to discover the pieces were all forgeries. Kodar took Picasso to her grandfather, the forger. In a verbal re-enactment by Welles (grandfather) and Kodar (Picasso), the forger defended his work with pride, saying he invented a new Picasso period. The grandfather suggests that the forgeries go un-reported, to allow him an artistic legacy that Picasso already has. Picasso angrily demanded the paintings back, which is impossible because the grandfather had burned them. Welles then confesses that he had promised everything in the "next hour" was true, and that hour had already passed. He admits the entire story of Kodar, her grandfather, and Picasso was made up. He apologizes, quotes Picasso's statement that art is a lie that makes us see the truth, and bids the audience good evening. Cast Orson Welles – Himself Elmyr de Hory – The Art Forger Oja Kodar – The Girl Joseph Cotten – Special Participant François Reichenbach – Special Participant Richard Wilson – Special Participant Paul Stewart – Special Participant Mark Forgy – Assistant to Elmyr de Hory Alexander Welles – Special Participant (as Sasa Devcic) Gary Graver – Special Participant Andrés Vicente Gómez – Special Participant Julio Palinkas – Special Participant Christian Odasso – Special Participant Françoise Widhoff – Special Participant Others Peter Bogdanovich – Special Participant (voice) William Alland – Special Participant (voice) Howard Hughes - Himself (uncredited) Jean-Pierre Aumont – Himself (uncredited) Laurence Harvey – Himself (uncredited) Clifford Irving – Himself (uncredited) Nina van Pallandt – Herself (uncredited) Background Orson Welles was hired to edit a documentary by François Reichenbach about the art forger Elmyr de Hory. The film grew over time to encompass de Hory, as well as de Hory's biographer Clifford Irving, who was revealed to be a forger himself. Keith Woodward explains: "following Irving’s hoax, Welles and his cinematographer, Gary Graver, shifted gears, scrambling to keep up with the Hughes affair, adding new shots, re-thinking the narrative, re-editing, re-combining different themes, incorporating emerging material." Welles used these circumstances to produce a meditation on the nature of fakery, which he called " a new kind of movie … it’s a form, in other words, the essay, the personal essay, as opposed to the documentary." Several storylines are presented in the film, including those of de Hory, Irving, Welles, Howard Hughes and Kodar. About de Hory, we learn that he was a struggling artist who turned to forgery out of desperation,