Orson Welles (1915-1985) was an iconic Academy Award-winning director, writer, actor, and producer for film, stage, radio, and television. He won the 1941 Academy Award for best original screenplay for Citizen Kane and in 1970 received the Academy Honorary Award. Known for his baritone voice, he was well regarded as a radio and film actor, a celebrated Shakespearean stage actor, and an accomplished magician. He first gained notoriety for his October 30, 1938, radio broadcast of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds. Winner of multiple awards, he is now widely acknowledged as one of the most important dramatic artists of the twentieth century. In 2002, two British Film Institute polls of directors and critics voted Orson Welles the greatest film director of all time.

Cotten was born in Petersburg, Virginia. After becoming a stage actor he joined the Mercury Theatre with Orson Welles, which led him to Hollywood and starring roles in sixty films, including Citizen Kane, The Third Man, Shadow of a Doubt and Gaslight.