F for Fake

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

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

Orson Welles

Self

Oja Kodar

The Girl

Elmyr de Hory

Self

Clifford Irving

Self

Laurence Harvey

Self

Edith Irving

Self

David Walsh

Self

Paul Stewart

Self

Richard Wilson

Self

Joseph Cotten

Self

Howard Hughes

Self (archive footage)

Richard Drewett

Self