Joseph Cotten - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Joseph Cheshire Cotten was an American actor of stage and film. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

, starring in the original productions of The Philadelphia Story

The Philadelphia Story (play)

The Philadelphia Story is a 1939 American comic play by Philip Barry. It tells the story of a socialite whose wedding plans are complicated by the simultaneous arrival of her ex-husband and an attractive journalist.-Production:...

and Sabrina Fair

Sabrina Fair

Sabrina Fair is a romantic comedy written by Samuel A. Taylor. It ran on Broadway for a total of 318 performances, opening at the National Theatre on November 11, 1953. Directed by H. C...

. He first gained worldwide fame after starring in the Orson Welles

Orson Welles

George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...

films Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film, directed by and starring Orson Welles. Many critics consider it the greatest American film of all time, especially for its innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. Citizen Kane was Welles' first feature film...

(1941), The Magnificent Ambersons

The Magnificent Ambersons (film)

The Magnificent Ambersons is a 1942 American drama film written and directed by Orson Welles. His second feature film, it is based on the 1918 novel of the same name by Booth Tarkington and stars Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead and Ray Collins...

(1942), Journey into Fear

Journey into Fear (1943 film)

Journey into Fear is an American spy film based on the Eric Ambler novel of the same name. The 1943 film broadly follows the plot of the book, but the protagonist was changed to an American engineer....

(1943), for which Cotten was also credited with the screenplay, He went on to star in such popular films as Shadow of a Doubt

Shadow of a Doubt

Shadow of a Doubt is a 1943 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten. Written by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story for Gordon McDonell...

(1943), Duel in the Sun

Duel in the Sun

Duel in the Sun is a Technicolor 1946 Western film directed by King Vidor, produced and written by David O. Selznick, which tells the story of a Mestiza girl who goes to live with her Anglo relatives, becoming involved in prejudice and forbidden love...

(which remains one of the top 100 highest grossing films of all time when adjusted for inflation), Love Letters

Love Letters (1945 film)

Love Letters is a 1945 film adapted by Ayn Rand from the novel Pity My Simplicity by Christopher Massie. It was directed by William Dieterle and stars Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ann Richards, Cecil Kellaway, Gladys Cooper and Anita Louise...

(1945), Portrait of Jennie

Portrait of Jennie

Portrait of Jennie is a 1948 fantasy film based on the novella by Robert Nathan. The film was directed by William Dieterle and produced by David O. Selznick. It stars Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten.-Plot:...

(1948), and The Third Man

The Third Man

The Third Man is a 1949 British film noir, directed by Carol Reed and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Many critics rank it as a masterpiece, particularly remembered for its atmospheric cinematography, performances, and unique musical score...

(1949).

Biography and career

Early life and career

Cotten was born in Petersburg, Virginia

Petersburg, Virginia

Petersburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States located on the Appomattox River and south of the state capital city of Richmond. The city's population was 32,420 as of 2010, predominantly of African-American ethnicity...

, the son of Sallie Bartlett (née

Married and maiden names

A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....

Willson) and Joseph Cheshire Cotten, Sr., who was an assistant postmaster. Cotten worked as an advertising agent after attending the Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, Hickman School of Speech and Expression, where he studied acting. His work as a theatre critic inspired him to become more involved in theatre productions, first in Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, and later in New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. Cotten made his Broadway debut in 1930, and soon befriended Orson Welles

Orson Welles

George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...

. In 1937, he joined Welles' Mercury Theatre Company

Mercury Theatre

The Mercury Theatre was a theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and John Houseman. After a string of live theatrical productions, in 1938 the Mercury Theatre progressed into their best-known period as The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a radio series that included one of the...

, starring in productions of Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar (play)

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, also known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against...

and Shoemaker's Holiday.

Cotten made his film debut in the Welles-directed short Too Much Johnson

Too Much Johnson

Too Much Johnson is a 1938 comedy film written and directed by Orson Welles. The film was made three years before Welles directed Citizen Kane, but it was never publicly screened...

, a comedy based on William Gillette

William Gillette

William Hooker Gillette was an American actor, playwright and stage-manager in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who is best remembered today for portraying Sherlock Holmes....

's 1890 play. The short was occasionally screened before or after Mercury productions, but never received an official release. Before acting in this film, Cotten (who had played center on a semiprofessional football team while living in Washington, D.C. in 1923) got into good physical shape by working out at the Waple Studio of Physical Culture (owned and operated by Harry E. Waple) in Alexandria, Virginia

Alexandria, Virginia

Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...

. Cotten returned to Broadway in 1939, starring as C. K. Dexter Haven in the original production of Philip Barry

Philip Barry

Philip James Quinn Barry was an American playwright born in Rochester, New York.-Early life:Philip Barry was born on June 18, 1896 in Rochester, New York to James Corbett Barry and Mary Agnes Quinn Barry. James would die from appendicitis a year after Philip's birth, and his father's marble and...

