Ken Russell
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
Waking the Dead
Gerry Raistrick
Celebrity Big Brother
Self
The Aristofrogs
Omnibus
Self
Savage Messiah
Passenger getting off train in station (uncredited)
Twiggy
(archival footage)
Valentino
Rex Ingram (uncredited)
The Russia House
Walter
Trapped Ashes
Dr. Lucy (segment "The Girl with Golden Breasts")
Mr. Nice
Russell Miegs
Tales of Erotica
Mr. Kirsch (segment 'The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch') (uncredited)
Tommy
Cripple (uncredited)
Salome's Last Dance
Cappadocian
Empire of the Censors
Self
Alice in Russialand
Whore
Waiter (uncredited)
Brothers of the Head
Himself
The Lair of the White Worm
Police Radio (voice) (uncredited)
Gothic
Tourist
Colour Me Kubrick
The Man In Nightgown
Lady Chatterley
Sir Michael Reid
Song of Summer
Priest
Frank Stubbs Promotes
Self
100 Greatest Sexy Moments
Self
Vem Var Dracula
Self
The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch
Mr. Kirsch
Plunder
Music for the Movies: Georges Delerue
Self
Director of Devils
Self
Don’t Shoot the Composer
Himself
The Who: The Kids Are Alright
Self
Walk With The Damned
Hood
The Real Blue Nuns
Self
The Who: One Band's Explosive Story
Self (archive footage)
Lion's Mouth
Ken
Hell on Earth: The Desecration & Resurrection of The Devils
Self
The Real Oliver Reed
Self
The Secret Life of Arnold Bax
Sir Arnold Bax
Russell at Work
The Fall of the Louse of Usher
Dr. Calahari
Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World
Captain Patterson
PuzzleFace
god
A British Picture: Portrait of an Enfant Terrible
Ken Russell: A Bit of a Devil
Self (archive footage)
A Turnip Head's Guide To The British Cinema
Self
10 Best Elgar
Self (archive footage)
Revenge of the Elephant Man
The Devils Original on-set footage
Ken Russell's ABC of British Music
Himself
A Kitten for Hitler
Santa
Elgar: Fantasy of a Composer on a Bicycle
Narrator (voice)
Vaughan Williams: A Symphonic Portrait
Self
Ken Russell: In Search of the English Folk Song
Himself
Your Honour, I Object! Guccione V Russell
Boudica Bites Back
Roman Senator
The South Bank Show
Self