Orson Welles

The son of Richard Head Welles, an inventor and manufacturer, and Beatrice Ives Welles, a pianist, Orson Welles was raised in Chicago and elsewhere in the Midwest. His mother died when he was nine, and after his father's death a family friend, Dr. Maurice Bernstein, became his guardian. At the Todd School for Boys in Woodstock, Illinois, he staged plays and performed music. After graduation he traveled to Ireland and, at 16, made his stage debut at the Gate Theatre in Dublin. He then worked in New York theater, and in 1936 he directed a landmark Federal Theatre Project production of Macbeth with an all-Black cast, set in Haiti. In 1937 he co-founded the Mercury Theatre with John Houseman.

The Mercury's radio series led to Welles's 1938 adaptation of H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, staged as a series of breaking-news bulletins. The broadcast caused a public scare, though the extent of the panic has been debated, and it made Welles a national name. RKO then signed him to a contract that gave him unusual creative control. His first feature, Citizen Kane (1941), co-written with Herman J. Mankiewicz, won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and was nominated for nine Oscars. Its release was shadowed by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst's campaign against the film.

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) was cut by RKO while Welles was in Brazil, beginning a pattern of studio conflicts that frustrated his Hollywood career. He spent much of the postwar era in Europe, directing Othello (1951), Mr. Arkadin (1955), The Trial (1962), and Chimes at Midnight (1965); he also directed Touch of Evil (1958) and acted in films such as The Third Man (1949). He was married three times, including to Rita Hayworth from 1943 to 1948. His later years brought an honorary Academy Award in 1971 and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1975. He died in 1985.

Orson Welles was born on May 6, 1915 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States. In Cardology (Destiny Cards), May 6, 1915 corresponds to the King of Diamonds, making the King of Diamonds his Birth Card.

In numerology, the name adds another layer to the birth-date profile. The letters of a person’s name are used to explore inner motivation, personality, expression, and the qualities they bring into relationships and everyday life. Explore how his original name George Orson Welles influences his life and personality.