's The Philadelphia Story as well as the 1953 production of Sabrina Fair.

Citizen Kane

After the success of Welles's War of the Worlds

The War of the Worlds (radio)

The War of the Worlds was an episode of the American radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker...

1938 Halloween

Halloween

Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...

radio broadcast, Welles gained a unique contract with RKO Pictures

RKO Pictures

RKO Pictures is an American film production and distribution company. As RKO Radio Pictures Inc., it was one of the Big Five studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chains and Joseph P...

. The two-picture deal promised full creative control for the young director below an agreed budget limit, and Welles intention was to feature the Mercury players

Mercury Theatre

in his productions. Shooting had still not begun on a Welles film after a year, but after a meeting with writer Herman J. Mankiewicz

Herman J. Mankiewicz

Herman Jacob Mankiewicz was an American screenwriter, who, with Orson Welles, wrote the screenplay for Citizen Kane . Earlier, he was the Berlin correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and the drama critic for The New York Times and The New Yorker. Alexander Woollcott, said that Herman Mankiewicz was...

Welles had a suitable project.

In mid-1940 filming began on Citizen Kane, portraying the life of a press magnate (played by Welles) who starts out as an idealist

Idealism

In philosophy, idealism is the family of views which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial. Epistemologically, idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing...

but eventually turns into a corrupt, lonely old man. The film featured Cotten prominently in the role of Kane's best friend Jedediah Leland, eventually a drama critic for one of Kane's papers.

When released on May 1, 1941, Citizen Kane - based in part on the life of William Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...

- did not do much business at theaters; Hearst owned numerous major newspapers, and forbade them to carry advertisements for the film. Nominated for nine Academy Awards

Academy Awards

An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

in 1942, the film won only for Best Screenplay, for Mankiewicz and Welles. The film helped launch the careers of Mercury players, including Agnes Moorehead

Agnes Moorehead

Agnes Robertson Moorehead was an American actress. Although she began with the Mercury Theatre, appeared in more than seventy films beginning with Citizen Kane and on dozens of television shows during a career that spanned more than thirty years, Moorehead is most widely known to modern audiences...

(who played Kane's mother), Ruth Warrick

Ruth Warrick

Ruth Elizabeth Warrick , DM, was an American singer, actress and political activist, best known for her role as Phoebe Tyler on All My Children, which she played regularly from 1970 until her death in 2005....

(Kane's first wife), and Ray Collins

Ray Collins (actor)

Ray Bidwell Collins was an American actor in film, stage, radio, and television. One of Collins' best remembered roles was that of Lt. Arthur Tragg in the long-running series Perry Mason.- Biography :...

(Kane's political opponent). However, Cotten was the only one of the four to find major success (as a lead) in Hollywood outside of Citizen Kane. Moorehead and Collins became successful character film actors.

Later collaborations with Welles

Despite Welles's reputation for being difficult to get along with, the two men remained good friends. Cotten starred a year later in Welles's adaptation and production of The Magnificent Ambersons

The Magnificent Ambersons (film)

. After the commercial disappointment of Citizen Kane, RKO was apprehensive about the new film, and after poor preview responses, cut it by nearly an hour before its release. Though at points the film appeared disjointed, it was well received by critics. Despite the critical accolades Cotten received for his performance, he was again snubbed by the Academy.

In 1941, Cotten took control of the Nazi

Nazism

Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...

-related thriller Journey into Fear

Journey into Fear (1943 film)

(released in 1943). He wrote the screenplay with the help of Welles (who produced the film), and starred in the film with Dolores del Río

Dolores del Río

Dolores del Río was a Mexican film actress. She was a star of Hollywood films during the silent era and in the Golden Age of Hollywood...

. By the time production wrapped, Welles had been dropped from RKO, and, as part of the settlement, was required to edit the film to suitable length. The film was a minor hit, but the two friends did not collaborate professionally during the next six years.

In The Third Man

The Third Man

(1949), Cotten portrays a writer of pulp fiction

Pulp magazine

Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...

who travels to post-war Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

to meet his friend Harry Lime (Welles). When he arrives, he discovers that Lime has died, and is determined to prove to the police that it was murder, but uncovers an even darker secret.

The 1940s and 1950s

The characters that he played onscreen during this period ranged from a serial killer

Serial killer

A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...

in Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...

's Shadow of a Doubt

Shadow of a Doubt

(1943, opposite Teresa Wright

Teresa Wright

Teresa Wright was an American actress. She received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1942 for her performance in Mrs. Miniver. That same year, she received an Academy Award for Best Actress nomination for her performance in Pride of the Yankees opposite Gary Cooper...

