Orson Welles's biography

George Orson Welles is 70 years old film actor born at Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA. Orson was born on Thursday 6th of May 1915. Orson is often nicknamed as George Orson Welles, Orson Welles. According to year of birth 1915 he belongs to Greatest Generation. Birthday on 6th of May means Orson is Taurus. Taurus is most stable sign of Zodiac, that is the reason it is also included in the earthy sign of the Zodiac Belt. One born with this Moon Sign (Not a Rising Sign) is very stable and balanced through their mind.Orson was married 3 times.

Orson is native english speaker. He is white american. Orson is citizen of United States of America. He is atheist. His primary profession is to be film actor. You can know him also as theatrical director, film director, film producer, film editor, screenwriter, librettist, character actor, playwright, radio personality, magician, stage actor, theatrical producer, television actor, voice actor, actor. Orson is recently known as director. Orson received Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay Citizen Kane in 1940

Orson Welles's dad

Orson Welles's father's name is Richard Head Welles.

Orson Welles's mom

Orson Welles's mother's name is Beatrice Ives.

Orson Welles's family

Orson Welles's ex wifes

Rita Hayworth

Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth have been together since 1943 for 5 years. Rita is known as film actor. Orson´s ex wife was born on Thursday 17th of October 1918 in New York City. His ex wife died on Thursday 14th of May 1987. Rita Hayworth was 72 years old, when this happened.

Paola Mori

Orson Welles and Paola Mori have been together since 1955 for 30 years. She is known as actor. His ex wife was born in 1930 in Italy. His ex wife died on Tuesday 12th of August 1986 in Las Vegas Valley. Paola Mori was 71 years old, when this happened.

Virginia Nicolson

Orson Welles and Virginia Nicolson have been together. She is known as actor. Orson´s ex wife was born on Wednesday 1st of March 1916 in Chicago. Orson´s ex wife died in 1996. Virginia Nicolson was 81 years old, when this happened.

He has 1 son and 2 daughters

Orson Welles's son: Michael Lindsay-Hogg

Orson Welles's son's name is Michael Lindsay-Hogg. He is known as film director. Orson´s son was born on Sunday 5th of May 1940 in New York City.

Orson Welles's daughter: Rebecca Welles

Orson Welles's daughter's name is Rebecca Welles. His daughter was born in 1944. His daughter died in 2004. Rebecca Welles was 89 years old, when this happened.

Orson Welles's daughter: Beatrice Welles

Orson Welles's daughter's name is Beatrice Welles. She is known as model. Orson´s daughter was born on Sunday 13th of November 1955 in Manhattan.

Orson Welles's schools

We found 2 schools Orson attended. Complete list of schools: Todd Seminary for Boys, School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Detailed informations about Orson´s schools

He studied high school - Todd School, Woodstock, IL (1930).

Orson Welles's career

Orson´s main focus is to be film actor. Orson is famous thanks to Citizen Kane. He is also a member of Académie des beaux-arts.

Is Orson Welles gay ?

Orson is known to be straight.

Orson Welles's girlfriends

Dolores del Rio

Orson Welles and Dolores Del Rio have been together. She is known as actor. Orson´s girlfriend was born on Wednesday 3rd of August 1904 in Durango. Orson´s girlfriend died on Monday 11th of April 1983 in Newport Beach. Dolores Del Rio was 68 years old, when this happened.

Oja Kodar

Orson Welles and Oja Kodar have been together since 1966 for 19 years. She is known as film director. Orson´s girlfriend was born in 1941 in Zagreb.

How did Orson Welles die

Orson died on on Thursday 10th of October 1985 when he was 70 years old. Orson Welless death was caused by heart failure. It happend like natural causes.

Awards and competitions

Orson Welles's Awards

One of only six actors to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his first starring role. The other five actors are: Paul Muni, Lawrence Tibbett, Alan Arkin, James Dean and Montgomery Clift.
He was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 1600 Vine Street; and for Radio at 6652 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
He was the youngest person ever nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards at the age of twenty-six. He held the title for fifty years until John Singleton was nominated for Boyz n the Hood (1991) at the age of twenty-four.

Orson Welles's Rankings

Ranked #9 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Greatest Directors Ever!" [2005].
His performance as Harry Lime in The Third Man (1949) is ranked #93 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
His performance as Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane (1941) is ranked #12 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.

Orson Welles's Nominations

He was nominated for Academy Award for Best Actor for work Citizen Kane in 1941
Orson was nominated for Academy Award for Best Director
Orson was nominated for Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay
He was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor for work Butterfly in 1983

What Orson Welles has done for a first time

One of only six actors to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his first starring role. The other five actors are: Paul Muni, Lawrence Tibbett, Alan Arkin, James Dean and Montgomery Clift.
He was born on the same day that Babe Ruth hit his very first home run.
He was George Lucas' first choice as the voice for Darth Vader in Star Wars (1977), but he thought the voice would be too recognizable. However, Welles did narrate the trailers for the film.
Became a father for the first time at age 22 when his first wife Virginia Nicolson gave birth to their daughter Christopher Welles on March 27, 1938.

