Othello (character) Othello (character) Othello () is a character in Shakespeare's "Othello" (c. 1601–1604). The character's origin is traced to the tale "Un Capitano Moro" in "Gli Hecatommithi" by Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio. There, he is simply referred to as the Moor. Othello is a brave and competent soldier of advanced years and Moorish background in the service of the Venetian Republic. He elopes with Desdemona, the beautiful daughter of a respected Venetian senator. After being deployed to Cyprus, Othello is manipulated by his Ancient (pronounced Ensign) Iago into believing Desdemona is an adulteress. Othello murders her and, upon discovering Iago's deceit,
Othello (1951 film) for the American market, a 93-minutes cut released on 12 September 1955 in New York City. This had a number of minor editing changes and several major soundtrack changes, including Welles' replacement of his spoken-word titles with written credits (requested by the film's distributor, United Artists) and the addition of a narration by Welles. Suzanne Cloutier's entire performance was dubbed by Gudrun Ure, who had previously played Desdemona opposite Welles in a 1951 theatre production of "Othello" that was staged to raise funds to complete the film. Paul Squitieri, in a 1993 PhD study of the film in its various