) to an eager police detective in Gaslight

Gaslight (1944 film)

Gaslight is a 1944 mystery-thriller film adapted from Patrick Hamilton's play, Gas Light, performed as Angel Street on Broadway in 1941. It was the second version to be filmed; the first, released in the United Kingdom, had been made a mere four years earlier...

(1944, with Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...

, Charles Boyer

Charles Boyer

Charles Boyer was a French actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found success in movies during the 1930s. His memorable performances were among the era's most highly praised romantic dramas,...

, and Angela Lansbury

Angela Lansbury

Angela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...

in her film debut). Cotten starred with Jennifer Jones

Jennifer Jones

Phylis Lee Isley , better known by her stage name Jennifer Jones, was an American actress. A five-time Academy Award nominee, Jones won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Song of Bernadette .-Early life:Jones was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the daughter of Flora Mae and...

in four films: the wartime domestic drama Since You Went Away

Since You Went Away

Since You Went Away is a 1944 film distributed by United Artists, a big-budget epic about the American home front during World War II. It was directed by John Cromwell and adapted and produced by David O. Selznick from the novel Since You Went Away: Letters to a Soldier from His Wife by Margaret...

(1944), the romantic drama Love Letters

Love Letters (1945 film)

(1945), the blockbuster western Duel in the Sun (1946), and the critically acclaimed Portrait of Jennie

Portrait of Jennie

(1948), in which he played a melancholy artist who becomes obsessed with a girl who may have died many years ago. He reunited with Hitchcock at the end of the decade in Under Capricorn

Under Capricorn

Under Capricorn is an Alfred Hitchcock historical feature film.-Production:The film is based on the novel Under Capricorn by Helen Simpson, with screenplay by James Bridie, and adaptation by Hume Cronyn. The movie was co-produced by Hitchcock and Sidney Bernstein for their short-lived production...

(1949) as an Australian land-owner with a shady past.

Cotten's career cooled in the 1950s with a string of less high-profile roles in films such as the dark Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

Two Flags West (1950), the Joan Fontaine

Joan Fontaine

Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland , known professionally as Joan Fontaine, is a British American actress. She and her elder sister Olivia de Havilland are two of the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s....

romance September Affair

September Affair

September Affair is a 1950 film, directed by William Dieterle, starring Joan Fontaine, Joseph Cotten and Jessica Tandy. It was produced by Hal B. Wallis.-Plot:...

(also 1950), and the Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....

vehicle Niagara

Niagara (1953 film)

Niagara is a 1953 thriller-film noir directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Joseph Cotten, Jean Peters, and introducing Marilyn Monroe. Unlike other film noirs of the time, Niagara was shot in Technicolor on location and was one of 20th Century Fox's biggest box-office hits of the year.-Plot:Ray...

(1953), after James Mason

James Mason

James Neville Mason was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry throughout his career and was nominated for three Academy Awards as well as three Golden Globes .- Early life :Mason was born in Huddersfield, in the...

turned down the role. His last theatrical releases in the '50s were mostly film-noir and unsuccessful character studies. In 1956, Cotten left film for years for a string of successful television ventures, such as the NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

series On Trial (renamed at mid-season The Joseph Cotten Show

The Joseph Cotten Show

The Joseph Cotten Show is an American anthology series series hosted by and occasionally starring Joseph Cotten. The series, which first aired on NBC, aired 31 episodes from September 14, 1956, to September 13, 1957...

).

Cotten was featured in Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...

and Ronald W. Reagan's General Electric Theater

General Electric Theater

General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald W. Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.-Radio:...

. He appeared on May 2, 1957, on NBC's comedy variety

Variety show

A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...

series, The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford

The Ford Show

The Ford Show is a half-hour comedy/variety program, starring singer and folk humorist Tennessee Ernie Ford, which aired in color on NBC television on Thursday evenings from October 4, 1956 to June 29, 1961....

. Near the end of the decade, he made a cameo appearance in Welles's Touch of Evil

Touch of Evil

Touch of Evil is a 1958 American crime thriller film, written, directed by, and co-starring Orson Welles. The screenplay was loosely based on the novel Badge of Evil by Whit Masterson...

(1958) and a starring role in the film adaptation of Jules Verne

Jules Verne

Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...

's From the Earth to the Moon

From the Earth to the Moon (film)

From the Earth to the Moon is a Technicolor science fiction film adaptation of the Jules Verne novel of the same name. It starred Joseph Cotten, George Sanders, Debra Paget, and Don Dubbins...

(also 1958). He also appeared as Dick Burlingame and Charles Lawrence in the 1960 episodes "The Blue Goose" and "Dark Fear" of CBS's anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson

The DuPont Show with June Allyson

The DuPont Show with June Allyson is an American anthology drama series which aired on CBS from September 21, 1959 to April 3, 1961 with rebroadcasts continuing until June 12, 1961...

