Editing Orson Welles (section)

== Later career (1970–1985) ==

Welles returned to Hollywood, where he continued to self-finance his film and television projects. While offers to act, narrate and host continued, Welles found himself in demand on talk shows. In 1967, he played [[Le Chiffre]] in the [[James Bond]] spoof ''[[Casino Royale (1967 film)|Casino Royale]]''. Due to a feud between Welles and co-star [[Peter Sellers]], the two refused to be on set with each other, meaning their scenes had to be shot separately with body stand-ins.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/casino-royale-calamity-peter-sellers-turned-bond-laughing-stock/ | title=The Casino Royale calamity: How Peter Sellers turned Bond into a laughing stock | work=The Telegraph | date=September 24, 2021 | last1=Larman | first1=Alexander }}</ref> Welles made appearances for [[The Dick Cavett Show|Dick Cavett]], [[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson|Johnny Carson]], [[The Dean Martin Show|Dean Martin]] and [[The Merv Griffin Show|Merv Griffin]]. Welles's focus during his final years was ''[[The Other Side of the Wind]]'', a project that was filmed intermittently between 1970–76. Co-written by Welles and Oja Kodar, it is the story of an aging film director ([[John Huston]]) looking for funds to complete his final film. The cast includes [[Peter Bogdanovich]], [[Susan Strasberg]], [[Norman Foster (director)|Norman Foster]], [[Edmond O'Brien]], [[Cameron Mitchell (actor)|Cameron Mitchell]] and [[Dennis Hopper]]. Financed by Iranian backers, ownership fell into a legal quagmire after the [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah of Iran]] was deposed. The legal disputes kept the film in its unfinished state until 2017 and it was finally released in 2018.

[[File:Who's Out There (1973).ogv|thumb|thumbtime=21|Welles often invokes "The War of the Worlds" as host of ''[[c:File:Who's Out There (1973).ogv|Who's Out There?]]'' (1973), an [[CINE|award-winning]] [[NASA]] documentary short film by [[Robert Drew]] about the likelihood of [[extraterrestrial life|life on other planets]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.drewassociates.com/films/whos-out-there/ |title=Who's Out There? |last1=Drew |first1=Robert |date=1973 |publisher=Drew Associates |access-date=August 19, 2016 |archive-date=September 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160903022852/http://www.drewassociates.com/films/whos-out-there/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wellesnet.com/whos-out-there-orson-welles-narrates-a-nasa-show-on-intelligent-life-in-the-universe/ |title=Who's Out There – Orson Welles narrates a NASA show on intelligent life in the Universe |date=February 10, 2008 |publisher=Wellesnet |access-date=August 19, 2016 |archive-date=September 28, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160928013422/http://www.wellesnet.com/whos-out-there-orson-welles-narrates-a-nasa-show-on-intelligent-life-in-the-universe/ |url-status=live }}</ref>]] Welles portrayed [[Louis XVIII of France]] in the 1970 film ''[[Waterloo (1970 film)|Waterloo]]'', and narrated the beginning and ending scenes of the historical comedy ''[[Start the Revolution Without Me]]'' (1970).

In 1971, Welles directed a short adaptation of ''[[Moby-Dick]]'', a one-man performance on a bare stage, reminiscent of his 1955 stage production ''[[Moby Dick—Rehearsed|Moby Dick – Rehearsed]]''. Never completed, it was released by the Filmmuseum München. He appeared in ''[[Ten Days' Wonder (film)|Ten Days' Wonder]]'', co-starring with [[Anthony Perkins]] and directed by [[Claude Chabrol]], based on a detective novel by [[Ellery Queen]]. That same year, the [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] gave him an [[Academy Honorary Award]] "for superlative artistry and versatility in the creation of motion pictures." Welles pretended to be out of town and sent Huston to claim it, thanking the Academy on film. In his speech, Huston criticized the Academy for presenting the award while refusing to support Welles's projects. In 1972, Welles acted as on-screen narrator for the documentary version of [[Alvin Toffler]]'s 1970 book ''[[Future Shock]]''. Working again for a British producer, Welles played [[Long John Silver]] in director [[John Hough (director)|John Hough]]'s ''[[Treasure Island (1972 live-action film)|Treasure Island]]'' (1972), an adaptation of [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]'s [[Treasure Island|novel]], which had been the second story broadcast by ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' in 1938. This was the last time he played the lead role in a major film. Welles contributed to the script, although his writing credit was attributed to the pseudonym 'O. W. Jeeves'. In some versions of the film Welles's original recorded dialog was redubbed by [[Robert Rietty]].

