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George Orson Welles (6 May 1915 – 10 October 1985), best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio. Noted for his innovative dramatic productions as well as his distinctive voice and personality, Welles is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished dramatic artists of the twentieth century, especially for his significant and influential early work—despite his notoriously contentious relationship with Hollywood. His distinctive directorial style featured layered, nonlinear narrative forms, innovative uses of lighting such as chiaroscuro, unique camera angles, sound techniques borrowed from radio, deep focus shots, and long takes. Welles’s long career in film is noted for his struggle for artistic control in the face of pressure from studios. Many of his films were heavily edited and others left unreleased.

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. It was reported to have caused widespread panic when listeners thought that an invasion by extraterrestrial beings was occurring. Although these reports of panic were mostly false and overstated, they rocketed Welles to instant notoriety.

SELECT WORKS
     –   Citizen Kane (1941): A drama film that examines the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane, played by Welles, a character based upon the American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and Welles’ own life. Welles’ first feature film, nominated for Academy Awards in nine categories. It won an Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) by Herman Mankiewicz and Welles.
     –   The Magnificent Ambersons (1942): The story of the Ambersons, an upper-class Indianapolis family, focusing on Major Amberson’s grandson, George. Adapted from the novel of the same name by Booth Tarkington.
     –   The Stranger (1946): A film that follows the hunt for a Nazi war criminal living under an alias in America.It is believed that this is the first film released after World War II that showed footage of concentration camps.
     –   The Lady From Shanghai (1947): A film noir that involves a fake insurance-related murder plot. Based on the novel If I Die Before I Wake by Sherwood King.
     –   Macbeth (1948): A low-budget version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, which featured extremely stylized sets and costumes, and a cast of actors lip-syncing to a pre-recorded soundtrack, one of many innovative cost-cutting techniques Welles deployed in an attempt to make an epic film from B-movie resources.
     –   Touch Of Evil (1958): An American crime thriller film featuring Charlton Heston, about a possible Mexican bomb exploding on American soil. Loosely based on the novel Badge Of Evil by Whit Masterson.
     –   The Trial (1962): A story about a bureaucrat who is accused of a never-specified crime, and a host of women who become involved in various ways in his trial and life. Based on the novel of the same name by Franz Kafka, and declared by Welles in a BBC interview as the best film he’d ever made.