. He also appeared on NBC's anthology series, The Barbara Stanwyck Show

The Barbara Stanwyck Show

The Barbara Stanwyck Show is an American anthology drama television series which ran on NBC from September 1960 to September 1961. Barbara Stanwyck served as hostess, and starred in all but four of the half-hour productions. The four she did not star in were actually pilot episodes of potential...

The 1960s and 1970s

In 1960, he married British actress Patricia Medina

Patricia Medina

Patricia Paz Maria Medina is an English actress from Liverpool, England. Her father was a Spaniard and her mother was English. Medina began acting as a teenager in the late 1930s...

after his first wife, Lenore Kipp, died of leukemia

Leukemia

Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...

earlier in the year. After some time away from film, Cotten returned in the horror classic Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte

Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte

Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte is a 1964 American thriller film directed and produced by Robert Aldrich, and starring Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten, and Agnes Moorehead....

(1964), with Bette Davis

Bette Davis

Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...

, Olivia de Havilland

Olivia de Havilland

Olivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland...

, and Agnes Moorehead

Agnes Moorehead

. The rest of the decade found Cotten in a number of forgettable B-movies and TV movies. He made multiple guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show

The Ed Sullivan Show

The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....

. In 1967, he joined Karl Swenson

Karl Swenson

Karl Swenson was an American theatre, radio, film, and television actor.-Biography:Born in Brooklyn, New York of Swedish parentage, Swenson made several appearances with Pierre-Luc Michaud on Broadway in the 1930s and 40s, including the title role in Arthur Miller's first production, The Man Who...

, Pat Conway

Pat Conway

Patrick Douglas Conway, known as Pat Conway , was an American actor best known for his role as young but tough Sheriff Clay Hollister on the ABC and then syndicated western television series Tombstone Territory . He was a maternal grandson of silent film star Francis X...

, and Dick Foran

Dick Foran

John Nicholas 'Dick' Foran was an American actor, known for his performances in western musicals and for playing supporting roles in dramatic pictures.-Life and career:...

in the nostalgic western dramatic film Brighty of the Grand Canyon

Brighty of the Grand Canyon

Brighty of the Grand Canyon is a 1967 film based on a 1953 children's novel of the same name by Marguerite Henry, a fictionalized account of a real-life burro named "Brighty", who lived in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River from about 1892-1922....

, about a burro

Burro

The burro is a small donkey used primarily as a pack animal. In addition, significant numbers of feral burros live in the Southwestern United States, where they are protected by law, and in Mexico...

who lived in the Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...

of the Colorado River

Colorado River

The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...

from about 1892-1922. On television, he narrated David L. Wolper

David L. Wolper

David Lloyd Wolper was an American television and film producer, responsible for shows such as Roots, The Thorn Birds, North & South, L.A. Confidential, and the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory...

's documentary Hollywood and the Stars

Hollywood and the Stars

Hollywood and the Stars was a 1963 American television documentary series produced by David L. Wolper for United Artists Television that was shown on the National Broadcasting Corporation. It was narrated by Joseph Cotten with the theme music and several episodes composed by Elmer Bernstein.Each...

(1963–64).

In the early 1970s, Cotten followed a supporting role in Tora! Tora! Tora!

Tora! Tora! Tora!

is a 1970 American-Japanese war film that dramatizes the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, to the extent these facts were known at the time of production. The film was directed by Richard Fleischer and stars an all-star cast, including So Yamamura, E.G...

(1970) with several horror features: The Abominable Dr. Phibes

The Abominable Dr. Phibes

The Abominable Dr. Phibes is a 1971 horror film starring Vincent Price. Its art deco sets, dark humor and performance by Price has made the film and its sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again classics.-Plot:...

(1971), with Vincent Price

Vincent Price

Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...

, and Soylent Green

Soylent Green

Soylent Green is a 1973 American science fiction film directed by Richard Fleischer. Starring Charlton Heston, the film overlays the police procedural and science fiction genres as it depicts the investigation into the murder of a wealthy businessman in a dystopian future suffering from pollution,...

(1973). Later in the decade, Cotten was featured in several all-star disaster films, including Airport '77

Airport '77

Airport '77 is a 1977 disaster film and second sequel in the Airport franchise.The film stars a number of veteran actors, including Jack Lemmon, James Stewart, Joseph Cotten, Christopher Lee and Olivia de Havilland. Like its predecessors, Airport '77 was a box office hit earning US$30 million and...

(1977) with James Stewart

James Stewart

James Stewart was a Hollywood movie actor and USAF brigadier general.James Stewart may also refer to:-Noblemen:*James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland*James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorn James Stewart (1908–1997) was a Hollywood movie actor and USAF brigadier general.James Stewart...

and again with Olivia de Havilland, and the nuclear

Nuclear warfare

Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...

thriller Twilight's Last Gleaming

Twilight's Last Gleaming

Twilight's Last Gleaming is a 1977 film directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Burt Lancaster and Richard Widmark.Loosely based on a 1971 novel, Viper Three by Walter Wager, it tells the story of Lawrence Dell, a renegade USAF general, who escapes from a military prison and takes over an ICBM silo...

(1977). On television, he did a guest spot in 1974 on The Rockford Files

The Rockford Files

The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...

Last years

One of Cotten's last films was Heaven's Gate

Heaven's Gate (film)

Heaven's Gate is a 1980 American epic Western film based on the Johnson County War, a dispute between land barons and European immigrants in Wyoming in the 1890s...

(1980), critically mauled in the United States. Around the same time, he appeared in two episodes of a twist-in-the-tale episode of the British TV series, "Rockford Files" with James Garner

James Garner

James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...

(1974), Tales of the Unexpected

Tales of the Unexpected (TV series)

Tales of the Unexpected is a British television series originally aired between 1979 and 1988, made by Anglia Television for ITV. Filming began in 1978.The series was an anthology of different tales...

, with Wendy Hiller

Wendy Hiller

Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller DBE was an Academy Award-winning English film and stage actress, who enjoyed a varied acting career that spanned nearly sixty years. The writer Joel Hirschorn, in his 1984 compilation Rating the Movie Stars, described her as "a no-nonsense actress who literally took...

(1979), and Gloria Grahame

Gloria Grahame

Gloria Grahame was an American Academy Award–winning actress.Grahame began her acting career in theatre, and in 1944 she made her first film for MGM. Despite a featured role in It's a Wonderful Life , MGM did not believe she had the potential for major success, and sold her contract to RKO Studios...

(1980). The 75-year-old actor retired with his wife to their home in Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

. In 1987, Cotten published a popular autobiography, Vanity Will Get You Somewhere. He died on February 6, 1994, of pneumonia

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

, a complication of throat cancer

Esophageal cancer

Esophageal cancer is malignancy of the esophagus. There are various subtypes, primarily squamous cell cancer and adenocarcinoma . Squamous cell cancer arises from the cells that line the upper part of the esophagus...

at the age of 88. He was buried at Blandford Cemetery

Blandford Cemetery

Blandford Cemetery is located in Petersburg, Virginia, USA. The oldest stone, marking the grave of Richard Yarbrough, reads 1702. Veterans of six wars are buried there, including 30,000 Confederates killed in the Siege of Petersburg during the American Civil War.In 1866, Blandford Cemetery was the...

in Petersburg, Virginia

Petersburg, Virginia

Legacy

Cotten received a Venice Film Festival

Venice Film Festival

The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...

Award for Best Actor for his work in Portrait of Jennie

Portrait of Jennie

.

He was portrayed in the 2009 film Me and Orson Welles

Me and Orson Welles

Me and Orson Welles is a 2009 period-drama film directed by Richard Linklater and starring Zac Efron, Christian McKay, and Claire Danes. Based on Robert Kaplow's novel of the same name, the story, set in 1937 New York, tells of a teenager hired to perform in Orson Welles's stage production of...

by James Tupper

James Tupper

James Tupper is a Canadian actor best known for his role as Jack Slattery on the ABC television series Men in Trees and recently appeared as Dr. Chris Sands on the NBC medical drama series Mercy , which was cancelled by NBC in May 2010.Tupper was born in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada...

Filmography

Too Much Johnson
Too Much Johnson
Too Much Johnson is a 1938 comedy film written and directed by Orson Welles. The film was made three years before Welles directed Citizen Kane, but it was never publicly screened...

(1938) (short subject)
Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film, directed by and starring Orson Welles. Many critics consider it the greatest American film of all time, especially for its innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. Citizen Kane was Welles' first feature film...

(1941)
Lydia
Lydia (film)
Lydia is a 1941 drama film, directed by Julien Duvivier. It stars Merle Oberon as Lydia MacMillan, a woman whose life is seen from her spoiled, immature youth through bitter and resentful middle years, until at last she is old and accepting...

(1941)
The Magnificent Ambersons
The Magnificent Ambersons (film)
The Magnificent Ambersons is a 1942 American drama film written and directed by Orson Welles. His second feature film, it is based on the 1918 novel of the same name by Booth Tarkington and stars Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead and Ray Collins...

(1942)
Shadow of a Doubt
Shadow of a Doubt
Shadow of a Doubt is a 1943 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten. Written by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story for Gordon McDonell...