Orson Welles's quotes

Even if the good old days never existed, the fact that we can conceive such a world is, in fact, an affirmation of the human spirit.
[on pop idol Donny Osmond] He has Van Gogh's ear for music.
I'm not very fond of movies. I don't go to them much.
I started at the top and worked down.
I'm not bitter about Hollywood's treatment of me, but over its treatment of D.W. Griffith, Josef von Sternberg, Erich von Stroheim, Buster Keaton and a hundred others.
Movie directing is the perfect refuge for the mediocre.
[on Hollywood in the 1980s] We live in a snake pit here... I hate it but I just don't allow myself to face the fact that I hold it in contempt because it keeps on turning out to be the only place to go.
I hate television. I hate it as much as peanuts. But I can't stop eating peanuts.
If there hadn't been women we'd still be squatting in a cave eating raw meat, because we made civilization in order to impress our girlfriends. And they tolerated it and let us go ahead and play with our toys.
[on Citizen Kane (1941) being colorized] Keep Ted Turner and his goddamned Crayolas away from my movie.
[At RKO Radio Pictures working on "Heart of Darkness", a film he later abandoned] This is the biggest electric train set any boy ever had!
My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people.
I think it is always a tremendously good formula in any art form to admit the limitations of the form.
I don't pray because I don't want to bore God.
A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet.
I have the terrible feeling that, because I am wearing a white beard and am sitting in the back of the theater, you expect me to tell you the truth about something. These are the cheap seats, not Mount Sinai.
The word "genius" was whispered into my ear, the first thing I ever heard, while I was still mewling in my crib. So it never occurred to me that I wasn't until middle age.
I passionately hate the idea of being with it; I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time.
I'm not rich. Never have been. When you see me in a bad movie as an actor (I hope not as a director), it is because a good movie has not been offered to me. I often make bad films in order to live.
Everybody denies that I am genius - but nobody ever called me one.
A good artist should be isolated. If he isn't isolated, something is wrong.
Hollywood is the only industry, even taking in soup companies, which does not have laboratories for the purpose of experimentation.
I do not suppose I shall be remembered for anything. But I don't think about my work in those terms. It is just as vulgar to work for the sake of posterity as to work for the sake of money.
Race hate isn't human nature; race hate is the abandonment of human nature.
Living in the lap of luxury isn't bad, except you never know when luxury is going to stand up.
If spiritually you're part of the cat family, you can't bear to be laughed at. You have to pretend when you fall down that you really wanted to be down there to see what's under the sofa. The rest of us don't at all mind being laughed at.
[on his favorite directors] I prefer the old masters; by which I mean: John Ford, John Ford and John Ford.
[on James Cagney] No one was more unreal and stylized, yet there is no moment when he was not true.
[on Federico Fellini] His films are a small-town boy's dream of a big city. His sophistication works because it is the creation of someone who doesn't have it. But he shows dangerous signs of being a superlative artist with little to say.
[on Edward G. Robinson] An immensely effective actor.
The optimists are incapable of understanding what it means to adore the impossible.
[on Stanley Kubrick] Among the young generation, Kubrick strikes me as a giant.
[to Dick Cavett] I'm always sorry to hear that anybody I admire has been an actor... When did you go straight?
[on Nostradamus' ability to predict the future] One might as well make predictions based on random passages from the phone book.
The only good artists are feminine. I don't believe an artist exists whose dominant characteristic is not feminine. It's nothing to do with homosexuality, but intellectually an artist must be a man with feminine aptitudes.
A poet needs a pen, a painter a brush, and a director an army.
I liked the cinema better before I began to do it. Now I can't stop myself from hearing the clappers at the beginning of each shot. All the magic is destroyed.
[on Anthony Asquith] One of the nicest, most intelligent people who was ever in films... and my God, he was polite. I saw him, all alone on the stage once, trip on an electric cable, turn around, and say, "I beg your pardon" to it.
I have all the equipment to be a politician. Total shamelessness.
[on Gary Cooper] You'd see him working on the set and you'd think, "My God, they're going to have to retake that one!". He almost didn't seem to BE there. And then you'd see the rushes, and he'd fill the screen.
We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone.
Hollywood died on me as soon as I got there. I wish to God I'd gone there sooner. It was the rise of the independents that was my ruin as a director.
[on the many documentary films he had narrated] I never saw the movies. That's always been a condition of mine in narrating a film--that I don't have to see any footage. Otherwise, I won't accept the job.
[on Luis BuÃ±uel] He's a deeply Christian man who hates God as only a Christian can and, of course, he's very Spanish.
[on working with Charlton Heston] All you have to do is point and Chuck can go in any direction. He's spent a lot of years being a movie star.
[asked about the rumor that he directed part of Compulsion (1959), credited to Richard Fleischer] Dick Fleischer is a director who doesn't need and wouldn't welcome any help from me.
[on his friend William Faulkner] I never saw him anything but wildly drunk through the years. He must have been sober to produce that great body of work.
You know, I always loved Hollywood. It was just never reciprocated.
[on seeing his own films] I never like to see my movies because I like to remember them as being so much better than they really were.

Orson Welles's height, body shape, eye color

Lets describe how Orson Welles looks. We will focus on his height, body shape, eye color and hair color. Orson is tall as 6' 1½" (187 cm). Body build is large. His eyes are tinted brown - dark. His hair is shade of black.

Orson Welles