F for Fake

Orson Welles
1973-09-01

A magician is just an actor playing the part of a magician.
7.4
89 min

Documents the lives of infamous fakers Elmyr de Hory and Clifford Irving. De Hory, who later committed suicide to avoid more prison time, made his name by selling forged works of art by painters like Picasso and Matisse. Irving was infamous for writing a fake autobiography of Howard Hughes. Welles moves between documentary and fiction as he examines the fundamental elements of fraud and the people who commit fraud at the expense of others.

Cast

Name Character Team
Orson Welles Self Unowned
Oja Kodar The Girl Unowned
Elmyr de Hory Self Unowned
Clifford Irving Self Unowned
Laurence Harvey Self Unowned
Edith Irving Self Unowned
David Walsh Self Unowned
Paul Stewart Self Unowned
Richard Wilson Self Unowned
Joseph Cotten Self Unowned
Howard Hughes Self (archive footage) Unowned
Richard Drewett Self Unowned
Alexander Welles Self Unowned
Gary Graver Self Unowned
Andrés Vicente Gómez Self Unowned
Julio Palinkas Self Unowned
Christian Odasso Self Unowned
Françoise Widhoff Self Unowned
Peter Bogdanovich Self Unowned
William Alland Self Unowned
Mark Forgy Self Unowned
Nina van Pallandt Self Unowned