Orson Welles had a bizarre obsession with his nose
Orson Welles used false noses throughout his acting career, partly because he felt his own nose was too small and partly to transform himself into different characters. The article presents the habit as both a personal insecurity and a practical part of his approach to performance.
Welles said he often chose the largest false nose he could find. In a 1955 television series, he recounted one falling off during a stage scene in Dublin, prompting the audience to laugh when he accidentally said “nose” instead of “throne”. Director Lewis Gilbert later recalled that Welles arranged his own prosthetic nose for the 1959 film *Ferry to Hong Kong*; a short documentary about the habit was released by the Criterion Collection in 2017.
In short
- Welles often wore false noses in his films.
- He said his own nose was too small.
- One prosthetic mishap turned a Dublin performance into comedy.
Explained simply
Orson Welles was an American actor and film-maker whose career spanned stage, cinema and television. Actors sometimes use prosthetics, such as false noses, to change their appearance for a role.
Welles wore false noses for both personal and practical reasons: he thought his own nose was too small, and he used prosthetics to help create different characters. He said he often chose the largest one available, and later accounts describe him arranging his own prosthetic for the film Ferry to Hong Kong.