Ken Russell
Encyclopedia
Henry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. He attracted criticism as being obsessed with sexuality and the church. His films often dealt with the lives of famous composers or were based on other works of art which he adapted loosely. Russell began directing for the BBC, where he made creative adaptations of composers' lives which were unusual for the time. He also directed many feature film
s independently and for studios
.
He is best known for his Oscar-winning film Women in Love
(1969), The Devils
(1971), The Who
's Tommy
(1975), and the science fiction
film Altered States
(1980). Classical musicians and conductors held him in high regard for his story-driven biopics of various composers, most famously Elgar, Delius, Liszt, Mahler and Tchaikovsky.
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
. In the final period of his directing careers he makes what have been described as very strange experimental films such as Lion's Mouth and Revenge of the Elephant Man, and they which are considered to be as edgy and out there as some of the work he made in the 1970s".
, England, on 3 July 1927, the elder of two sons of Ethel (née Smith) and Henry Russell, a shoeshop owner. His father was distant and took out his rage on his family, so Russell spent much of his time at the cinema with his mother, who was mentally ill. He cited Die Nibelungen
and The Secret of the Loch as two early influences.
He was educated at private schools in Walthamstow
and at Pangbourne College
. He harboured a childhood ambition to be a ballet dancer but instead joined the Royal Air Force
and the Merchant Navy
as a teenager. On one occasion he was made to stand watch in the blazing sun for hours on end while crossing the Pacific. His lunatic captain feared an attack by Japanese midget submarines despite the war having ended. He moved into television work after short careers in dance and photography
.
His series of documentary 'Teddy Girl' photographs were published in Picture Post
magazine in the summer of 1955, and he continued to work as a freelance
documentary photographer until 1959. After 1959, Russell's amateur films (his documentaries for the Free Cinema
movement, and his 1958 short
Amelia and the Angel) secured him a job at the BBC, where he worked regularly from 1959 to 1970 making arts documentaries for Monitor and Omnibus. Among his better-known works were: Elgar
(1962), The Debussy Film (1965), Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World
(1967), Song of Summer
(about Frederick Delius
and Eric Fenby
) (1968) and Dance of the Seven Veils (1970), a film about Richard Strauss
. He once said that the best film he ever made was Song of Summer, and that he wouldn't edit a single shot. The Elgar film proved to be ground-breaking because it was the first time that an arts programme (Monitor) had shown one long film about an artistic figure instead of short items, and also it was the first time that re-enactments were used. Russell fought with the BBC over using actors to portray different ages of the same character, instead of the traditional photograph stills and documentary footage.
His television films became increasingly flamboyant and outrageous. Dance of the Seven Veils sought to portray Richard Strauss
as a Nazi: one scene in particular showed a Jew being tortured while a group of SS men look on in delight, to the tune of Strauss's music. The Strauss family was so outraged they withdrew all music rights so that the film is effectively banned from being screened until Strauss's copyright expires in 2019.
Russell's first feature film was French Dressing
(1963), a comedy loosely based on Roger Vadim
's And God Created Woman
; its critical and commercial failure sent Russell back to the BBC. His second big-screen effort was part of author Len Deighton
's Harry Palmer
spy cycle, Billion Dollar Brain
(1967), starring Michael Caine
.
In 1969, Russell directed what is considered his "signature film", Women In Love
, a rollicking adaptation of D. H. Lawrence
's novel of the same name
about two artist sisters living in post-World War I
Britain
. The film starred Glenda Jackson
, Oliver Reed
, Jennie Linden
and Alan Bates
. The film is notable for its nude wrestling
scene, which broke the convention at the time that a mainstream movie could not show male genitalia.
Women in Love connected with the sexual revolution and bohemian politics of the late 1960s. It was nominated for several Oscars, and won one for Glenda Jackson
for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Russell himself was nominated for an Oscar — that for Best Director (his only nomination)— as were his cinematographer
and screenwriter.
The film was BAFTA-nominated for the costume designs of Russell's first wife, Shirley; they collaborated throughout the 1970s. The colour schemes of Luciana Arrighi's art direction (also BAFTA-nominated) and Billy William's cinematography, which Russell used for metaphorical effect, are also often referred to by film textbooks. In 2011 Women In Love was voted Best Ken Russell film.
(1970), a biopic of Tchaikovsky
, starred Richard Chamberlain
as a flamboyant Tchaikovsky and Glenda Jackson as his wife. The score was conducted to great acclaim by André Previn
. The film was widely panned but was successful at the box office.
The following year, Russell released The Devils
, a film so controversial that its backers, the American company Warner Brothers, refused to release it uncut. Inspired by Aldous Huxley
's book The Devils of Loudun
and using material from John Whiting
's play The Devils, it starred Oliver Reed
as a priest who stands in the way of a corrupt church and state. Helped by publicity over the more sensational scenes, featuring sexuality among nuns, the film topped British box office receipts for eight weeks. In the United States, the film, which had already been cut for distribution in Britain, was further edited. It has never played in anything like its original state in America. British film critic Alexander Walker
described the film as "monstrously indecent" in a television confrontation with Russell, leading the director to hit him with a rolled up copy of the Evening Standard, the newspaper for which Walker worked.
Russell followed The Devils
with a reworking of the period musical The Boy Friend, for which he cast the model Twiggy
, who won two Golden Globe Awards for her performance: one for Best Actress in a musical comedy, and one for the best newcomer. The film was heavily cut, shorn of two musical numbers for its American release, where it was not a big success. Russell himself provided most of the financing for Savage Messiah
, a biopic of Henri Gaudier-Brzeska
; providing producer David Puttnam
with a rare box-office hit with Mahler
.
In 1975, Russell's star-studded film version
of The Who
's rock opera Tommy
starring Roger Daltrey
, Ann-Margret
, Oliver Reed
, Elton John
, Tina Turner
, Eric Clapton
and Jack Nicholson
, spent a record fourteen weeks at the No.1 spot and played to full houses for over a year. Two months before Tommy
was released (in March 1975), Russell started work on Lisztomania (1975), another vehicle for Roger Daltrey
, and for the film scoring of progressive rock
er Rick Wakeman
. One of Russell's aims with this wild comic strip of a film was to explore the power of music for good (inspirational) and evil.
In the film, the good music of Franz Liszt
is stolen by Richard Wagner
who, in his operas, puts forward the theme of the Superman
.Tommy and Lisztomania were important in the rise of improved motion picture sound in the 1970s, as they were among the first films to be released with Dolby-encoded soundtracks. Lisztomania, tagged as "the film that out-Tommys 'Tommy'", topped the British box-office for two weeks in November 1975, when Tommy was still in the list of the week's top five box-office hits. Russell's next film, the 1977 biopic Valentino, also topped the British box-office for two weeks, but was not a hit in America.
was a departure in both genre and tone, in that it is Russell's only foray into science fiction
. Working from Paddy Chayefsky
's screenplay
(based upon his novel), Russell used his penchant for elaborate visual effects to translate Chayefsky's hallucinatory story to the cinema, and took the opportunity to add his trademark religious and sexual imagery. The film had an innovative Oscar-nominated score by John Corigliano
. The film enjoyed moderate financial success, and scored with critics who had otherwise dismissed Russell's work. Roger Ebert
, who had given The Devils
"zero stars", and had panned Russell's composer portraits, gave it his highest rating for Russell's work (three-and-a-half stars), praising it as "one hell of a movie!"
