Ken Russell
Directing
- Born
- July 3, 1927 · Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK
- Died
- November 27, 2011 (age 84)
Henry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was an English film director. He is known for his pioneering work in television and film, and for his controversial style. He has been criticized as being over-obsessed with sexuality and the church. His subject matter is often about famous composers, or based on other works of art which he adapts loosely. Russell began directing for the BBC, where he did creative adaptations of composers' lives which were unusual for the time. He also directed many feature films independently and for studios.
He is best known for his Oscar-winning romantic drama Women in Love (1969), the notoriously controversial The Devils (1971), the rock musical Tommy (1975), and the science fiction film Altered States (1980).
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One noted admirer, British film critic Mark Kermode, attempting to sum up the director's achievement, called Russell; "somebody who proved that British cinema didn't have to be about kitchen-sink realism – it could be every bit as flamboyant as Fellini. He now makes very strange experimental films like Lion's Mouth and Revenge of the Elephant Man, and they are as edgy and out there as the work he made in the 1970s."
Known for
Altered States
December 25, 1980
The Devils
July 16, 1971
Tommy
March 19, 1975
The Lair of the White Worm
September 21, 1988
Crimes of Passion
October 19, 1984
Gothic
February 27, 1987
Women in Love
September 13, 1969
Billion Dollar Brain
November 16, 1967
Whore
June 21, 1991
The Music Lovers
February 12, 1971
Trapped Ashes
September 12, 2006
Valentino
September 7, 1977
Behind the camera82
- 2009Boudica Bites Back Director, Screenplay
- 2007A Kitten for Hitler Director, Writer
- 2007Watch the Birdie Director
- 2006Trapped Ashes Director
- 2006Charlotte Brontë Enters the Big Brother House Director, Director of Photography, Writer, Choreographer, Producer
- 2005The Miners' Picnic by Ken Russell Director
- 2004Revenge of the Elephant Man Director, Writer, Producer
- 2002Elgar: Fantasy on a Composer on a Bicycle Director, Producer, Writer
- 2002The Fall of the Louse of Usher Director, Writer, Producer, Cinematography, Editor, Director of Photography