Orson Welles to narrate upcoming animated film—from beyond the grave! (cue ominous music)

Not even death can keep Orson Welles down. The gargantuan film legend, wine pitchman and Transformers: The Movie voice-over artist will roar out of his coffin to narrate an upcoming adaptation of Christmas Tails, an obscure, self-published Christmas novel about Santa's dog by a friend. Welles narrated the novel on reel-to-reel tape as a favor to pal Robert X. Leed.

Leed has now hooked up with Drac Studios, a special effects and make-up company looking to get into film production. The film, a live-action/animation hybrid, hopes to begin shooting this Summer with an eye towards a December 2011 release. It remains to be seen how this project will turn out but it certainly won't be the least dignified use of Orson Welles voiceover, or even the first posthumous Welles voiceover, as these clips prove: