Ken Russell
- Known for
- Directing
- Born
- July 3, 1927
- Died
- November 27, 2011 (aged 84)
- Birthplace
- 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. Among his best known works are the Oscar-winning romantic drama Women in Love (1969), the notoriously controversial psychological horror 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
Photos
Filmography
Boudica Bites Back
Movie · Director
A Kitten for Hitler
Movie · Director
Watch the Birdie
Movie · Director
Trapped Ashes
Movie · Director
Charlotte Brontë Enters the Big Brother House
Movie · Director
The Miners' Picnic by Ken Russell
Movie · Director
Revenge of the Elephant Man
Movie · Director
The Fall of the Louse of Usher
Movie · Director
Elgar: Fantasy on a Composer on a Bicycle
Movie · Director
Lion's Mouth
Movie · Director
Dogboys
Movie · Director
In Search of the English Folk Song
Movie · Director
Tales of Erotica
Movie · Director
Mindbender
Movie · Director
The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch
Movie · Director
Alice in Russialand
Movie · Director
Treasure Island
Movie · Director
Erotic Tales
TV · Director · 1 ep
Lady Chatterley
TV · Director · 4 eps
The Mystery of Dr Martinu
Movie · Director
The Secret Life of Arnold Bax
Movie · Director
Whore
Movie · Director
Prisoner of Honor
Movie · Director
Road to Mandalay
Movie · Director
The Strange Affliction of Anton Bruckner
Movie · Director
Women and Men: Stories of Seduction
Movie · Director
The Rainbow
Movie · Director
A British Picture: Portrait of an Enfant Terrible
Movie · Director
Il Mefistofele
Movie · Director
The Lair of the White Worm
Movie · Director
Salome's Last Dance
Movie · Director
Ken Russell's ABC of British Music
Movie · Director
Gothic
Movie · Director
Aria
Movie · Director
Faust
Movie · Director
Crimes of Passion
Movie · Director
Vaughan Williams: A Symphonic Portrait
Movie · Director
The Planets
Movie · Director
Altered States
Movie · Director
The South Bank Show
TV · Director · 1 ep
Clouds of Glory
TV · Director · 2 eps
Valentino
Movie · Director
Tommy
Movie · Director
Lisztomania
Movie · Director
Mahler
Movie · Director
Savage Messiah
Movie · Director
The Devils
Movie · Director
The Boy Friend
Movie · Director
The Music Lovers
Movie · Director
Dance of the Seven Veils
Movie · Director
Women in Love
Movie · Director
Song of Summer
Movie · Director
Billion Dollar Brain
Movie · Director
Dante's Inferno
Movie · Director
Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World
Movie · Director
Don’t Shoot the Composer
Movie · Director
The Debussy Film
Movie · Director
Always on Sunday
Movie · Director
French Dressing
Movie · Director
The Diary of a Nobody
Movie · Director
Bela Bartók
Movie · Director
Six
TV · Director · 1 ep
Elgar
Movie · Director
Pop Goes the Easel
Movie · Director
The Preservation Man
Movie · Director
The Lonely Shore
Movie · Director
Mr Chesher’s Traction Engines
Movie · Director
London Moods
Movie · Director
Antonio Gaudí
Movie · Director
Old Battersea House
Movie · Director
Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill
Movie · Director
Prokofiev
Movie · Director
A House in Bayswater
Movie · Director
The Light Fantastic
Movie · Director
Shelagh Delaney's Salford
Movie · Director
Journey Into a Lost World
Movie · Director
A Bedlington Miners' Picnic
Movie · Director
From Spain to Streatham
Movie · Director
Gordon Jacob
Movie · Director
Scottish Painters
Movie · Director
Variations on a Mechanical Theme
Movie · Director
John Betjeman: A Poet in London
Movie · Director
Portrait of a Goon
Movie · Director
Amelia and the Angel
Movie · Director
Lourdes
Movie · Director
Monitor
TV · Director · 2 eps
Knights on Bikes
Movie · Director
Peepshow
Movie · Director