Want to know the best Orson Welles movies? How about the worst Orson Welles movies? Curious about Orson Welles’s box office grosses or which Orson Welles movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Orson Welles movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
One of our goals here at Ultimate Movie Rankings is do a career movie page on every member of the American Film Institute’s Top 50 Greatest Screen Legends list. Orson Welles (1915-1985) is ranked as the 16th greatest actor on that list. Welles is just behind #15 Gene Kelly and just ahead of #17 Kirk Douglas.
Orson Welles was an American actor, director, writer, and producer who worked in theater, radio, and film. In 1937 he gained notoriety for his adaptation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. In 1938 he broadcast one of the most famous radio shows ever…The War of the Worlds. In 1941 he released his movie masterpiece Citizen Kane. Citizen Kane is consistently ranked as one of the all-time greatest films. Orson Welles on his early success…”I started at the top and worked down”.
His IMDb page shows 123 acting credits, 54 writing credits and 48 directing credits from 1934-2015. This page will rank 76 Orson Welles movies in two separate tables. The first table ranks 42 Welles movies from Best to Worst in seven different sortable columns of information. Television shows, his many shorts and cameos were not included in the rankings. The second table ranks another 34 Welles movies but does NOT include box office results. To calculate our Ultimate Movie Rankings score box office grosses are required so the movies had to be separated from the movies that box office grosses are known.
Drivel part of the page part 1: When I think about Orson Welles usually my mind will go to one of his all-time classic movies like Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, Touch of Evil and The Third Man. Those movies were not known to me as a kid, but Orson Welles was known to me for three reasons: (1) Welles’ “Paul Masson will sell no wine before its time.” commercials. (2) Welles’ role as Lew Lord in The Muppet Movie and (3) Welles’ movie about Nostradamus….The Man Who Saw Tomorrow….. scared the hell out of me when I was younger. So no matter how old I get, my first memories of Orson Welles will always be that “Old guy in The Muppet Movie, that did wine commercials, and made a movie that convinced me the world would end before 2000”.
Drivel part of the page part 2: I have written close to 300 movie pages over the years. This by far was one of the most difficult pages to complete. Usually we are able to find box office numbers on about 70% to 90% of the movies a performer appeared in. This time we were only able to find box office numbers on a little over half of the Welles movies. So not wanting to exclude half of Orson’s movies we included a second table that shows everything but box office grosses. We might not know the actual box office for those movies….but….we do feel confident that the 34 movies listed in the second table made next to nothing when it comes to box office grosses.
Orson Welles Movies Can Be Ranked 7 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Orson Welles movies by co-stars of his movies.
- Sort Orson Welles movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Orson Welles movies by domestic box office rank
- Sort Orson Welles movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each Orson Welles movie received and how many Oscar® wins each Orson Welles movie won.
- Sort Orson Welles movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
- Use the search and sort button to make this page very interactive.
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From Our Orson Welles Tables
- Fourteen Orson Welles movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 33.33% of his movies listed. A Man for All Seasons (1966) was his biggest box office ht when looking at adjusted domestic box office gross.
- An average Orson Welles movie grosses $71.90 million in adjusted box office gross….only the 40 movies that box office grosses are known.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 53 of Orson Welles’s movies are rated as good movies…or 70.66% of his movies. Citizen Kane (1941) is his highest rated movie while Royal Affairs in Versailies (1954) was his lowest rated movie.
- Thirteen Orson Welles movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 17.33% of his movies.
- Four Orson Welles movie won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 5.33% of his movies.
- A “good movie” Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 60.00. 24 Orson Welles movies scored higher than that average….or 57.14% of his movies. A Man for All Seasons (1966) got the the highest UMR Score while Royal Affairs in Versailies (1954) got the lowest UMR Score.
Orson Welles Movies Can Be Ranked 5 Ways In This Table
The big difference in this table is the fact that there are NO BOX OFFICE GROSSES listed. All the movies listed did play in North American theaters….just can not find ANY box office stats on these movies. That being said all of these movies barely made a dent in North American box offices.
- Sort Orson Welles movies by the year they were made.
- Sort Orson Welles movies by his job in the movie
- Sort Orson Welles movies by co-stars of his movies.
- Sort Orson Welles movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each Orson Welles movie received and how many Oscar® wins each Orson Welles movie won.
