His first film to be seen by the public was citizen Kane (1941), a commercial failure losing RKO $150,000, but regarded by many as the best film ever made.
Once ate 18 hotdogs in one sitting at Pink's (a Los Angeles hot dog institution).
On old time radio, provided the voice for Lamont Cranston, aka THE SHADOW
'American Broadcasting Company (ABC) wanted him to play Mr. Roarke on "Fantasy Island."
On 30 October 1938, he directed the Mercury Theatre On the Air in a dramatization of "War of the Worlds", based onH.G. Wells novel. Setting the events in then-contemporary locations (The "landing spot" for the Martian invasion, Grover's Mill, New Jersey, was chosen at random with a New Jersey road map) and dramatizing it in the style of a musical program interrupted by news bulletins, complete with eye-witness accounts, it caused a nationwide panic, with many listeners fully convinced that the Earth was being invaded by Mars. The next day, Welles publicly apologized. While many lawsuits were filed against both Welles and the CBS radio network, all were dismissed. The incident is mentioned in textbook accounts of mass hysteria and the delusions of crowds.
Despite his reputation as an actor and master film-maker, he maintained his membership in the Magicians' Union, and regularly practiced sleight-of-hand magic in case his career came to an abrupt end.
A bootleg tape of a short-tempered (and foul-mouthed) Orson Welles arguing with a recording engineer during a voice-over session has been widely distributed.
Provided voice for some songs of heavy metal band Manowar: Dark Avenger and Defender.
He became obese in his 40s, weighing over 350 pounds towards the end of his life.
His average dinner famously consisted of two steaks cooked rare, and a pint of scotch - explaining his obesity as he got older, and his subsequent death.
In the 1930s he worked at various radio stations in New York City, at different times of the day. He found it difficult to be on time for his live shows because he had to use taxicabs and the heavy New York City traffic meant that he was often late. He soon found a loophole in the law that said you didn't have to be sick to hire an ambulance, so he did just that and had the drivers blast their sirens as he traveled from one station to the next, and that way he was on time.
Died Oct 10th 1985