Arka Evren

ACTOR

Joseph Cotten

Known for
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), Niagara (1953), The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), Under Capricorn (1949)

20 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026

Joseph Cotten is an actor best known for Tora! Tora! Tora!, Niagara and The Abominable Dr. Phibes.

10 Interesting Facts About Joseph Cotten

  1. #001

    Joseph Cotten served as best man at Orson Welles's wedding to Rita Hayworth.

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  2. #002

    Despite their volatile relationship, Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles remained friends until Welles's death.

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  3. #004

    After a stroke and a laryngectomy, Joseph Cotten retired from acting in the early 1980s.

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  4. #005

    Before his famous appearance as Charles Foster Kane's best friend Jed Leland in Citizen Kane (1941), Joseph Cotten appears as one of the reporters in the March of Time parody sequence at the start of the film. He sits in the last row on the far left at the back of the projection room and is clearly visible in only a single shot, but his voice, along with that of Everett Sloane (who plays Bernstein), can often be heard in the darkness of the film's soundtrack.

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  5. #006

    Like Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten appeared in films on both the American Film Institute's and the British Film Institute's lists of the best films; for the AFI it was Citizen Kane (1941) for his role as Jedediah Leland, and for the BFI it was The Third Man (1949) for his role as Holly Martins.

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  6. #009

    In the 1940s alone, Joseph Cotten appeared in four Best Picture nominees: Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), Gaslight (1944) and Since You Went Away (1944).

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  7. #010

    In 1981, Joseph Cotten suffered a debilitating stroke and a heart attack, and he struggled for years to use his baritone voice again. The man, who was intermittently troubled by nodules on his throat, had his larynx removed in 1990 because of cancer.

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  8. #011

    Joseph Cotten was a lifelong Republican and conservative, and a staunch supporter of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.

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  9. #015

    Joseph Cotten died of pneumonia at his home in Westwood, Los Angeles.

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  10. #016

    Joseph Cotten was portrayed by Matthew Glave in the FX series Feud (2017).

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