- Use the search and sort button to make this page very interactive.
| Rank | Movie (Year) | Year | Welles' Job In Movie | Co-Stars | Audience Critic Rating | Oscar Nom / Win |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F For Fake | 1973 | Actor, Writer, Director | Elmyr de Hory | 83.5% | 00 / 00 | |
| Tajna Nikole Tesle | 1980 | Actor | Peta Bozovic | 73.5% | 00 / 00 | |
| Ro.Go.Pa.G. | 1963 | Actor | Directed by Jean-Luc Godard | 71.0% | 00 / 00 | |
| Three Cases of Murder | 1955 | Actor, Director | Elizabeth Sellars | 69.5% | 00 / 00 | |
| Confidential Report | 1955 | Actor, Writer, Director | Michael Redgrave | 68.3% | 00 / 00 | |
| South Sea Adventure | 1958 | Narrator | Diane Beardmore | 68.0% | 00 / 00 | |
| I'll Never Forget What's 'isname | 1967 | Actor | Oliver Reed | 67.5% | 00 / 00 | |
| The Enchanted Journey | 1984 | Voice Role | Jim Backus | 67.2% | 00 / 00 | |
| Malpertius | 1971 | Actor | Mathieu Carriere | 67.0% | 00 / 00 | |
| Someone to Love | 1988 | Actor | Sally Kellerman | 66.3% | 00 / 00 | |
| Twelve Plus One | 1969 | Actor | Sharon Tate | 66.0% | 00 / 00 | |
| The Battle of Sutjeska | 1973 | Actor | Richard Burton | 65.5% | 00 / 00 | |
| The Sailor From Gilbratar | 1967 | Actor | Vanessa Redgrave | 65.0% | 00 / 00 | |
| Tepepa | 1969 | Actor | Tomas Milian | 64.5% | 00 / 00 | |
| The New Media Bible: Book of Genesis | 1979 | Narrator | Topol | 64.0% | 00 / 00 | |
| Hot Tomorrows | 1977 | Voice Only | Ken Lerner | 63.5% | 00 / 00 | |
| The Battle of Austerlitz | 1960 | Actor | Directed by Abel Gance | 63.0% | 00 / 00 | |
| Ten Days Wonder | 1971 | Actor | Anthony Perkins | 62.8% | 00 / 00 | |
| Napoleon | 1955 | Director | Jean-Pierre Aumont | 62.5% | 00 / 00 | |
| Lafayette | 1961 | Actor | Jack Hawkins | 61.8% | 00 / 00 | |
| Hot Money | 1983 | Actor | Michael Murphy | 60.5% | 00 / 00 | |
| Trouble in the Glen | 1954 | Actor | Victor McLaglen | 59.0% | 00 / 00 | |
| Trent's Last Case | 1952 | Actor | Michael Wilding | 58.0% | 00 / 00 | |
| To Build A Fire | 1969 | Narrator | Ian Hogg | 57.5% | 00 / 00 | |
| Ten Little Indians | 1974 | Voice Only | Oliver Reed | 53.0% | 00 / 00 | |
| David and Goliath | 1960 | Actor | Ivica Pajer | 52.5% | 00 / 00 | |
| The Last Roman | 1968 | Actor | Laurence Harvey | 47.0% | 00 / 00 | |
| Oedipus The King | 1968 | Actor | Christopher Plummer | 44.5% | 00 / 00 | |
| House of Cards | 1968 | Actor | George Peppard | 44.3% | 00 / 00 | |
| Necromancy | 1972 | Actor | Pamela Franklin | 44.0% | 00 / 00 | |
| Ferry To Hong Kong | 1959 | Actor | Curd Jürgens | 42.0% | 00 / 00 | |
| Where Is Parsifal? | 1984 | Actor | Tony Curtis | 41.5% | 00 / 00 | |
| Royal Affairs in Versailies | 1954 | Actor | Michel Auclair | 40.0% | 00 / 00 |
Possibly Interesting Facts About Orson Welles
1. George Orson Welles was born May 6, 1915, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Babe Ruth hit his first home run the day Welles was born.
2. Orson Welles was an orphan at the age of 15. His mother passed away when he was 7 and his father passed away when he was 15.
3. Orson Welles had one of the most recognizable deep voices in all of film, radio or television.
4. Orson Welles and John Houseman founded their own repertory company, which they called the Mercury Theater in 1937.
5. The original Mercury Theater company included such actors as Joseph Cotten, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Arlene Francis, Norman Lloyd and Vincent Price..
