After accounting for inflation, the net worth of American actor, director, writer, and producer Orson Welles was $20 million when he passed away in 1985. Welles, George Orson, was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in May 1915; he died in October 1985. Welles dabbled in the film, radio, and stage industries.
The Broadway production of Caesar in 1937, the premiere of the Mercury Theatre in 1938 (which included one of the most famous radio broadcasts, “The War of the Worlds”), and the film “Citizen Kane” in 1941 are some of his most well-known works. It was his radio play of H.G. Wells’ “The War of the Worlds” that brought him to prominence.
The widespread fear that aliens had invaded the planet was sparked by the broadcast. In 2002, he was named the best director of all time in two separate polls conducted by the British Film Institute amongst film critics and directors.
Welles was honored with both a Best Director Oscar for 1942’s Citizen Kane and an Honorary Oscar in 1971. Furthermore, he has three Grammys for best-spoken word recording. He received the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award in 1975.
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What was Orson Welles’ Net Worth?
| Net Worth: | $20 Million |
| Date of Birth: | May 6, 1915 – Oct 10, 1985 (70 years old) |
| Place of Birth: | Kenosha |
| Gender: | Male |
| Height: | 6 ft (1.854 m) |
| Profession: | Film Director, Film Producer, Screenwriter, Actor, Television Director, Playwright, Film Editor, Theatre Director, Costume Designer, Production Designer |
| Nationality: | United States of America |
Orson Welles’ Early Life.
Welles’s parents, Richard Head Welles and Beatrice Ives Welles welcomed him into the world on May 6, 1915, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Although Welles was born into affluence, his upbringing was not easy.
After his parents divorced in 1919, Welles and his mom relocated to Windy City. His father had become an alcoholic and quit working despite having made a fortune from developing a bicycle lamp.
His mother put food on the table for him and his brother by playing the piano during classes at the Art Institute of Chicago. There was an elder sibling to Welles, but due to learning problems, he was institutionalized at a young age.
The year after Welles turned 9, his mother passed away from hepatitis. Welles moved in with his father, who took him on a world tour on a whim before dying of kidney failure in 1930, marking the beginning of a difficult period in his life.
Welles went to the elite Illinois boys’ school Todd Seminary because of his high IQ. There, he was given the freedom to express his artistic side and even put on stage shows. After completing his studies at Todd, Welles was accepted to both Harvard and Cornell universities, but he opted to take some time off and see the world.
Orson Welles’ Career.
After professing to be a Broadway star, Welles started his theatre career in Dublin at the Gate Theatre. When the management saw his potential, he cast him in the lead part of “Jew Suss” and then cast him in several supporting roles in other Gate plays.
It was difficult for him to maintain employment abroad, so he eventually moved back to the United States. He became a member of a repertory theatre and performed alongside them in productions of “Romeo and Juliet” and “Candida.”
Welles started out in radio in 1934, working for “The American School of the Air.” Additionally, he started a career as a radio actor in New York City and achieved rapid success. In 1935, Welles became a part of the Federal Theatre Project, where he stayed until 1937 when he left to start his own repertory company, the Mercury Theatre. Caesar, an adaptation of “Julius Caesar,” was the first play performed by the company in 1937.
Welles, whose theatre company was doing well, kept busy in radio and eventually launched a radio version of the company called “The Mercury Theatre on the Air.” H.G. Wells’ “The War of the Worlds” was adapted by him in 1938, and it was broadcast so often and so convincingly that some people actually thought Martians were invading Earth.
Given Welles’s lack of filmmaking experience at the time, the contract that RKO Radio Pictures offered him is widely regarded as among the best ever awarded to a director. In 1941, “Citizen Kane,” Welles’ first film as a writer, producer, and director, was honored with the best picture prize from the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics Circle. It is still considered among the best movies of all time.
After “The Magnificent Ambersons,” “The Lady from Shanghai,” “Touch of Evil,” “Chimes at Midnight,” and “F for Fake,” he went on to direct and produce 11 more features throughout the course of his decades-long career. The release of his last picture, “The Other Side of the World,” came after his death in 2018.
Welles was deemed the best director of all time in 2002 by both directors and critics polled by the British Film Institute. He is one of the 50 best Hollywood actors of all time, according to “The Daily Telegraph.”
Orson Welles’ Personal Life and Death.
Welles wed Virginia Nicolson, a Chicago-born actress, and socialite, in 1934. In 1939, the couple began living apart, and by 1940, they had divorced. The fact that Welles had developed romantic feelings for the Mexican actress Dolores del Rio was a significant factor in the couple’s decision to separate.
Welles had a secret romance with the actress beginning in 1939, after being obsessed with her since adolescence. When Del Rio finally ended her marriage, she and her new partner made public appearances together. But Welles’s cheating eventually drove a wedge between them.
After that, he began dating and eventually wed Rita Hayworth in 1943. In 1947, the couple officially separated. After dating for a while, he eventually married actress Paola Mori in 1955. Even though Welles had a number of other girlfriends, he and his wife never actually split up. Oja Kodar, an artist and actress from Croatia, was his constant companion for the last two decades of his life.
Three of Welles’ daughters were born to various wives and girlfriends. It has also been speculated that he fathered a son with Irish actress Geraldine Fitzgerald named British director Michael Lindsay-Hogg, though this has never been confirmed.
Welles died of a heart attack early on October 10, 1985. When he passed away, he was 70 years old. A small group of family and friends gathered for a private funeral service afterward. Directors Guild of America hosted a public memorial service where celebrities like Charlton Heston, Geraldine Fitzgerald, and Charles Champlin spoke. His cremains was interred in a well on the property of his friend and fellow bullfighter Antonio Ordonez in Ronda, Spain.