Russell's behaviour on set, including a row with Chayefsky himself, caused him to become a virtual pariah in Hollywood. Beyond this, Russell's last American film, Crimes of Passion (1984), with Anthony Perkins
and Kathleen Turner
, had moderate critical success but did not perform at the box office and Russell subsequently returned to Europe.
After taking a break from film to direct opera, Russell found financing with various independent companies. During this period he directed Gothic
(1986) with Gabriel Byrne
, about the night Mary Shelley
told the tale of Frankenstein
, and The Lair of the White Worm
(1988) with Amanda Donohoe
and Hugh Grant
, based on a novella by Bram Stoker
. 1988 saw the release of Salome's Last Dance
, a loosely adapted esoteric tribute to Oscar Wilde's controversial play Salome
, which was banned on the 19th century London stage. The cult movie defines Russell's adult themed romance with the Theater of The Poor and was also notable for the screen presence of Imogen Millais-Scott as Salome.
Russell finished the 1980s with The Rainbow
, another D. H. Lawrence adaptation, which also happens to be the prequel to Women in Love
. Glenda Jackson
played the mother of her character in the previous film.
In the late-1980s, Russell directed the music video for "It's All Coming Back to Me Now
", a song written and produced by Jim Steinman
for his Pandora's Box
project. The production featured a range of erotic imagery, including studded bras and spiked codpieces.
, starring Sean Connery
and Michelle Pfeiffer
, Russell made one of his first significant acting appearances, portraying Walter, an ambiguously gay British intelligence officer
who discomfits his more strait-laced CIA counterparts. Russell henceforth occasionally acted.
The 1991 film Prisoner of Honor
allowed Russell a further opportunity to explore his abiding interest in anti-Semitism through a factually-based account of the Dreyfus Affair
in France. The movie featured Richard Dreyfuss
in the central role of Colonel Georges Picquart
, the French army investigator who exposed the army establishment's framing of the Jewish officer Captain Alfred Dreyfus
.
In 1991, Russell directed his final film of any note, Whore
. It was highly controversial and branded with an NC-17 rating for its sexual content. The MPAA and the theatre chains also refused to release posters or advertise a film called Whore, so for this purpose the film was re-titled "If You Can't Say It, Just See It". Russell protested his film being given such a rating when Pretty Woman
got an R, on the grounds that his film showed the real hardships of being a prostitute, and the other glorified it.
By the early 1990s, Russell had become a celebrity: his notoriety and persona had attracted more attention than any of his recent work. He became largely reliant on his own finances to continue making films. Much of his work since 1990 has been commissioned for television, and he contributed regularly to The South Bank Show
.
Prisoner of Honor
(1991) was Russell's final work with Oliver Reed; his final film with Glenda Jackson before she gave up acting for politics while The Secret Life of Arnold Bax (1992) was his last composer biopic.
In May 1995, he was honoured with a retrospective of his work presented in Hollywood by the American Cinematheque
. Titled Shock Value, it included some of Russell's most successful and controversial films and also several of his early BBC productions. Russell attended the festival and engaged in lengthy post-screening discussions of each film with audiences and moderator Martin Lewis, who had
instigated and curated the retrospective.
's novel Brothers of the Head
by the directors of Lost in La Mancha
. He also had a cameo in the 2006 Colour Me Kubrick
. He directed a segment for the horror anthology Trapped Ashes (2007) which also includes segments directed by Sean S. Cunningham
, Monte Hellman
, and Joe Dante
. Prior to his death in 2011 he was reputed to be in pre-production for two films: The Pearl of the Orient and Kings X.
Efforts such as The Lion's Mouth (2000) and The Fall of the Louse of Usher
(2002) have suffered from low production values (for example, being shot in video on Russell's estate often featuring Russell himself) and limited distribution.
From 2004, Russell was visiting professor at the University of Wales
, Newport Film School
. One of his many tasks was to advise students on the making of their graduate films. He also presented the Finest Film Awards (for graduate filmmakers of Newport) in June 2005.
Russell was appointed visiting fellow at the University of Southampton
in April 2007, where he acted in a similar capacity to his role at the Newport Film School
, until March 2008. His arrival was celebrated with a screening of the rare director's cut of The Devils hosted by Mark Kermode
.
He began production of his first full length film in almost 5 years, Moll Flanders, an adaptation of Daniel Defoe
's novel
, starring Lucinda Rhodes-Flaherty
and Barry Humphries
, but a finished film failed to materialise. Also in 2007 Russell produced A Kitten For Hitler, a short film hosted by the Comedybox.tv website. Russell commented that "Ten years ago, while working on The South Bank Show, Melvyn Bragg
and I had a heated discussion on the pros and cons of film censorship. Broadly speaking, Melvyn was against it, while I, much to his surprise, was absolutely for it. He then dared me to write a script that I thought should be banned. I accepted the challenge and a month or so later sent him a short subject entitled A Kitten for Hitler. "Ken," he said, "if ever you make this film and it is shown, you will be lynched." Russell joined Celebrity Big Brother in January 2007, at the start of the series, but left voluntarily within a week after an altercation with Jade Goody
.
In 2008, he made his New York directorial debut with the Off Broadway production of Mindgame at the SoHo Playhouse produced by Darren Lee Cole, a thriller by Anthony Horowitz and starring Keith Carradine
, Lee Godart and Kathleen McNenny. "After reading Mindgame, I was convinced that I had to direct this play in New York ... Anthony Horowitz has written a fascinating thriller with a new surprise every five minutes", said Russell.
In March 2008, he was invited by the University of Wales
to mark the start of the construction phase of a new £35m Newport City University Campus. "I think the City Centre Campus is a brilliant idea!", Russell was quoted as saying.
Ken Russell and his wife Lisi Tribble were invited by New York film writer Shade Rupe
on a six-week journey across North America, beginning with a Lifetime Achievement Award given by Mitch Davis at the Fantasia film festival on July 20, 2010, followed by a screening of Russell's most notorious film, The Devils
. The next day, a near complete 35mm print retrospective of Russell's work at the Cinémathèque Québécoise
including Billion Dollar Brain
, Women in Love
, The Music Lovers
, Crimes of Passion, The Rainbow
, Whore
, and many more found projection along with an exhibition of several of Russell's photographs from the 1950s. The next stop was Russellmania! at Lincoln Center, a nine-film overview of Russell's work from Women in Love through Valentino, with Russell present at each evening screening for a nearly sold-out weeklong festival. July 30, 2010, opening night, Russell was joined by Vanessa Redgrave for a 40th anniversary screening of The Devils
and the next evening saw The Music Lovers
and Women in Love
projected with Ken in attendance. The legendary Tommy Tune
joined Russell the next evening for The Boy Friend
and followed the screening with a live stage dance number from the film. The American Cinematheque in Los Angeles next hosted Mr. Russell at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica with screenings of The Devils
and Altered States
with Charles Haid
and Stuart Baird
in attendance, and Tommy
and Lisztomania
at the Egyptian the following evening. Director Mick Garris
extended an invitation and Mr. Russell, Ms. Tribble, and Mr. Rupe joined the Masters of Horror
for one of their rarified dinners. The tour wrapped up in Toronto at the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear
and a packed screening of The Devils
at the Bloor Cinema
hosted by Richard Crouse.
Confidential, Brahms
Gets Laid, Elgar
: The Erotic Variations, and Delius
: A Moment with Venus. Mike and Gaby's Space Gospel is a science-fiction rewriting of Genesis. His last novel, also science-fiction and published in 2006, is called Violation. It is a very violent future-shock tale of an England where football has become the national religion. At the time of his death, he had a column for The Times
in the Film section of times 2.
