In the last interview of his life on October 9th, 1985, Orson Welles appeared on Merv Griffin's TV show for a wide-ranging conversation about his life and career. During the course of the chat Orson spoke about the prime-time soaps of the 1980s and how they differed with the prime time radio Welles' was at the helm of early in his career.

After the show, Welles had dinner with his (unauthorized) biographer Barbara Leaming at Ma Maison in Los Angeles. A man named Patrick Terrail joined Welles after Leaming had left their table. “He was happy about everything that night”, said Terrail. “He was happy about the Griffin show because he thought it went well. Everything was going his way, and he was in a good mood. He was just in good spirits all the way around.”

Welles finished his dinner, went home, and died.

He was 70 at the time of his death. He is estimated to have died about three hours after the taping of the show. Welles was discovered by his driver, Fred Gillette, the next morning lying on a bed on the second floor of his home.