Orson Welles

Orson Welles (1915–1985) was an American actor, director, writer, and producer whose work reshaped 20th-century film and radio. He rose to prominence in the 1930s through theater and broadcasting, including the Mercury Theatre on the Air. In 1938 he directed and narrated a radio adaptation of H. G. Wells’s *The War of the Worlds*, which became famous for the public reaction it provoked. Welles made his feature-film debut with *Citizen Kane* (1941), which he co-wrote, directed, produced, and starred in. He later directed films such as *The Magnificent Ambersons* and *Touch of Evil*.