[[File:F for Fake (1973 poster).jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Poster for ''[[F for Fake]]'' (1974), a [[film essay]] and the last film he completed]]

In 1973, Welles completed ''[[F for Fake]]'', a personal essay film about art forger [[Elmyr de Hory]] and biographer [[Clifford Irving]]. Based on an existing documentary by [[François Reichenbach]], it included new material with Oja Kodar, Joseph Cotten, [[Paul Stewart (actor)|Paul Stewart]] and [[William Alland]]. An excerpt of Welles's 1930s ''War of the Worlds'' broadcast was recreated for this film; however, none of the dialogue heard in the film actually matches what was originally broadcast. Welles filmed a five-minute trailer, rejected in the U.S., that featured shots of a topless Kodar. Welles hosted a British syndicated anthology series, ''[[Orson Welles Great Mysteries]]'', during the 1973–74 television season. His introductions to the 26 half-hour episodes were shot in July 1973 by Gary Graver.<ref name="Welles TIOW" />{{Rp|443}} 1974 saw Welles lending his voice to ''[[And Then There Were None (1974 film)|And Then There Were None]]'' produced by his former associate, Harry Alan Towers and starring an international cast that included [[Oliver Reed]], [[Elke Sommer]] and [[Herbert Lom]]. In 1975, Welles narrated the documentary ''[[Bugs Bunny: Superstar]]'', focusing on [[Warner Bros.]] cartoons from the 1940s. The [[American Film Institute]] presented Welles with its third Lifetime Achievement Award. At the ceremony, Welles screened scenes from the nearly finished ''[[The Other Side of the Wind]]''.

In 1976, [[Paramount Television]] purchased the rights for the entire [[Rex Stout bibliography#Nero Wolfe corpus|corpus]] of [[Nero Wolfe]] stories for Welles.{{efn|Pre-production materials for ''Nero Wolfe'' (1976) are contained in the Orson Welles – Oja Kodar Papers at the University of Michigan.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/s/sclead/umich-scl-welleskodar?byte=6167578;focusrgn=C01;subview=standard;view=reslist |title=Orson Welles – Oja Kodar Papers 1910–1998 (Box 17) |publisher=[[University of Michigan]] Special Collections Library |access-date=May 9, 2015 |archive-date=January 8, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108154420/http://quod.lib.umich.edu/s/sclead/umich-scl-welleskodar?byte=6167578;focusrgn=C01;subview=standard;view=reslist |url-status=live }}</ref>}}<ref name="Kleiner">{{cite news |last=Kleiner |first=Dick |author-link=Dick Kleiner |date=December 30, 1976 |title=No title |newspaper=[[Oakland Tribune]] }}</ref><ref name="Lochte">{{cite news |last=Lochte |first=Dick |date=January 30, 1977 |title=TV finally tunes in Nero Wolfe |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Liz |author-link=Liz Smith (journalist) |date=March 14, 1977 |title=People |newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]] |quote=Paramount bought the entire set of Nero Wolfe stories for Orson Welles, who is enjoying a renaissance of popularity in Hollywood and the world. }}</ref> Welles had once wanted to make a series of Nero Wolfe movies, but author [[Rex Stout]]—who was leery of Hollywood adaptations after two disappointing 1930s films—turned him down.<ref name="Lochte" /> Paramount planned to begin with an [[Nero Wolfe (film)|ABC-TV movie]] and hoped to persuade Welles to continue the role in a miniseries.<ref name="Kleiner" /> [[Frank D. Gilroy]] was signed to write the television script and direct the TV movie on the assurance that Welles would star, but by April 1977 Welles had bowed out.<ref>[[Frank Gilroy|Gilroy, Frank D.]], ''I Wake Up Screening''. Carbondale: [[Southern Illinois University Press]], 1993, {{ISBN|0-8093-1856-3}}. p. 147.</ref> In 1980 the [[Associated Press]] reported "the distinct possibility" that Welles would star in a [[Nero Wolfe (1981 TV series)|Nero Wolfe TV series]] for [[NBC]] television.<ref>Boyer, Peter J., "NBC Fall Schedule," [[Associated Press]], March 24, 1980</ref> Again, Welles left the project due to creative differences with Paramount. [[William Conrad]] was cast in the role.<ref name="Beck">{{cite news |last=Beck |first=Marilyn |author-link=Marilyn Beck |date=November 24, 1980 |title=Marilyn Beck's Hollywood |newspaper=[[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|Milwaukee Journal]] |publisher=[[Tribune Media Services|Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate]] }}</ref><ref name="Jaffe">{{cite book |last=Jaffe |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Jaffe |date=December 2001 |chapter=A Labor of Love: The Nero Wolfe Television Series |editor-last=Kaye |editor-first=Marvin |title=The Nero Wolfe Files |location=Maryland |publisher=[[Wildside Press]] |publication-date=2005 |pages=86–91 |isbn=978-0-8095-4494-3 }}</ref>{{Rp|87–88}}