The exhibition, entitled Ken Russell's Lost London Rediscovered: 1951–1957, ran until 21 August 2007 and included over fifty limited edition prints from Russell's personal collection. As implied by the title, the prints displayed were all taken in and around London, with many of the pictures being taken in the Portobello Road
area of London.
An exhibition Ken Russell: Filmmaker, Photographer taken from Ken Russell's archive at the TopFoto image library ran at the Lucy Bell Fine Art Gallery, St Leonards on Sea, from 17 March 2010 until 30 April 2010. It then transferred to the TopFotoGallery, Edenbridge, Kent
until 19 June 2010.
from 1992-1997; the couple had a son. He married Elize Tribble in 2001.
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
s independently and for studios
Movie studio
A movie studio is a term used to describe a major entertainment company or production company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to film movies...
.
He is best known for his Oscar-winning film Women in Love
Women in Love (film)
Women in Love is a 1969 British film directed by Ken Russell. It stars Alan Bates , Oliver Reed, Glenda Jackson and Jennie Linden. The film was adapted by Larry Kramer from the novel of the same name by D. H. Lawrence....
(1969), The Devils
The Devils (film)
The Devils is a 1971 British historical drama directed by Ken Russell and starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave. It is based partially on the 1952 book The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley, and partially on the 1960 play The Devils by John Whiting, also based on Huxley's book...
(1971), The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
's Tommy
Tommy (film)
Tommy is a 1975 British musical film based upon The Who's 1969 rock opera album musical Tommy. It was directed by Ken Russell and featured a star-studded cast, including the band members themselves...
(1975), and the science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
film Altered States
Altered States
Altered States is a 1980 American science fiction-horror film adaptation of a novel by the same name by playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky. It was the only novel that Chayefsky ever wrote, as well as his final film. Both the novel and the film are based on John C...
(1980). Classical musicians and conductors held him in high regard for his story-driven biopics of various composers, most famously Elgar, Delius, Liszt, Mahler and Tchaikovsky.
British film critic Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode is an English film critic, musician and a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He contributes to Sight and Sound magazine, The Observer newspaper and BBC Radio 5 Live, where he presents Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews with Simon Mayo on Friday afternoons...
, 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
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , was an Italian film director and scriptwriter. Known for a distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images, he is considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers of the 20th century...
. In the final period of his directing careers he makes what have been described as very strange experimental films such as Lion's Mouth and Revenge of the Elephant Man, and they which are considered to be as edgy and out there as some of the work he made in the 1970s".
Early life and career
Russell was born in SouthamptonSouthampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
, England, on 3 July 1927, the elder of two sons of Ethel (née Smith) and Henry Russell, a shoeshop owner. His father was distant and took out his rage on his family, so Russell spent much of his time at the cinema with his mother, who was mentally ill. He cited Die Nibelungen
Die Nibelungen
Die Nibelungen is a series of two silent fantasy films created by Austrian director Fritz Lang in 1924: Die Nibelungen: Siegfried and Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge....
and The Secret of the Loch as two early influences.
He was educated at private schools in Walthamstow
Walthamstow
Walthamstow is a district of northeast London, England, located in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is situated north-east of Charing Cross...
and at Pangbourne College
Pangbourne College
Pangbourne College is a coeducational independent school located in the civil parish of Pangbourne, just South West of the village, in the English County of Berkshire....
. He harboured a childhood ambition to be a ballet dancer but instead joined the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
and the Merchant Navy
Merchant Navy
The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom, and describes the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency...
as a teenager. On one occasion he was made to stand watch in the blazing sun for hours on end while crossing the Pacific. His lunatic captain feared an attack by Japanese midget submarines despite the war having ended. He moved into television work after short careers in dance and photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
.
His series of documentary 'Teddy Girl' photographs were published in Picture Post
Picture Post
Picture Post was a prominent photojournalistic magazine published in the United Kingdom from 1938 to 1957. It is considered a pioneering example of photojournalism and was an immediate success, selling 1,700,000 copies a week after only two months...
magazine in the summer of 1955, and he continued to work as a freelance
Freelancer
A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term. These workers are often represented by a company or an agency that resells their labor and that of others to its clients with or without project management and...
documentary photographer until 1959. After 1959, Russell's amateur films (his documentaries for the Free Cinema
Free Cinema
Free Cinema was a documentary film movement that emerged in England in the mid-1950s. The term referred to an absence of propagandised intent or deliberate box office appeal. Co-founded by Lindsay Anderson, though he later disdained the 'movement' tag, with Karel Reisz, Tony Richardson and Lorenza...
movement, and his 1958 short
Short subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
Amelia and the Angel) secured him a job at the BBC, where he worked regularly from 1959 to 1970 making arts documentaries for Monitor and Omnibus. Among his better-known works were: Elgar
Elgar (film)
Elgar is a drama documentary made in 1962 by the British director Ken Russell. Made for BBC Television's long-running Monitor programme, it dramatised in vigorous style the life of the archetypically English composer Edward Elgar....
(1962), The Debussy Film (1965), Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World
Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World
Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World, was a BBC TV film based on the life of the American dancer Isadora Duncan first broadcast on 22 September 1966. The film was written by Sewell Stokes and the director Ken Russell and starred Vivian Pickles and Peter Bowles.Sewell Stokes became...
(1967), Song of Summer
Song of Summer
Song of Summer is a 1968 black-and-white film written, produced and directed by Ken Russell, who also plays a cameo role as a philandering priest. It portrays the final six years of the life of Frederick Delius, when he was blind and paralysed, and when Eric Fenby lived with the composer and his...
(about Frederick Delius
Frederick Delius
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
and Eric Fenby
Eric Fenby
Eric William Fenby OBE was an English composer and teacher who is best known for being Frederick Delius's amanuensis from 1928 to 1934. He helped Delius realise a number of works that would not otherwise have been forthcoming....
) (1968) and Dance of the Seven Veils (1970), a film about Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
. He once said that the best film he ever made was Song of Summer, and that he wouldn't edit a single shot. The Elgar film proved to be ground-breaking because it was the first time that an arts programme (Monitor) had shown one long film about an artistic figure instead of short items, and also it was the first time that re-enactments were used. Russell fought with the BBC over using actors to portray different ages of the same character, instead of the traditional photograph stills and documentary footage.
His television films became increasingly flamboyant and outrageous. Dance of the Seven Veils sought to portray Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
as a Nazi: one scene in particular showed a Jew being tortured while a group of SS men look on in delight, to the tune of Strauss's music. The Strauss family was so outraged they withdrew all music rights so that the film is effectively banned from being screened until Strauss's copyright expires in 2019.
Russell's first feature film was French Dressing
French Dressing (film)
French Dressing is a 1964 British comedy film directed by Ken Russell and starring James Booth, Roy Kinnear and Marisa Mell. A deckchair attendant in the run-down seaside resort of Gormleigh-on-Sea is promoted to publicity officer. In an effort to drum up interest in the town he organises a film...
(1963), a comedy loosely based on Roger Vadim
Roger Vadim
Roger Vadim was a French screenwriter, director, and producer as well as a journalist, author and actor, who launched Brigitte Bardot's career in the film And God Created Woman.-Early life:...