6. Orson Welles was married three times. His second marriage was to actress, Rita Hayworth from 1943 to 1948. Welles had 4 children.
7. Orson Welles was nominated for three Oscars®. All three of his nominations came for Citizen Kane (1941). He was nominated for Best Director and Best Actor….he won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar®. Welles received a Honorary Oscar® in 1971. Welles received one Golden Globe® nomination….Best Supporting Actor in 1982’s Butterfly.
8. Orson Welles is one of only six actors to receive an Oscar® nomination for Best Actor for his first screen appearance. The other five actors are: Paul Muni, Lawrence Tibbett, Alan Arkin, James Dean and Montgomery Clift.
9. Roles Orson Welles almost got: Marlon Brando role in The Godfather, Darth Vadar voice in Star Wars, Mr. Rourke role on television’s Fantasy Island. Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now and either the Friar Tuck or King Richard role in Errol Flynn’s classic The Adventures of Robin Hood.
10. Orson Welles and Yul Brynner died on the same exact day. Longtime friend Joseph Cotten did not attend Welles memorial service…..but he did send the following Shakespeare sonnet….”But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, All losses are restored and sorrows end”.
Check out Orson Welles’s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time. A fun Orson Welles website to check out is Steve Lensman’s Orson Welles Movie Posters.
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AFI’s Top 25 Screen Legend Actors….with links to my movie pages on the Screen Legend
Steve Lensman’s Orson Welles You Tube Video
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For comments….all you need is a name and a comment….please ignore the rest.
Steve’s latest expanded video has a home on UMR…..my very recent comments on the video.
“The big man gets an update. I have seen 15 of these movies…shockingly only 3 behind Flora. Favorites include #1 Citizen Kane…no surprise that it was #1. #4 Touch of Evil…cult classic. #9 Lady From Shanghai…..made at the end of Hayworth and Welles’ marriage. #17 Catch-22….too bad he is barely in the movie and #28 The Black Rose…nice adventure movie. Two of these movies are high on my “must watch” list. #7 The Trial and #14 Chimes At Midnight…..one of the few Danny Peary Cult Movies (he lists 200 movies in 3 books) that I have not seen. Many other classics in the video…..just not my favorites….The Third Man, Man For All Seasons (not in video?) and The Magnificent Ambersons. Good job. Voted up. And included on UltimateMovieRankings.com.”
A Man For All Seasons is indeed in the video. I know, because as I watch the video the first time through I write down all the films I have seen. It was in there.
Hi Bruce, thanks for checking out my Orson Welles video, appreciate the comment, vote and share. Your 15 beats my 13, Flora has seen 18. I was tempted to put Transformers the Movie at the no.1 spot but decided at the last minute that it might not be acceptable by a few film fans out there (I’m sure Transformers fans would rejoice though). A Man for All Seasons should be on there, wasn’t good enough for the top 5 though. Lots of high scorers at the top. Welles also narrated a bunch of films which I didn’t include.
Hey Bruce,
interesting to see that you created 2 charts for Orson Welles! I think the fact that you didn’t find any box office information on so many of his films is due to the fact that most of them are european productions likely without any theatrical release in the US. Maybe there are some obscurities among them, but certainly not all of them!
But first things first: I’ve seen 16 films listed on the first chart. Citizen Kane is a must see, it really changed the way of filmmaking. Still, it is sort of an “ArtMovie”, maybe not really made for general release to commercial cinemas I guess today it would be distributed differently? Personally, I think it is a fantastic film! So, my other favs are The Stranger, Jane Eyre,Lady from Shanhai and as mentioned already on your Dietrich Page, the restored version of Touch of Evil.
Chart No.2 contains 9 movies I’ve seen. I really enjoyed 3 Cases of Murder, Mr. Arkadin (listed here as Confidential Report), Trent’s last Case (starring one of my favorite British Actresses, Margaret Lockwood) and I’ll never forget What’s his Name. His second Film with Lockwood, Trouble in the Glen, is an oddity, with Orson, barely one year older, playing Lockwoods father.
I’ve also seen Ten little Indians (weakest of 3 versions I know), Ferry to Hong Kong (costarring the highly popular Curt Jürgens), Royal Affairs…(featuring Claudette Colbert) and Necromancy, a B-Horror costarring Pamela Franklin, famous for her part in The Innocents.