(1943)
Journey into Fear
Journey into Fear (1943 film)
Journey into Fear is an American spy film based on the Eric Ambler novel of the same name. The 1943 film broadly follows the plot of the book, but the protagonist was changed to an American engineer....

(1943)
Hers to Hold (1943)
Gaslight
Gaslight (1944 film)
Gaslight is a 1944 mystery-thriller film adapted from Patrick Hamilton's play, Gas Light, performed as Angel Street on Broadway in 1941. It was the second version to be filmed; the first, released in the United Kingdom, had been made a mere four years earlier...

(1944)
Since You Went Away
Since You Went Away
Since You Went Away is a 1944 film distributed by United Artists, a big-budget epic about the American home front during World War II. It was directed by John Cromwell and adapted and produced by David O. Selznick from the novel Since You Went Away: Letters to a Soldier from His Wife by Margaret...

(1944)
I'll Be Seeing You (1945)
Love Letters
Love Letters (1945 film)
Love Letters is a 1945 film adapted by Ayn Rand from the novel Pity My Simplicity by Christopher Massie. It was directed by William Dieterle and stars Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ann Richards, Cecil Kellaway, Gladys Cooper and Anita Louise...

(1945)
Duel in the Sun (1946)
The Farmer's Daughter (1947)
Portrait of Jennie
Portrait of Jennie
Portrait of Jennie is a 1948 fantasy film based on the novella by Robert Nathan. The film was directed by William Dieterle and produced by David O. Selznick. It stars Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten.-Plot:...

(1948)
The Third Man
The Third Man
The Third Man is a 1949 British film noir, directed by Carol Reed and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Many critics rank it as a masterpiece, particularly remembered for its atmospheric cinematography, performances, and unique musical score...

(1949)
Under Capricorn
Under Capricorn
Under Capricorn is an Alfred Hitchcock historical feature film.-Production:The film is based on the novel Under Capricorn by Helen Simpson, with screenplay by James Bridie, and adaptation by Hume Cronyn. The movie was co-produced by Hitchcock and Sidney Bernstein for their short-lived production...

(1949)
Beyond the Forest
Beyond the Forest
Beyond the Forest is a 1949 American film, representative of the film noir genre. It was nominated for an Academy Award for best score.-Plot:...

(1949)
Two Flags West
Two Flags West
Two Flags West is a 1950 Western drama set during the American Civil War, directed by Robert Wise and starring Joseph Cotton, Jeff Chandler, Linda Darnell, and Cornell Wilde...

(1950)
Walk Softly, Stranger
Walk Softly, Stranger
Walk Softly, Stranger is a 1950 film that tells the story of a small-time crook on the run who later becomes reformed by the love of a crippled woman. This would be the last RKO credit for famed film producer Dore Schary, who would leave the studio soon after the completion of the film. Privately,...

(1950)
September Affair
September Affair
September Affair is a 1950 film, directed by William Dieterle, starring Joan Fontaine, Joseph Cotten and Jessica Tandy. It was produced by Hal B. Wallis.-Plot:...

(1950)
Half Angel (1951)
Peking Express
Peking Express
Peking Express is a Dutch/Flemish reality game show that follows a series of couples as they hitchhike to or from Beijing . The series has already gone through five seasons. In The Netherlands it is screened by Net 5 and in Belgium by VT4. A German version was shown in 2004...

(1951)
The Man with a Cloak
The Man with a Cloak
The Man with a Cloak is a 1951 drama film directed by Fletcher Markle and starring Joseph Cotten, Barbara Stanwyck, Louis Calhern, and Leslie Caron. It was based on a short story by John Dickson Carr, "The Gentleman from Paris".-Plot:...

(1951)
The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice
Othello (1952 film)
Othello is a 1952 drama film based on the Shakespearean play, made by Mercury Productions Inc. and Les Films Marceau and distributed by United Artists . It was directed and produced by Orson Welles, who also played the title role . The screenplay was adapted by Welles and an uncredited Jean Sacha...

(1952)
The Wild Heart (1952) (narrator)
Untamed Frontier (1952)
The Steel Trap
The Steel Trap
- Plot :Joseph Cotten plays a bank officer who decides to rob his own bank and head to Brazil before he can be found out. Leaving with his wife , he finds it difficult exiting the country.- Trivia :...

(1952)
Egypt by Three (1953) (narrator)
Niagara
Niagara (1953 film)
Niagara is a 1953 thriller-film noir directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Joseph Cotten, Jean Peters, and introducing Marilyn Monroe. Unlike other film noirs of the time, Niagara was shot in Technicolor on location and was one of 20th Century Fox's biggest box-office hits of the year.-Plot:Ray...

(1953)
A Blueprint for Murder
A Blueprint for Murder
A Blueprint for Murder is a thriller film starring Joseph Cotten, Jean Peters, and Gary Merrill, and directed and written by Andrew L. Stone.-Plot:...