In 1979, Welles completed his documentary ''[[Filming Othello]]'', featuring Michael MacLiammoir and Hilton Edwards. Made for West German television, it was also released in theaters. Welles completed his self-produced pilot for ''[[The Orson Welles Show (TV pilot)|The Orson Welles Show]]'', featuring interviews with [[Burt Reynolds]], [[Jim Henson]] and [[Frank Oz]] and guest-starring [[the Muppets]] and [[Angie Dickinson]]. Unable to find network interest, the pilot was never broadcast. Welles appeared in the biopic ''[[The Secret of Nikola Tesla]]'', and made a cameo in ''[[The Muppet Movie]]''. Beginning in the late 1970s, Welles participated in a series of famous television advertisements. For two years he was on-camera spokesman for the [[Paul Masson]] Vineyards,{{efn|Paul Masson's spokesman since 1979, Welles parted company with Paul Masson in 1981, and in 1982 he was replaced by [[John Gielgud]].<ref>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |date=October 26, 1982 |title=People in the News }}</ref>}} and sales grew by one third during the time Welles intoned what became a popular catchphrase: "We will sell no wine before its time."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Bronson|first= Gail|title=In Advertising, Big Names Mean Big Money|magazine=[[U.S. News & World Report]]|date= July 4, 1983}}</ref> Years later, the [[Orson Welles Paul Masson advertisements|commercials]] regained notoriety when a bootleg recording of out-takes was distributed, showing an apparently [[alcohol intoxication|inebriated]] Welles on set.<ref name="Outtakes1">{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFevH5vP32s|title=Original Takes for Orson Welles Wine Commercial|date=1980|website=YouTube|publisher=grimscribe126|access-date=February 12, 2017|archive-date=February 13, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170213201045/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFevH5vP32s|url-status=live}}</ref> He was the voice behind the long-running [[Carlsberg Group|Carlsberg]] "Probably the best lager in the world" campaign,<ref>The "probably" tag is still in use today.</ref> promoted Domecq sherry on British television<ref>{{cite news|last=Salmans|first= Sandra|title=Many Stars Are Playing Pitchmen – with No Regrets|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date= May 3, 1981}}</ref> and provided narration on adverts for [[Findus]], though they have been overshadowed by a [[blooper reel]] of voice recordings, known as the [[Frozen Peas]] reel. He did commercials for the Preview Subscription Television Service seen on stations around the country.