's And God Created Woman
And God Created Woman (1956 film)
And God Created Woman is a French drama film directed by Roger Vadim and starring Brigitte Bardot. Though by no means her first film, it is widely recognized as the vehicle that launched Bardot into the public spotlight and immediately created her "sex kitten" persona, making her an overnight...
; its critical and commercial failure sent Russell back to the BBC. His second big-screen effort was part of author Len Deighton
Len Deighton
Leonard Cyril Deighton is a British military historian, cookery writer, and novelist. He is perhaps most famous for his spy novel The IPCRESS File, which was made into a film starring Michael Caine....
's Harry Palmer
Harry Palmer
Harry Palmer is the name of the protagonist of a number of films based on the main character from the spy novels written by Len Deighton. Michael Caine played Harry Palmer in the films based on three of the first four of the published novels featuring this character, and also later in two films not...
spy cycle, Billion Dollar Brain
Billion Dollar Brain
Billion Dollar Brain is a 1967 British espionage film directed by Ken Russell and based on the novel Billion-Dollar Brain by Len Deighton. The film features Michael Caine as secret agent Harry Palmer, the anti-hero protagonist of the film versions of The IPCRESS File and Funeral in Berlin...
(1967), starring Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
.
In 1969, Russell directed what is considered his "signature film", Women In Love
Women in Love (film)
Women in Love is a 1969 British film directed by Ken Russell. It stars Alan Bates , Oliver Reed, Glenda Jackson and Jennie Linden. The film was adapted by Larry Kramer from the novel of the same name by D. H. Lawrence....
, a rollicking adaptation of D. H. Lawrence
D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation...
's novel of the same name
Women in Love
Women in Love is a novel by British author D. H. Lawrence published in 1920. It is a sequel to his earlier novel The Rainbow , and follows the continuing loves and lives of the Brangwen sisters, Gudrun and Ursula. Gudrun Brangwen, an artist, pursues a destructive relationship with Gerald Crich, an...
about two artist sisters living in post-World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The film starred Glenda Jackson
Glenda Jackson
Glenda May Jackson, CBE is a British Labour Party politician and former actress. She has been a Member of Parliament since 1992, and currently represents Hampstead and Kilburn. She previously served as MP for Hampstead and Highgate...
, Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his burly screen presence. Reed exemplified his real-life macho image in "tough guy" roles...
, Jennie Linden
Jennie Linden
Jennie Linden is an English film and television actress.Linden was born in Worthing to Marcus and Freida Fletcher, an architect and housewife. She attended the Central School of Speech and Drama at the age of 17 on a scholarship...
and Alan Bates
Alan Bates
Sir Alan Arthur Bates CBE was an English actor, who came to prominence in the 1960s, a time of high creativity in British cinema, when he demonstrated his versatility in films ranging from the popular children’s story Whistle Down the Wind to the "kitchen sink" drama A Kind of Loving...
. The film is notable for its nude wrestling
Wrestling
Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
scene, which broke the convention at the time that a mainstream movie could not show male genitalia.
Women in Love connected with the sexual revolution and bohemian politics of the late 1960s. It was nominated for several Oscars, and won one for Glenda Jackson
Glenda Jackson
Glenda May Jackson, CBE is a British Labour Party politician and former actress. She has been a Member of Parliament since 1992, and currently represents Hampstead and Kilburn. She previously served as MP for Hampstead and Highgate...
for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Russell himself was nominated for an Oscar — that for Best Director (his only nomination)— as were his cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
and screenwriter.
The film was BAFTA-nominated for the costume designs of Russell's first wife, Shirley; they collaborated throughout the 1970s. The colour schemes of Luciana Arrighi's art direction (also BAFTA-nominated) and Billy William's cinematography, which Russell used for metaphorical effect, are also often referred to by film textbooks. In 2011 Women In Love was voted Best Ken Russell film.
1970s
He followed Women in Love with a string of innovative adult-themed films which were often as controversial as they were successful. The Music LoversThe Music Lovers
The Music Lovers is a 1970 British biographical film directed by Ken Russell. The screenplay by Melvyn Bragg, based on Beloved Friend, a collection of personal correspondence edited by Catherine Drinker Bowen and Barbara von Meck, focuses on the life and career of 19th century Russian composer...
(1970), a biopic of Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
, starred Richard Chamberlain
Richard Chamberlain
George Richard Chamberlain is an American actor of stage and screen who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show Dr. Kildare .-Early life:...
as a flamboyant Tchaikovsky and Glenda Jackson as his wife. The score was conducted to great acclaim by André Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
. The film was widely panned but was successful at the box office.
The following year, Russell released The Devils
The Devils (film)
The Devils is a 1971 British historical drama directed by Ken Russell and starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave. It is based partially on the 1952 book The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley, and partially on the 1960 play The Devils by John Whiting, also based on Huxley's book...
, a film so controversial that its backers, the American company Warner Brothers, refused to release it uncut. Inspired by Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...
's book The Devils of Loudun
The Devils of Loudun
The Devils of Loudun is a 1952 non-fiction novel by Aldous Huxley. It is a historical narrative of supposed demonic possession, religious fanaticism, sexual repression, and mass hysteria which occurred in 17th century France surrounding unexplained events that took place in the small town of...
and using material from John Whiting
John Whiting
John Robert Whiting was an English dramatist and critic.Born in Salisbury, England, he was educated at Taunton School. His works include:* A Penny for a Song. A play * Marching Song. A play...
's play The Devils, it starred Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his burly screen presence. Reed exemplified his real-life macho image in "tough guy" roles...
as a priest who stands in the way of a corrupt church and state. Helped by publicity over the more sensational scenes, featuring sexuality among nuns, the film topped British box office receipts for eight weeks. In the United States, the film, which had already been cut for distribution in Britain, was further edited. It has never played in anything like its original state in America. British film critic Alexander Walker
Alexander Walker (critic)
Alexander Walker was a film critic, born in Portadown, Northern Ireland. He worked for the Birmingham Post in the 1950s, before becoming film critic of the London Evening Standard in 1960, a role he held until his death in 2003...
described the film as "monstrously indecent" in a television confrontation with Russell, leading the director to hit him with a rolled up copy of the Evening Standard, the newspaper for which Walker worked.
Russell followed The Devils
The Devils (film)
The Devils is a 1971 British historical drama directed by Ken Russell and starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave. It is based partially on the 1952 book The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley, and partially on the 1960 play The Devils by John Whiting, also based on Huxley's book...
with a reworking of the period musical The Boy Friend, for which he cast the model Twiggy
Twiggy
Lesley Lawson née Hornby known as Twiggy is an English model, actress, and singer. In the early-1960s she became a prominent British teenage model of swinging sixties London with others such as Penelope Tree....
, who won two Golden Globe Awards for her performance: one for Best Actress in a musical comedy, and one for the best newcomer. The film was heavily cut, shorn of two musical numbers for its American release, where it was not a big success. Russell himself provided most of the financing for Savage Messiah
Savage Messiah
Savage Messiah is a 1972 British biographical film of the life of French sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, made by Russ-Arts and distributed by MGM. It was directed and produced by Ken Russell with Harry Benn as associate producer, from a screenplay by Christopher Logue, based on the book Savage...
, a biopic of Henri Gaudier-Brzeska
Henri Gaudier-Brzeska
Henri Gaudier-Brzeska was a French sculptor who developed a rough hewn, primitive style of direct carving....
