justinian

Casino Royale

46

as Le Chiffre

I'll Never Forget What's'isname

56

as Jonathan Lute

A Man for All Seasons

79

as Cardinal Wolsey

Chimes at Midnight

87

as Falstaff

Marco the Magnificent

52

as Akerman, Marco's Teacher

The Trial

81

as Albert Hastler

David and Goliath

42

as King Saul

1950s

34 titles · average score 70

Compulsion

88

as Jonathan Wilk

Ferry to Hong Kong

37

as Captain Hart

Touch of Evil

89

as Police Captain Hank Quinlan

The Long, Hot Summer

79

as Will Varner

The Fountain of Youth

68

as the narrator

Man in the Shadow

71

as Virgil Renchler

Mr. Arkadin

72

as Gregory Arkadin

Three Cases of Murder

67

as Lord Mountdrago ("Lord Mountdrago" segment)

Trouble in the Glen

51

as Sanin Cejador y Mengues

Trent's Last Case

57

as Sigsbee Manderson

Othello

82

as Othello

The Black Rose

56

as Bayan

1940s

19 titles · average score 72

Black Magic

65

as Joseph Balsamo aka Count Cagliostro

The Third Man

91

as Harry Lime

Prince of Foxes

63

as Cesare Borgia

Macbeth

73

as Macbeth

The Lady from Shanghai

81

as Michael O'Hara

Monsieur Verdoux

88

Story

The Stranger

80

as Prof. Charles Rankin

Tomorrow Is Forever

66

as John Andrew MacDonald

Jane Eyre

71

as Edward Rochester

Journey into Fear

63

as Colonel Haki

The Magnificent Ambersons

84

as Narrator (voice)

Citizen Kane

91

as Charles Foster Kane

1930s

4 titles · average score 57

The Green Goddess

as Rajah/Narrator

The Spanish Earth

66

as Narrator (voice)

The Hearts of Age

48

as Death

Twelfth Night

as Narrator