In 1981, Welles hosted the documentary ''[[The Man Who Saw Tomorrow]]'', about [[Nostradamus]]. In 1982, the BBC broadcast ''The Orson Welles Story'' in the ''[[Arena (UK TV series)|Arena]]'' series. Interviewed by Leslie Megahey, Welles examined his past in detail, and people from his professional past were interviewed. It was reissued in 1990 as ''With Orson Welles: Stories of a Life in Film''. Welles provided narration for a 1982 documentary on American public television,<ref>"A Dream Called Public Television", 1982-01-09, Oregon Public Broadcasting, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed March 8, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-153-03qv9v9k</ref> the tracks "Defender" from [[Manowar]]'s 1987 album ''[[Fighting the World]]'' and "Dark Avenger" on their 1982 album, ''[[Battle Hymns (Manowar album)|Battle Hymns]]''. He recorded the concert introduction for the live performances of Manowar that says, "Ladies and gentlemen, from the United States of America, all hail Manowar." Manowar have used this introduction for all their concerts since. During the 1980s, Welles worked on such film projects as ''[[The Dreamers (unfinished film)|The Dreamers]]'', based on two stories by [[Isak Dinesen]] and starring Oja Kodar, and ''[[Orson Welles' Magic Show]]'', which reused material from his failed TV pilot. Another project was ''[[Filming the Trial]]'', the second in a proposed series of documentaries examining his feature films. While much was shot, none was completed. All were eventually released by the Filmmuseum München.

In the mid-1980s, [[Henry Jaglom]] taped lunch conversations with Welles at Los Angeles's Ma Maison, and in New York. Recordings were edited by [[Peter Biskind]] and published in the 2013 book ''My Lunches With Orson''.<ref name=Biskind>{{cite web|last=Biskind|first=Peter|title=Three Courses of Orson Welles|url=https://www.vulture.com/2013/06/orson-welles-lunch-with-henry-jaglom.html|work=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|date=June 16, 2013 |access-date=June 28, 2013|archive-date=June 30, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130630110658/http://www.vulture.com/2013/06/orson-welles-lunch-with-henry-jaglom.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1984, Welles narrated the short-lived television series ''[[Scene of the Crime (1984 TV series)|Scene of the Crime]]''. During the early years of ''[[Magnum, P.I.]]'', Welles was the voice of the unseen character Robin Masters, a writer and [[Playboy (lifestyle)|playboy]]. Welles's death forced this character to be written out of the series. In an oblique homage to Welles, the ''Magnum, P.I.'' producers ambiguously concluded that story arc by having a character accuse another of having hired an actor to portray Robin Masters.<ref>''[[Magnum, P.I.]]'', episode "Paper War", 1986.</ref> He also released a music single, titled "I Know What It Is to Be Young (But You Don't Know What It Is to Be Old)", which he recorded under Italian label [[Compagnia Generale del Disco]]. The song was performed with the [[Nick Perito]] Orchestra and the [[Ray Charles Singers]] and produced by [[Jerry Abbott]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.discogs.com/Orson-Welles-I-Know-What-It-Is-To-Be-Young-But-You-Dont-Know-What-It-Is-To-Be-Old/release/1428788 |title=Orson Welles – I Know What It Is To Be Young (But You Don't Know What It Is To Be Old) (CD) at Discogs |publisher=Discogs.com |date=June 25, 1996 |access-date=December 21, 2012 |archive-date=April 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150427091042/http://www.discogs.com/Orson-Welles-I-Know-What-It-Is-To-Be-Young-But-You-Dont-Know-What-It-Is-To-Be-Old/release/1428788 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The last film roles before Welles's death included voice work in the animated films ''[[Enchanted Journey]]'' (1984) and ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'' (1986), in which he provided the voice for the planet-eating supervillain [[Unicron]]. His last film appearance was in [[Henry Jaglom]]'s 1987 independent film ''[[Someone to Love (1987 film)|Someone to Love]]'', released two years after his death but produced before his voice-over in ''Transformers: The Movie''. His last television appearance was on ''[[Moonlighting (TV series)|Moonlighting]]''. He recorded an introduction to an episode entitled "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice", which was partially filmed in black and white. The episode aired five days after his death and was dedicated to his memory.