Question 1

True or false: Orson Welles performed the role of Dracula in the 1931 film Dracula.

Accepted Answer

False. Bela Lugosi famously played Dracula in that film. Orson Welles was only 16 in 1931 and not in the movie.

Question 2

True or false: Orson Welles was born in Paris, France, in 1915.

Accepted Answer

False. Orson Welles was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on May 6, 1915. He never lived in Paris as a child.

Question 3

True or false: Orson Welles' 1938 radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds was an adaptation of H.G. Wells' novel of the same name.

Accepted Answer

True. The radio drama adapted H.G. Wells' 1898 novel about a Martian invasion, updating the setting to contemporary New Jersey.

Question 4

True or false: Orson Welles was the first person to win Oscars for both acting and directing.

Accepted Answer

False. Welles never won a competitive acting or directing Oscar. His only competitive Oscar was for co-writing Citizen Kane.

Question 5

True or false: Orson Welles directed the classic 1941 film The Maltese Falcon.

Accepted Answer

False. The Maltese Falcon was directed by John Huston. Welles had no involvement with that film.

Question 6

True or false: Orson Welles won an Academy Award for co-writing the screenplay of Citizen Kane.

Accepted Answer

True. Welles shared the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay with Herman J. Mankiewicz at the 14th Academy Awards in 1942.

Question 7

True or false: Orson Welles directed the voodoo Macbeth in 1936 with an all-black cast.

Accepted Answer

True. This Federal Theatre Project production set Shakespeare's play in Haiti and featured an entirely African American cast, a landmark in theater history.

Question 8

True or false: Orson Welles voiced the character of Unicron in the 1986 Transformers movie.

Accepted Answer

True. Welles provided the voice for the planet-devouring villain Unicron in the animated Transformers: The Movie, a surprising late-career role.

Orson Welles Trivia Questions