(1953)
Vom Himmel gefallen or Special Delivery (1955)
The Bottom of the Bottle
The Bottom of the Bottle
The Bottom of the Bottle is a 1956 American drama film based on the novel written by Georges Simenon during his stay in Nogales, Arizona. The novel was adapted for film by Sydney Boehm and directed by Henry Hathaway.-Plot:...

(1956)
The Killer Is Loose
The Killer Is Loose
The Killer Is Loose is a 1956 crime film noir directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Joseph Cotten, Rhonda Fleming and Wendell Corey.-Plot:An employee for a savings and loan desperate for cash plans and successfully robs a bank as an inside job...

(1956)
The Halliday Brand
The Halliday Brand
The Halliday Brand is a 1957 Western film directed by Joseph H. Lewis and starring Joseph Cotten.-Cast:* Joseph Cotten - Daniel Halliday* Viveca Lindfors - Aleta Burris* Betsy Blair - Martha Halliday* Ward Bond - Big Dan Halliday...

(1957)
Touch of Evil
Touch of Evil
Touch of Evil is a 1958 American crime thriller film, written, directed by, and co-starring Orson Welles. The screenplay was loosely based on the novel Badge of Evil by Whit Masterson...

(1958)
From the Earth to the Moon
From the Earth to the Moon (film)
From the Earth to the Moon is a Technicolor science fiction film adaptation of the Jules Verne novel of the same name. It starred Joseph Cotten, George Sanders, Debra Paget, and Don Dubbins...

(1958)
The Angel Wore Red
The Angel Wore Red
The Angel Wore Red, also known as La Sposa Bella in its Italian version, is a 1960 Italian-American romantic war drama made by MGM and Titanus. It was directed by Nunnally Johnson and produced by Goffredo Lombardo, from a screenplay by Nunnally Johnson based on the 1953 novel The Fair Bride by...

(1960)
The Last Sunset
The Last Sunset (film)
The Last Sunset is a 1961 western movie starring Rock Hudson, Kirk Douglas, Dorothy Malone and directed by Robert Aldrich.The film was released by Universal studios, shot in Eastman color...

(1961)
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)

The Great Sioux Massacre (1965)
The Money Trap
The Money Trap
The Money Trap is a 1965 drama film starring Glenn Ford , Elke Sommer and Rita Hayworth and directed by Burt Kennedy.-Plot:Joe Baron is a cop with financial troubles because of his wife Lisa's constant spending. One day, a burglar is reported shot at the home of a doctor...

(1965)
The Tramplers (1966)
The Oscar
The Oscar (film)
The Oscar is a 1966 American drama film, written by Harlan Ellison, Clarence Greene, Russell Rouse and Richard Sale, directed by Rouse and starring Stephen Boyd, singer Tony Bennett , comedian Milton Berle , Elke Sommer, Ernest Borgnine, Jill St. John, and Eleanor Parker...

(1966)
The Cruel Ones (1967)
Brighty of the Grand Canyon
Brighty of the Grand Canyon
Brighty of the Grand Canyon is a 1967 film based on a 1953 children's novel of the same name by Marguerite Henry, a fictionalized account of a real-life burro named "Brighty", who lived in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River from about 1892-1922....

(1967)
Jack of Diamonds
Jack of Diamonds (1967 film)
Jack of Diamonds is a 1967 film directed by Don Taylor filmed in Germany that was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It stars George Hamilton in the lead role of an international cat burglar and jewel thief....

(1967)
Days of Fire (1968)
Gangster '70 (1968)
Petulia
Petulia
Petulia is a British drama film directed by Richard Lester. The screenplay by Lawrence B. Marcus is based on the novel Me and the Arch Kook Petulia by John Haase...

(1968)
White Comanche (1968)
Keene (1969)
Latitude Zero
Latitude Zero
, is a 1969 tokusatsu film. It was directed by Ishirō Honda with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya . The story was written by Ted Sherdeman, writer on the 1954 science-fiction film, Them! , and starred Joseph Cotten, Cesar Romero, Akira Takarada, Masumi Okada, Richard Jaeckel,...

(1969)
The Lonely Profession
The Lonely Profession
The Lonely Profession was a made-for-television suspense film directed by Douglas Heyes. It was first broadcast October 21, 1969 on NBC.-Plot:...

(1969)
The Grasshopper
The Grasshopper (film)
The Grasshopper is a 1969 drama film directed by Jerry Paris. It stars Jacqueline Bisset and Jim Brown.-Plot:Christine Adams, a cheerful 19-year-old from British Columbia, Canada, travels to Los Angeles to be with her fiance, who works there in a bank. When the relationship doesn't work out, she...