So yes, the time has come when somebody wants to check out more than Welles’ movies from chart No.1 😉
Just remembered another Welles movie showing up on neither chart: F for Fake. Although it is ages ago that I’ve seen this semi documentary about Forgery, I remember this Welles directed film (he also narrated) for its inclusion of Randolph Hearst and Marion Davis as well as his talking about the famous War of the Worlds Radio program.
Hey Lupino….I have actually seen F For Fake…..trying to remember why I decided to not include it here…..when I could not remember why…I went ahead and included it….and now it sits in first place on the second table. It is one strange movie….I liked the final 20 minutes…but the first hour is like watching paint dry….thanks for pointing that out.
Hey Lupino….I worked on this page for a very long time…..the fact that he is listed as an AFI legend…I felt I could not publish a page that excluded almost half of his career…..I like to make sure our pages…earn the “Ultimate” title we assign it….so the second table was the compromise I came up with. You are right many of these movies were European movies….that played in one theater in places like Minnesota…..which made it impossible to find box office grosses.
Tally counts…a 4 way tie for 1st place….as Flora, Steve, you and myself have seen 16 of the first table of Welles movies. On the second table…..you are the champ….as you have 10 (added in F For Fake to your total)….1 for me and Flora and 0 for Steve.
I have seen all of your favorite Welles movies with the exception of Jane Eyre….which is on my list of movies to watch. Sounds like What’s His Name is one to check out as well. Glad somebody was finally interested in the “other” Welles movies….gotta admit…this has not been a major view getter for the website….but glad we did the page. Thanks for the feedback. 🙂
HI BRUCE: {Copied to Welles page}
1 JIM CARREY
Thanks for your response. As is often the case I’m the odd man out. The Truman Show was not my cup of tea.
2 ORSON WELLES
It always surprised me that Welles made AFI’s legends lists as he was never big box office and Citizen Kane, Magnificent Ambersons (in which he did not appear) Third Man, Touch of Evil and a just a few others are usually the films with which he is most associated with artistically. However maybe AFI was going in for quality instead of quantity and I welcome the update as Welles was always interesting and apparently in his declining years became a public nuisance at times with for example being frogmarched out of a restaurant because
of bad behaviour. He is on record as opining that the greatest American actor of all time was his own pal Joe Cotten which I thought was a bit of a stretch though I liked Joseph very much I never knew that he almost got the Brando role in Apocalypse Now and perhaps he always regretted that thereafter for he gave high praise to that movie.
3 During the coming week I hope to catch up with your other new pages that interest me and with Steve’s new videos. As I’ve said although I couldn’t do posts I looked in on the site from time to time while away and was able to formulates some thought as I lay in the sun
Hey Bob….if it will make you feel better….I did not like the Truman Show the first time either.
I think Citizen Kane put Welles on the AFI list. Actually the update really helped out many of Welles grosses….even Kane is creeping up to the magical $100 million mark.
Steve has been on fire since completing the move. I am a couple videos behind myself. Crazy but fun weekend comes to an end….but I have a 3 day weekend….so I will catch up on the comments and my Letterboxd reviews tomorrow. Thanks for the feedback.
I know Citizen Kane and a few of his other movies. But most I have not only not seen but I have never even heard of before.
Hey Helakoski….thanks for stopping by. I feel I am a huge movie buff….but I have to admit I had not heard of many of the movies on the second table.
Hi
There’s no doubt about it, Welles was some kind of genius. He triumphed on the radio, the stage and of course the movies. Citizen Kane is lauded as one of the greatest films ever. In any critics top 10 list, it will be mentioned. I seen several times and while I admit it is a spectacular film, it’s more of a film to admire than to love. It wouldn’t be in my top 10 or even 30.
In saying that, I really enjoyed The Strangers. He’s brilliant in The Third Man and The Touch of Evil. But my favourite Welles movie is Chimes at Midnight. It hardly made a dime and not a mention at the Oscars and yet Welles is fantastic in it.
I suppose he’s a bit like the Marx Brothers and Laurence Olivier, he’s an acquired taste.
Hey Chris. A flawed genius. He has so many unfinished projects it is amazing. Apparently somebody put together his Don Quixote movie and it was horrible. His The Other Side Of The Wind might make it to theaters in 2016. It stars John Huston….and Welles left notes on how to finish that one. Should at least be interesting to see at least once. Vertigo bumped Citizen Kane from the top spot….but I would still give the edge to Kane. Although like you I do not have either movie in my All-Time Top 10. I have not seen either The Stranger or Chimes At Midnight….but I want to see both of them. Thanks for stopping by and talking Welles movies.