; providing producer David Puttnam
David Puttnam
David Terence Puttnam, Baron Puttnam, CBE, FRSA is a British film producer. He sits on the Labour benches in the House of Lords, although he is not principally a politician.-Early life:...
with a rare box-office hit with Mahler
Mahler (film)
Mahler is a 1974 biographical film based on the life of composer Gustav Mahler. It was written and directed by Ken Russell for Goodtimes Enterprises, and starred Robert Powell as Gustav Mahler and Georgina Hale as Alma Mahler...
.
In 1975, Russell's star-studded film version
Tommy (film)
Tommy is a 1975 British musical film based upon The Who's 1969 rock opera album musical Tommy. It was directed by Ken Russell and featured a star-studded cast, including the band members themselves...
of The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
's rock opera Tommy
Tommy (rock opera)
Tommy is the fourth album by English rock band The Who, released by Track Records and Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and Decca Records/MCA in the United States. A double album telling a loose story about a "deaf, dumb and blind boy" who becomes the leader of a messianic movement, Tommy was...
starring Roger Daltrey
Roger Daltrey
Roger Harry Daltrey, CBE , is an English singer and actor, best known as the founder and lead singer of English rock band The Who. He has maintained a musical career as a solo artist and has also worked in the film industry, acting in a large number of films, theatre and television roles and also...
, Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret Olsson is a Swedish-American actress, singer and dancer whose professional name is Ann-Margret. She became famous for her starring roles in Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas, The Cincinnati Kid, Carnal Knowledge, and Tommy...
, Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his burly screen presence. Reed exemplified his real-life macho image in "tough guy" roles...
, Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
, Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...
, Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
and Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
, spent a record fourteen weeks at the No.1 spot and played to full houses for over a year. Two months before Tommy
Tommy (film)
Tommy is a 1975 British musical film based upon The Who's 1969 rock opera album musical Tommy. It was directed by Ken Russell and featured a star-studded cast, including the band members themselves...
was released (in March 1975), Russell started work on Lisztomania (1975), another vehicle for Roger Daltrey
Roger Daltrey
Roger Harry Daltrey, CBE , is an English singer and actor, best known as the founder and lead singer of English rock band The Who. He has maintained a musical career as a solo artist and has also worked in the film industry, acting in a large number of films, theatre and television roles and also...
, and for the film scoring of progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
er Rick Wakeman
Rick Wakeman
Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...
. One of Russell's aims with this wild comic strip of a film was to explore the power of music for good (inspirational) and evil.
In the film, the good music of Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
is stolen by Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
who, in his operas, puts forward the theme of the Superman
Übermensch
The Übermensch is a concept in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche posited the Übermensch as a goal for humanity to set for itself in his 1883 book Thus Spoke Zarathustra ....
.Tommy and Lisztomania were important in the rise of improved motion picture sound in the 1970s, as they were among the first films to be released with Dolby-encoded soundtracks. Lisztomania, tagged as "the film that out-Tommys 'Tommy'", topped the British box-office for two weeks in November 1975, when Tommy was still in the list of the week's top five box-office hits. Russell's next film, the 1977 biopic Valentino, also topped the British box-office for two weeks, but was not a hit in America.
1980s
Russell's 1980 effort Altered StatesAltered States
Altered States is a 1980 American science fiction-horror film adaptation of a novel by the same name by playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky. It was the only novel that Chayefsky ever wrote, as well as his final film. Both the novel and the film are based on John C...
was a departure in both genre and tone, in that it is Russell's only foray into science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
. Working from Paddy Chayefsky
Paddy Chayefsky
Sidney Aaron "Paddy" Chayefsky , was an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is the only person to have won three solo Academy Awards for Best Screenplay....
's screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
(based upon his novel), Russell used his penchant for elaborate visual effects to translate Chayefsky's hallucinatory story to the cinema, and took the opportunity to add his trademark religious and sexual imagery. The film had an innovative Oscar-nominated score by John Corigliano
John Corigliano
John Corigliano is an American composer of classical music and a teacher of music. He is a distinguished professor of music at Lehman College in the City University of New York.-Biography:...
. The film enjoyed moderate financial success, and scored with critics who had otherwise dismissed Russell's work. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, who had given The Devils
The Devils (film)
The Devils is a 1971 British historical drama directed by Ken Russell and starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave. It is based partially on the 1952 book The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley, and partially on the 1960 play The Devils by John Whiting, also based on Huxley's book...
"zero stars", and had panned Russell's composer portraits, gave it his highest rating for Russell's work (three-and-a-half stars), praising it as "one hell of a movie!"
Russell's behaviour on set, including a row with Chayefsky himself, caused him to become a virtual pariah in Hollywood. Beyond this, Russell's last American film, Crimes of Passion (1984), with Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins was an American actor, best known for his Oscar-nominated role in Friendly Persuasion and as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho , and its three sequels.-Early life:...
and Kathleen Turner
Kathleen Turner
Mary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. She came to fame during the 1980s, after roles in the Hollywood films Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Prizzi's Honor...
, had moderate critical success but did not perform at the box office and Russell subsequently returned to Europe.
After taking a break from film to direct opera, Russell found financing with various independent companies. During this period he directed Gothic
Gothic (film)
Gothic is a 1986 film directed by Ken Russell. It starred Gabriel Byrne as Lord Byron, Julian Sands as Percy Bysshe Shelley, Natasha Richardson as Mary Shelley and Timothy Spall as Dr John William Polidori...
(1986) with Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel James Byrne is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, writer, cultural ambassador and audiobook narrator. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined Londo's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's screen debut came in the Irish soap opera The Riordans and the...
, about the night Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...
told the tale of Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
, and The Lair of the White Worm
The Lair of the White Worm (film)
The Lair of the White Worm is a 1988 film based loosely on the novel by Bram Stoker of the same name and drawing upon the English myth of the Lambton Worm...
(1988) with Amanda Donohoe
Amanda Donohoe
Amanda Donohoe is an English film and television actress. She is known for her 1980s relationship with popstar Adam Ant and her later work on television — including L.A. Law and Emmerdale — and her roles in successful movies including Liar, Liar.-Early life:Donohoe was born in London, the daughter...
and Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant
Hugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...
, based on a novella by Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
. 1988 saw the release of Salome's Last Dance
Salome's Last Dance
Salome's Last Dance is a 1988 film by British film director, Ken Russell. Although most of the action is a verbatim performance of Oscar Wilde's 1893 play Salome, which is itself based on a story from the New Testament, there is also a framing narrative written by Russell himself...
, a loosely adapted esoteric tribute to Oscar Wilde's controversial play Salome
Salome (play)
Salome is a tragedy by Oscar Wilde.The original 1891 version of the play was in French. Three years later an English translation was published...
, which was banned on the 19th century London stage. The cult movie defines Russell's adult themed romance with the Theater of The Poor and was also notable for the screen presence of Imogen Millais-Scott as Salome.
Russell finished the 1980s with The Rainbow
The Rainbow
The Rainbow is a 1915 novel by British author D. H. Lawrence. It follows three generations of the Brangwen family living in Nottinghamshire, particularly focusing on the sexual dynamics of, and relations between, the characters....
, another D. H. Lawrence adaptation, which also happens to be the prequel to Women in Love
Women in Love (film)
Women in Love is a 1969 British film directed by Ken Russell. It stars Alan Bates , Oliver Reed, Glenda Jackson and Jennie Linden. The film was adapted by Larry Kramer from the novel of the same name by D. H. Lawrence....