(1970)
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Tora! Tora! Tora!
is a 1970 American-Japanese war film that dramatizes the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, to the extent these facts were known at the time of production. The film was directed by Richard Fleischer and stars an all-star cast, including So Yamamura, E.G...

(1970)
The Abominable Dr. Phibes
The Abominable Dr. Phibes
The Abominable Dr. Phibes is a 1971 horror film starring Vincent Price. Its art deco sets, dark humor and performance by Price has made the film and its sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again classics.-Plot:...

(1971)
Lady Frankenstein
Lady Frankenstein
Lady Frankenstein is a 1971 Italian horror film directed by Mel Welles. It stars Joseph Cotten, Rosalba Neri , Mickey Hargitay and Paul Müller...

(1971)
Baron Blood (1972)
Doomsday Voyage (1972)
The Scientific Cardplayer
The Scientific Cardplayer
The Scientific Cardplayer is the English language title of a 1972 Italian drama film directed by Luigi Comencini. The screenplay was written by Rodolfo Sonego.-Synopsis:...

(1972)
A Delicate Balance
A Delicate Balance (film)
A Delicate Balance is a 1973 drama film directed by Tony Richardson. The screenplay by Edward Albee is based on his 1966 Pultizer Prize-winning play of the same name.The film was the second in a series produced by Ely A...

(1973)
F for Fake
F for Fake
F for Fake is the last major film completed by Orson Welles, who directed, co-wrote, and starred in the film. Initially released in 1974, it focuses on Elmyr de Hory's recounting of his career as a professional art forger; de Hory's story serves as the backdrop for a fast-paced, meandering...

(1973)
Soylent Green
Soylent Green
Soylent Green is a 1973 American science fiction film directed by Richard Fleischer. Starring Charlton Heston, the film overlays the police procedural and science fiction genres as it depicts the investigation into the murder of a wealthy businessman in a dystopian future suffering from pollution,...

(1973)
Syndicate Sadists
Syndicate Sadists
Syndicate Sadists, also known as Rambo's Revenge and One Just Man is a 1975 poliziotteschi film. This film by Umberto Lenzi was one of the director's many work in the crime thriller genre...

(1975)
Timber Tramps
Timber Tramps
Timber Tramps is a 1975 film directed by Tay Garnett. It stars Claude Akins and Leon Ames.-Cast:*Claude Akins as Matt*Leon Ames as Deacon*Eve Brent as Corey*Joseph Cotten as Greedy sawmill mogul*Cesar Romero as Greedy sawmill mogul...

(1975)
A Whisper in the Dark (1976)
Twilight's Last Gleaming
Twilight's Last Gleaming
Twilight's Last Gleaming is a 1977 film directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Burt Lancaster and Richard Widmark.Loosely based on a 1971 novel, Viper Three by Walter Wager, it tells the story of Lawrence Dell, a renegade USAF general, who escapes from a military prison and takes over an ICBM silo...

(1977)
Airport '77
Airport '77
Airport '77 is a 1977 disaster film and second sequel in the Airport franchise.The film stars a number of veteran actors, including Jack Lemmon, James Stewart, Joseph Cotten, Christopher Lee and Olivia de Havilland. Like its predecessors, Airport '77 was a box office hit earning US$30 million and...

(1977)
Last In, First Out (1978)
Caravans
Caravans (1978 film)
Caravans is a 1978 Iranian-American film directed by James Fargo based on the novel by James A. Michener. Nancy Voyles Crawford wrote the screenplay. The movie was shot in Iran.-Plot:...

(1978)
Concorde Affair (1978)
Island of the Fishmen (1979)
Concorde Affair '79 (1979)
Guyana: Crime of the Century
Guyana: Crime of the Century
Guyana: Crime of the Century is a 1979 exploitation horror film written and directed by René Cardona Jr.. The film, which was shot in Mexico is very loosely based on the Jonestown Massacre. It stars a number of American actors such as Stuart Whitman and Gene Barry...

(1979)
The Hearse
The Hearse
The Hearse is a 1980 horror movie starring Trish Van Devere and Joseph Cotten.- Plot :Jane Hardy arrives in the town of Blackford to stay in an old house left to her by a late aunt...

(1980)
Delusion (1980)
Heaven's Gate (1980)
The Survivor
The Survivor (film)
The Survivor is a 1981 movie starring Robert Powell and Jenny Agutter, based on a novel of the same name by James Herbert.The film was notable for being the first Australian film to cost more than A$1,000,000 to make...

(1981)

External links

1959-08-02 Joseph Cotten - Red Cloud Mesa (Audio file, 20 mins)
Photographs and literature

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Biography and career

Early life and career

Citizen Kane

Later collaborations with Welles

The 1940s and 1950s

The 1960s and 1970s

Last years

Legacy

Filmography

Further reading

External links