Ken Russell
Directing
Born: 1927-07-03 in Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK
Biography
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). 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
Agatha Christie's Marple
Rev Caleb Dane Calthrop
Omnibus
Self
The South Bank Show
Self
Celebrity Big Brother
Self
Waking the Dead
Gerry Raistrick
Lady Chatterley
Sir Michael Reid
The Russia House
Walter
Whore
Waiter (uncredited)
Celebrity Naked Ambition
Self - Contributor
Tommy
Cripple (uncredited)
The Lair of the White Worm
Police Radio (voice) (uncredited)
Plunder
Valentino
Rex Ingram (uncredited)
Frank Stubbs Promotes
Self
Trapped Ashes
Dr. Lucy (segment "The Girl with Golden Breasts")
The Who: The Kids Are Alright
Self
Mr. Nice
Russell Miegs
Gothic
Tourist
Colour Me Kubrick
The Man In Nightgown
Salome's Last Dance
Cappadocian
Savage Messiah
Passenger getting off train in station (uncredited)
Twiggy
(archival footage)
Brothers of the Head
Himself
Alice in Russialand
100 Greatest Sexy Moments
Self
Tales of Erotica
Mr. Kirsch (segment 'The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch') (uncredited)
Director of Devils
Self
Song of Summer
Priest
In Search of the English Folk Song
Self
A Turnip Head's Guide To The British Cinema
Self
Ken Russell: A Bit of a Devil
Self (archive footage)
Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World
Captain Patterson
The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch
Mr. Kirsch
Don’t Shoot the Composer
Himself
The Real Oliver Reed
Self
Music for the Movies: Georges Delerue
Self
Ken Russell's ABC of British Music
Himself
Hell on Earth: The Desecration & Resurrection of The Devils
Self