. Glenda Jackson
Glenda Jackson
Glenda May Jackson, CBE is a British Labour Party politician and former actress. She has been a Member of Parliament since 1992, and currently represents Hampstead and Kilburn. She previously served as MP for Hampstead and Highgate...
played the mother of her character in the previous film.
In the late-1980s, Russell directed the music video for "It's All Coming Back to Me Now
It's All Coming Back to Me Now
"It's All Coming Back to Me Now" is a power ballad, written by Jim Steinman. According to Steinman the song was inspired by Wuthering Heights, and was an attempt to write "the most passionate, romantic song" he could ever create. The Sunday Times posits that "Steinman protects his songs as if they...
", a song written and produced by Jim Steinman
Jim Steinman
James Richard "Jim" Steinman is an American composer, lyricist, and Grammy Award-winning record producer responsible for several hit songs. He has also worked as an arranger, pianist, and singer...
for his Pandora's Box
Pandora's Box (band)
Pandora's Box was a female pop music group assembled by Jim Steinman in the 1980s. Some of its members had previously worked with Steinman, in the ensemble Fire Inc., on the album Bat Out of Hell, on live shows and on other studio recordings...
project. The production featured a range of erotic imagery, including studded bras and spiked codpieces.
1990s
In the 1990 film The Russia HouseThe Russia House
The Russia House is a novel by John le Carré published in 1989. The title refers to the nickname given to the portion of the British Secret Intelligence Service that was devoted to spying on the Soviet Union. A film based on the novel was released in 1990, starring Sean Connery and Michelle...
, starring Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
and Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface . Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work...
, Russell made one of his first significant acting appearances, portraying Walter, an ambiguously gay British intelligence officer
Intelligence officer
An intelligence officer is a person employed by an organization to collect, compile and/or analyze information which is of use to that organization...
who discomfits his more strait-laced CIA counterparts. Russell henceforth occasionally acted.
The 1991 film Prisoner of Honor
Prisoner of Honor
Prisoner of Honor is a 1991 British dramatic television movie made by Warner Bros. Television and distributed by HBO about the French Dreyfus Affair...
allowed Russell a further opportunity to explore his abiding interest in anti-Semitism through a factually-based account of the Dreyfus Affair
Dreyfus Affair
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent...
in France. The movie featured Richard Dreyfuss
Richard Dreyfuss
Richard Stephen Dreyfuss is an American actor best known for starring in a number of film, television, and theater roles since the late 1960s, including the films American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Stakeout, Always, What About...
in the central role of Colonel Georges Picquart
Georges Picquart
Marie Georges Picquart , was a French army officer and Minister of War. He is best known for his role in the Dreyfus Affair.-Early career:...
, the French army investigator who exposed the army establishment's framing of the Jewish officer Captain Alfred Dreyfus
Alfred Dreyfus
Alfred Dreyfus was a French artillery officer of Jewish background whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most tense political dramas in modern French and European history...
.
In 1991, Russell directed his final film of any note, Whore
Whore (1991 film)
Whore is a 1991 film by British director and screenwriter Ken Russell, starring actress Theresa Russell. While not a financial success grossing only $1,008,404, the film did attract some positive notices, and generated an unrelated sequel.-Plot summary:...
. It was highly controversial and branded with an NC-17 rating for its sexual content. The MPAA and the theatre chains also refused to release posters or advertise a film called Whore, so for this purpose the film was re-titled "If You Can't Say It, Just See It". Russell protested his film being given such a rating when Pretty Woman
Pretty Woman
Pretty Woman is a 1990 romantic comedy film set in Los Angeles, California. Written by J.F. Lawton and directed by Garry Marshall, this motion picture features Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, and also Hector Elizondo, Ralph Bellamy, and Jason Alexander in supporting roles. Roberts played the only...
got an R, on the grounds that his film showed the real hardships of being a prostitute, and the other glorified it.
By the early 1990s, Russell had become a celebrity: his notoriety and persona had attracted more attention than any of his recent work. He became largely reliant on his own finances to continue making films. Much of his work since 1990 has been commissioned for television, and he contributed regularly to The South Bank Show
The South Bank Show
The South Bank Show was a television arts magazine show, originally made by London Weekend Television , presented by Melvyn Bragg, broadcast on ITV and seen in over 60 countries worldwide — including Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States...
.
Prisoner of Honor
Prisoner of Honor
Prisoner of Honor is a 1991 British dramatic television movie made by Warner Bros. Television and distributed by HBO about the French Dreyfus Affair...
(1991) was Russell's final work with Oliver Reed; his final film with Glenda Jackson before she gave up acting for politics while The Secret Life of Arnold Bax (1992) was his last composer biopic.
In May 1995, he was honoured with a retrospective of his work presented in Hollywood by the American Cinematheque
American Cinematheque
The American Cinematheque is an independent, non-profit cultural organization in Los Angeles dedicated exclusively to the public presentation of the Moving Image in all its forms. It is considered among the premier organizations of its kind in America....
. Titled Shock Value, it included some of Russell's most successful and controversial films and also several of his early BBC productions. Russell attended the festival and engaged in lengthy post-screening discussions of each film with audiences and moderator Martin Lewis, who had
instigated and curated the retrospective.
2000s
Russell had a cameo in the 2006 film adaptation of Brian AldissBrian Aldiss
Brian Wilson Aldiss, OBE is an English author of both general fiction and science fiction. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss. Greatly influenced by science fiction pioneer H. G. Wells, Aldiss is a vice-president of the international H. G. Wells Society...
's novel Brothers of the Head
Brothers of the Head
Brothers of the Head is a 2005 mockumentary featuring the story of Tom and Barry Howe , conjoined twins living in the United Kingdom...
by the directors of Lost in La Mancha
Lost in La Mancha
Lost in La Mancha is a documentary film narrated by Jeff Bridges about Terry Gilliam's failed first attempt to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a film adaptation of the novel Don Quixote...
. He also had a cameo in the 2006 Colour Me Kubrick
Colour Me Kubrick
Colour Me Kubrick: A True...ish Story is a French/British Dramedy film directed by Brian W. Cook, released in 2006 . The film stars John Malkovich as Alan Conway, a man who had been impersonating director Stanley Kubrick since the early 1990s...
. He directed a segment for the horror anthology Trapped Ashes (2007) which also includes segments directed by Sean S. Cunningham
Sean S. Cunningham
Sean Sexton Cunningham is an American film director, producer, and writer. He is best known for creating the Friday the 13th series of horror films, which introduced the fictional killer Jason Voorhees...
, Monte Hellman
Monte Hellman
Monte Hellman is an American film director, producer, and film editor.Hellman is among a group of directing talent mentored by Roger Corman, who produced several of the director's early films...
, and Joe Dante
Joe Dante
Joseph "Joe" Dante, Jr. is an American film director and producer of films generally with humorous and science fiction content....
. Prior to his death in 2011 he was reputed to be in pre-production for two films: The Pearl of the Orient and Kings X.
Efforts such as The Lion's Mouth (2000) and The Fall of the Louse of Usher
The Fall of the Louse of Usher
The Fall of the Louse of Usher is a 2002 British horror film directed by Ken Russell. The film is loosely based on several Edgar Allan Poe stories, notably "The Fall of the House of Usher".- Plot :...
(2002) have suffered from low production values (for example, being shot in video on Russell's estate often featuring Russell himself) and limited distribution.
