Joseph Cotten

Joseph Cotten
Cotten in 1942
Born
Joseph Cheshire Cotten Jr.

(1905-05-15)May 15, 1905
DiedFebruary 6, 1994(1994-02-06) (aged 88)
Burial placeBlandford Cemetery, Petersburg, Virginia
OccupationActor
Years active1930–1981
Height6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Spouses
Lenore Kipp
(m. 1931; died 1960)
(m. 1960)
Children1
AwardsVolpi Cup for Best Actor:
1949 Portrait of Jennie

Joseph Cheshire Cotten Jr. (May 15, 1905 – February 6, 1994) was an American film, stage, radio and television actor. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original stage productions of The Philadelphia Story (1939) and Sabrina Fair (1953). He then gained worldwide fame for his collaborations with Orson Welles on three films, Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), and Journey into Fear (1943), which Cotten starred in and for which he was also credited with the screenplay.

Cotten went on to become one of the leading Hollywood actors of the 1940s, appearing in films such as Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Gaslight (1944), Love Letters (1945), Duel in the Sun (1946), The Farmer's Daughter (1947), Portrait of Jennie (1948) for which he won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, The Third Man (1949) and Niagara (1953). One of his final films was Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate (1980).

Multiple film critics and media outlets have cited him as one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.[2][3]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference LA Times was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Robey, Tim (February 1, 2016). "20 great actors who've never been nominated for an Oscar". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on January 11, 2022. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  3. ^ Singer, Leigh (February 19, 2009). "Oscars: the best actors never to have been nominated". The Guardian. UK. Archived from the original on January 17, 2024. Retrieved September 17, 2022.