Who is Beatrice Welles? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Also Known As: Beatrice Giuditta Welles, Beatrice Mori di Gerfalco Welles

Age: 69 Years, 69 Year Old Females

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Christopher Smith (m. 1987–1995), Jonathan O'Donaghue (m. 1997; div. 2004)

father: Orson Welles

mother: Paola Mori

siblings: Christopher Welles Feder, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, Rebecca Welles

Born Country: United States

Actresses Former Child Actors

U.S. State: New Yorkers

Recommended For You

Recommended Lists:

Actresses Who Are In Their 60s

Early Life & Family

Born on November 13, 1955, in Manhattan, New York, USA, Beatrice is the daughter of Orson Welles, and his third wife, Paola Mori. Welles had two other daughters from previous relationships, Christopher Welles Feder and the late Rebecca Welles Manning. It was her paternal grandmother, the concert pianist Beatrice Ives Welles, after whom she was named. Her baptism took place at the Good Shepherd Roman Catholic Church in Beverly Hills. Her godparents were Frank Sinatra and actress Mercedes McCambridge.

Recommended Lists:

Women Film & Theater Personalities

American Film & Theater Personalities

Continue Reading Below

Education & CareerBeatrice was predominantly raised in Europe and did not receive a formal education. Instead, her parents hired private tutors to educate her. Her first stage appearance came when she was five years old, in an Irish stage production of ï¿½

During the shooting of ‘The Immortal Story’ (1968), which was mostly filmed at the Welles family home outside Madrid, Spain, Beatrice stayed in the editing room with her father for countless hours. In 1964, she starred alongside her parents in ‘In the Land of Don Quixote’. She was also part of the production of her father’s unfinished film based on the same character, ‘Don Quixote’.

Since she was quite young, she had harboured aspirations of becoming a professional equestrian. However, that ended after she was severely injured as a teenager. She subsequently decided to become a model. She was featured in layouts in ‘Vogue’ and walked on runway in Paris, Milan, London, and New York, modelling for brands like Valentino, Halston, and Chanel. In the early 1970s, she was employed as a news director at KAZM-AM radio in Arizona. Later, she became a regional television personality and served as a long-time spokeswoman for a major southwestern automotive dealership.

Inspired by her friendships with renowned makeup artists Kevin Aucoin and Barbara Daly, Welles launched her own cosmetics line. She had several celebrities as her clients, including Diana, Princess of Wales, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Rivers, and Oprah Winfrey. She also set up a line of designer handbags and jewellery. Its products were only available at Goldenstein Gallery in Sedona, Arizona.

Later Life, Family & Administrating the Orson Welles Estate

Beatrice’s father, mother, and maternal grandmother passed away within a span of ten months in the mid-1980s. She has been married twice in her life. Her first husband was Christopher Smith, to whom she was married from April 27, 1987, to September 12, 1995. She and her second husband, Jonathan O'Donoghue, exchanged wedding vows on June 6, 1997, and divorced in 2004.

Following the deaths of her parents, Beatrice had to resolve intricate issues related to her father’s estate. She came to an agreement with her father’s long-time partner Oja Kodar, signing a settlement deal with her on November 7, 1986, in a Clark County, Nevada courthouse.

She oversaw the restoration of her father’s film, ‘Othello’ (1951), which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 1992. In 1998, she criticised the efforts of re-editing ‘Touch of Evil’ (1958), as the people responsible for it were going to advertise it as a director’s cut without letting her see it before its release. For several years, she vehemently opposed the attempts of finishing Welles’ last film, ‘The Other Side of the Wind’. Eventually, she accepted and supported a project helmed by Polish-born filmmaker Filip Jan Rymsza and producer Frank Marshall. She served as an executive producer on the film, which was streamed on Netflix in August 2018. Beatrice collaborated with Titan Books and author Simon Braund on ‘Orson Welles Portfolio: Sketches and Drawings from the Welles Estate’, which was put out on February 19, 2019.

Trivia

A devoted animal rights activist, Beatrice contributed significantly to setting up one of the first low-cost spaying and neutering clinics in US.

Beatrice Welles Biography