From 2004, Russell was visiting professor at the University of Wales
University of Wales
The University of Wales was a confederal university founded in 1893. It had accredited institutions throughout Wales, and formerly accredited courses in Britain and abroad, with over 100,000 students, but in October 2011, after a number of scandals, it withdrew all accreditation, and it was...
, Newport Film School
University of Wales, Newport
The University of Wales, Newport is a university based in Newport, South Wales. The university has two campuses; Caerleon on the northern outskirts of the city and a £35 million campus on the banks of the River Usk in Newport city centre opened in 2011...
. One of his many tasks was to advise students on the making of their graduate films. He also presented the Finest Film Awards (for graduate filmmakers of Newport) in June 2005.
Russell was appointed visiting fellow at the University of Southampton
University of Southampton
The University of Southampton is a British public university located in the city of Southampton, England, a member of the Russell Group. The origins of the university can be dated back to the founding of the Hartley Institution in 1862 by Henry Robertson Hartley. In 1902, the Institution developed...
in April 2007, where he acted in a similar capacity to his role at the Newport Film School
University of Wales, Newport
The University of Wales, Newport is a university based in Newport, South Wales. The university has two campuses; Caerleon on the northern outskirts of the city and a £35 million campus on the banks of the River Usk in Newport city centre opened in 2011...
, until March 2008. His arrival was celebrated with a screening of the rare director's cut of The Devils hosted by Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode is an English film critic, musician and a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He contributes to Sight and Sound magazine, The Observer newspaper and BBC Radio 5 Live, where he presents Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews with Simon Mayo on Friday afternoons...
.
He began production of his first full length film in almost 5 years, Moll Flanders, an adaptation of Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...
's novel
Moll Flanders
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders is a novel written by Daniel Defoe in 1722, after his work as a journalist and pamphleteer. By 1722, Defoe had become a recognised novelist, with the success of Robinson Crusoe in 1719...
, starring Lucinda Rhodes-Flaherty
Lucinda Rhodes-Flaherty
Lucinda Rhodes-Flaherty is a British television and film actress, dancer and singer. She is sometimes credited as Lucinda Rhodes or Lucinda Rhodes Flaherty...
and Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...
, but a finished film failed to materialise. Also in 2007 Russell produced A Kitten For Hitler, a short film hosted by the Comedybox.tv website. Russell commented that "Ten years ago, while working on The South Bank Show, Melvyn Bragg
Melvyn Bragg
Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg FRSL FRTS FBA, FRS FRSA is an English broadcaster and author best known for his work with the BBC and for presenting the The South Bank Show...
and I had a heated discussion on the pros and cons of film censorship. Broadly speaking, Melvyn was against it, while I, much to his surprise, was absolutely for it. He then dared me to write a script that I thought should be banned. I accepted the challenge and a month or so later sent him a short subject entitled A Kitten for Hitler. "Ken," he said, "if ever you make this film and it is shown, you will be lynched." Russell joined Celebrity Big Brother in January 2007, at the start of the series, but left voluntarily within a week after an altercation with Jade Goody
Jade Goody
Jade Cerisa Lorraine Goody was an English celebrity. She came into the public spotlight while appearing on the third series of the Channel 4 reality TV programme Big Brother in 2002, an appearance which led to her own television programmes and the launch of her own products after her eviction from...
.
In 2008, he made his New York directorial debut with the Off Broadway production of Mindgame at the SoHo Playhouse produced by Darren Lee Cole, a thriller by Anthony Horowitz and starring Keith Carradine
Keith Carradine
Keith Ian Carradine is an American actor who has had success on stage, film and television. In addition, he is a Golden Globe and Oscar winning songwriter. As a member of the Carradine family, he is part of an acting "dynasty" that began with his father, John Carradine.-Early life:Keith...
, Lee Godart and Kathleen McNenny. "After reading Mindgame, I was convinced that I had to direct this play in New York ... Anthony Horowitz has written a fascinating thriller with a new surprise every five minutes", said Russell.
In March 2008, he was invited by the University of Wales
University of Wales
The University of Wales was a confederal university founded in 1893. It had accredited institutions throughout Wales, and formerly accredited courses in Britain and abroad, with over 100,000 students, but in October 2011, after a number of scandals, it withdrew all accreditation, and it was...
to mark the start of the construction phase of a new £35m Newport City University Campus. "I think the City Centre Campus is a brilliant idea!", Russell was quoted as saying.
Ken Russell and his wife Lisi Tribble were invited by New York film writer Shade Rupe
Shade Rupe
Shade Rupe is an American writer, editor, and filmmaker.Rupe was born in Fullerton, California and his publishing efforts have been associated with that loose confederation of extreme writers and artists clustered around such publishing houses as Feral House, Amok, Headpress, FAB Press, Blast...
on a six-week journey across North America, beginning with a Lifetime Achievement Award given by Mitch Davis at the Fantasia film festival on July 20, 2010, followed by a screening of Russell's most notorious film, The Devils
The Devils
The Devils is a name for:* The Devils , the 1960 play by John Whiting based on the book The Devils of Loudon by Aldous Huxley* The Devils , the 1971 Ken Russell film...
. The next day, a near complete 35mm print retrospective of Russell's work at the Cinémathèque Québécoise
Cinémathèque québécoise
The Cinémathèque québécoise is a film conservatory in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1963, its mission is to "preserve and document film and television heritage in order to make it available to an ever-growing and diversified public."...
including Billion Dollar Brain
Billion Dollar Brain
Billion Dollar Brain is a 1967 British espionage film directed by Ken Russell and based on the novel Billion-Dollar Brain by Len Deighton. The film features Michael Caine as secret agent Harry Palmer, the anti-hero protagonist of the film versions of The IPCRESS File and Funeral in Berlin...
, Women in Love
Women in Love (film)
Women in Love is a 1969 British film directed by Ken Russell. It stars Alan Bates , Oliver Reed, Glenda Jackson and Jennie Linden. The film was adapted by Larry Kramer from the novel of the same name by D. H. Lawrence....
, The Music Lovers
The Music Lovers
The Music Lovers is a 1970 British biographical film directed by Ken Russell. The screenplay by Melvyn Bragg, based on Beloved Friend, a collection of personal correspondence edited by Catherine Drinker Bowen and Barbara von Meck, focuses on the life and career of 19th century Russian composer...
, Crimes of Passion, The Rainbow
The Rainbow (film)
The Rainbow is a 1989 drama film directed by Ken Russell. The story, adapted from the D. H. Lawrence novel, is a prequel to Lawrence's Women in Love, which was also made into a film by Russell in 1969....
, Whore
Whore (1991 film)
Whore is a 1991 film by British director and screenwriter Ken Russell, starring actress Theresa Russell. While not a financial success grossing only $1,008,404, the film did attract some positive notices, and generated an unrelated sequel.-Plot summary:...
