Trivia

Served as best man at Orson Welles's wedding to Rita Hayworth.

Despite their mercurial relationship, he and Orson Welles remained friends until Welles' death.

Worked with Alfred Hitchcock in one of his finest films, Shadow of a Doubt (1943). They worked again in Under Capricorn (1949) but the film flopped with Hitch disowning it. Cotton never appeared in any subsequent Hitchcock film for the cinema, but did appear in some episodes of Hitchcock's TV series, including one of the few episodes to be directed by Hitchcock himself.

Retired from acting in the early 1980s after a stroke and a laryngectomy.

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

Like Orson Welles, he has appeared in the top films of both the American Film Institute and the British Film Institute; for AFI it was Citizen Kane (1941) as Jedediah Leland and for BFI, its The Third Man (1949) as Holly Martins.

After his 1960 marriage to Patricia Medina, they lived at 17800 Tramonto Drive in Pacific Palisades. It is on the beach side of the street and has a commanding view of Santa Monica Bay. It's still known to locals as the "Cotten House".

Was cast as C.K. Dexter Haven in the original 1939 Broadway production of Philip Barry's play Philadelphia Story with Katharine Hepburn. When Hepburn, who owned the rights, sold the story to MGM, Cary Grant was cast in the part.

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

Cotten had suffered a debilitating stroke and heart attack in 1981, and fought for years to regain use of his baritone voice. Troubled intermittently by throat nodules, he had his larynx removed in 1990 because of cancer.

While Citizen Kane (1941) is officially Cotten's debut film, MGM actually filmed the Broadway stage production of "The Philadelphia Story" with Cotten, Katharine Hepburn, Van Heflin, Shirley Booth, et al. as prep for the 1940 movie version with Hepburn, Cary Grant, Ruth Hussey and James Stewart.

He was a lifelong Republican and conservative who was a solid supporter of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan.

He has appeared in five films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Gaslight (1944) and Touch of Evil (1958).

Co-starred with Jennifer Jones in 4 movies: Since You Went Away (1944), Love Letters (1945), Duel in the Sun (1946), and Portrait of Jennie (1948). Cotten also narrated The Wild Heart (1950), in which Jones played the lead.

Grew up in Petersburg, Virginia, the oldest of three brothers.

His first film appearance is in 1937 in "Seeing the World, Part One: A Visit to New York", a 10-minute silent film directed & photographed by Rudy Burkhardt, in which he is credited as "Joseph Cotton", acting briefly in a bar scene.

Won the Best Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival in 1948 for Portrait of Jennie (1948).

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

He was portrayed by Matthew Glave in the FX series, Feud (2017).

His brother, Sam, passed away on February 27, 2010 in Winchester, Virginia, at the age of 90.

For his performance in Portrait of Jennie he was named Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival.

Had a stepdaughter from first marriage.

He was named Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival in 1948 for Portrait of Jennie.

Uncle of Joseph Cotten.