, and many more found projection along with an exhibition of several of Russell's photographs from the 1950s. The next stop was Russellmania! at Lincoln Center, a nine-film overview of Russell's work from Women in Love through Valentino, with Russell present at each evening screening for a nearly sold-out weeklong festival. July 30, 2010, opening night, Russell was joined by Vanessa Redgrave for a 40th anniversary screening of The Devils
The Devils
The Devils is a name for:* The Devils , the 1960 play by John Whiting based on the book The Devils of Loudon by Aldous Huxley* The Devils , the 1971 Ken Russell film...
and the next evening saw The Music Lovers
The Music Lovers
The Music Lovers is a 1970 British biographical film directed by Ken Russell. The screenplay by Melvyn Bragg, based on Beloved Friend, a collection of personal correspondence edited by Catherine Drinker Bowen and Barbara von Meck, focuses on the life and career of 19th century Russian composer...
and Women in Love
Women in Love
Women in Love is a novel by British author D. H. Lawrence published in 1920. It is a sequel to his earlier novel The Rainbow , and follows the continuing loves and lives of the Brangwen sisters, Gudrun and Ursula. Gudrun Brangwen, an artist, pursues a destructive relationship with Gerald Crich, an...
projected with Ken in attendance. The legendary Tommy Tune
Tommy Tune
Thomas James "Tommy" Tune is an American actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer, and choreographer. Over the course of his career, he has won nine Tony Awards and the National Medal of Arts.-Early years:...
joined Russell the next evening for The Boy Friend
The Boy Friend
The Boy Friend is a musical by Sandy Wilson. The musical's original 1954 London production ran for 2,078 performances, making it briefly the third-longest running musical in West End or Broadway history until it was surpassed by Salad Days...
and followed the screening with a live stage dance number from the film. The American Cinematheque in Los Angeles next hosted Mr. Russell at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica with screenings of The Devils
The Devils
The Devils is a name for:* The Devils , the 1960 play by John Whiting based on the book The Devils of Loudon by Aldous Huxley* The Devils , the 1971 Ken Russell film...
and Altered States
Altered States
Altered States is a 1980 American science fiction-horror film adaptation of a novel by the same name by playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky. It was the only novel that Chayefsky ever wrote, as well as his final film. Both the novel and the film are based on John C...
with Charles Haid
Charles Haid
Charles Maurice Haid III is an American actor and director, with notable work in both movies and television. He is known for his portrayal of Officer Andy Renko in Hill Street Blues....
and Stuart Baird
Stuart Baird
Stuart Baird is an English film editor, producer, and director who is mainly associated with action films. He has edited over twenty major motion pictures.-Life and career:...
in attendance, and Tommy
Tommy
Tommy is a given name that is usually the English diminutive of Thomas. The name also could refer to:- People with the given name Tommy :* Tommy Alcedo , Venezuelan road cyclist* Tommy G...
and Lisztomania
Lisztomania
Lisztomania is a 1975 film by Ken Russell, drawn from a biography of Franz Liszt.Depicting the flamboyant Liszt as the first classical pop star, Lisztomania features contemporary rock star Roger Daltrey as Franz Liszt. The film was released the same year as Tommy, which also starred Daltrey and...
at the Egyptian the following evening. Director Mick Garris
Mick Garris
Mick Garris is an American filmmaker and screenwriter born in Santa Monica, California.-Biography:He is best known for his adaptations of Stephen King stories, such as directing the horror film Sleepwalkers starring Madchen Amick and is the creator of the Showtime series Masters of Horror...
extended an invitation and Mr. Russell, Ms. Tribble, and Mr. Rupe joined the Masters of Horror
Masters of Horror
Masters of Horror is an informal social group of international film writers and directors specializing in horror movies and an American television series created by director Mick Garris for the Showtime cable network.- Origin :...
for one of their rarified dinners. The tour wrapped up in Toronto at the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear
Rue Morgue Festival of Fear
Toronto, Canada's Festival of Fear is an annual multigenre fan convention that runs as part of Fan Expo Canada. It was founded as the Canadian National Horror Expo in 2004 by Rue Morgue Magazine and Hobby Star Marketing Inc...
and a packed screening of The Devils
The Devils
The Devils is a name for:* The Devils , the 1960 play by John Whiting based on the book The Devils of Loudon by Aldous Huxley* The Devils , the 1971 Ken Russell film...
at the Bloor Cinema
Bloor Cinema
The Bloor Cinema is an independent theatre in The Annex district of downtown Toronto, Canada, located at 506 Bloor Street West, near its intersection with Bathurst Street and the TTC's Bathurst station....
hosted by Richard Crouse.
Writings
Besides books on film-making and the British film industry, Russell also wrote A British Picture: An Autobiography (1989; published in the US as Altered States: The Autobiography of Ken Russell, 1991). He also published six novels, including four on the sex lives of composers – BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
Confidential, Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
Gets Laid, Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
: The Erotic Variations, and Delius
Frederick Delius
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
: A Moment with Venus. Mike and Gaby's Space Gospel is a science-fiction rewriting of Genesis. His last novel, also science-fiction and published in 2006, is called Violation. It is a very violent future-shock tale of an England where football has become the national religion. At the time of his death, he had a column for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
in the Film section of times 2.
Photography
At several stages of his career Ken Russell struggled to break into the film industry. Before 'making it', Russell enjoyed a brief fling with photography. An exhibition displaying some of Russell's work was on display during the summer of 2007 in central London's Proud Galleries in The Strand, London.The exhibition, entitled Ken Russell's Lost London Rediscovered: 1951–1957, ran until 21 August 2007 and included over fifty limited edition prints from Russell's personal collection. As implied by the title, the prints displayed were all taken in and around London, with many of the pictures being taken in the Portobello Road
Portobello Road
Portobello Road is a street in the Notting Hill district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in west London, England. It runs almost the length of Notting Hill from south to north, roughly parallel with Ladbroke Grove. On Saturdays it is home to Portobello Road Market, one of London's...
area of London.
An exhibition Ken Russell: Filmmaker, Photographer taken from Ken Russell's archive at the TopFoto image library ran at the Lucy Bell Fine Art Gallery, St Leonards on Sea, from 17 March 2010 until 30 April 2010. It then transferred to the TopFotoGallery, Edenbridge, Kent
Edenbridge, Kent
Edenbridge is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks district of Kent, England. The town's name derives from Old English language "Eadhelmsbrigge" . It is located on the Kent/Surrey border on the upper floodplain of the River Medway and gives its name to the latter's tributary, the River Eden...
until 19 June 2010.
Personal life
Russell was a Roman Catholic. He was married four times; the first three ended in divorce, the last in his death. He was married to Shirley Kingdon from 1958-1978; the couple had four sons and a daughter. He married Vivian Jolly in 1984; the couple had a son and daughter. He was married to Hetty BaynesHetty Baynes
Henrietta S.L. "Hetty" Baynes is an English actress. She began her career as a ballet dancer at the Royal Ballet School and made her professional debut at 12 in Rudolf Nureyev's The Nutcracker at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden....
from 1992-1997; the couple had a son. He married Elize Tribble in 2001.
External links
- Savage Messiah – a Ken Russell site by Iain Fisher
- Ken Russell's film on Delius, Song of Summer
- Ken Russell on Television – a comprehensive study of Russell's small-screen work, from the British Film Institute's Screenonline site. Video clips are restricted to UK schools and libraries for copyright reasons, but the text can be accessed by everyone.
- Celebrity Big Brother Updates: Ken Russell
- Ken Russell Discussion Group : The Lair of Ken Russell
- BBC Interview with Ken Russell and Tony Lane on Invasion of the Not Quite DeadInvasion of the Not Quite DeadInvasion of the Not Quite Dead is a black comedy horror film directed by Tony Lane.- Plot :In 1978 a meteorite crash lands into the Swiss Mountains, unleashing a deadly virus. Killing everyone within a 20 mile radius, the incident was covered up by local officials. Now thirty years later the virus...
(2008) - Ken Russell interview on BBC Film Network Sept 2008
- BBC piece on places that have inspired Russell's film-making
- Long Q&A with Ken Russell on his early career in ballet and photography (19 June 2010)