
Samuel Fuller
Biography
Samuel Michael Fuller (August 12, 1912 – October 30, 1997) was an American screenwriter, novelist and film director known for low-budget genre movies with controversial themes.
He was born Samuel Michael Fuller in Worcester, Massachusetts, the son of Benjamin Rabinovitch, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, and Rebecca Baum, a Jewish immigrant from Poland. After immigrating to America, the family's surname was changed from Rabinovitch to "Fuller" possibly by inspiration of a Doctor who arrived in America on the Mayflower. At the age of 12, he began working in journalism as a newspaper copyboy. He became a crime reporter in New York City at age 17, working for the New York Evening Graphic. He broke the story of Jeanne Eagels' death. He wrote pulp novels and screenplays from the mid-1930s onwards. Fuller also became a screenplay ghostwriter but would never tell interviewers which screenplays that he ghost-wrote explaining "that's what a ghost writer is for".
During World War II, Fuller joined the United States Army infantry. He was assigned to the 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, and saw heavy fighting. He was involved in landings in Africa, Sicily, and Normandy and also saw action in Belgium and Czechoslovakia. In 1945 he was present at the liberation of the German concentration camp at Falkenau and shot 16 mm footage which was used later in the documentary Falkenau: The Impossible. For his service, he was awarded the Bronze Star, the Silver Star, and the Purple Heart. Fuller used his wartime experiences as material in his films, especially in The Big Red One (1980), a nickname of the 1st Infantry Division.
After his controversial film "White Dog" was shelved by Paramount pictures, Fuller moved to France, and never directed another American film. Fuller eventually returned to America. He died of natural causes in his California home. In November 1997, the Directors Guild held a three hour memorial in his honor, hosted by Curtis Hanson, his long time friend and co-writer on White Dog. He was survived by his wife Christa and daughter Samantha.
Acting (46 movies)

Pierrot le Fou
1965

The State of Things
1982

The American Friend
1977

A Return to Salem's Lot
1987

La Vie de Bohème
1992

The End of Violence
1997

The Big Red One
1980

Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made
1994

The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera
1996

Anything for John
1993

The Big Red One: The Reconstruction
2005

Brigitte and Brigitte
1966

A Fuller Life
2013

The Madonna and the Dragon
1990

White Dog
1982

Mer de Chine: Le pays pour mémoire
1988

The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
2002

The Real Glory: Reconstructing 'The Big Red One'
2005

Falkenau, the Impossible
1988

Helsinki Napoli All Night Long
1987

Golem: The Petrified Garden
1993

House of Bamboo
1955

Golem, the Spirit of Exile
1992

The Young Nurses
1973

Where Is Musette?
1992

Street of No Return
1989

Thieves After Dark
1984

Carmel
2009

Shock Corridor
1992

Hammett
1982

The Last Movie
1971

Slapstick of Another Kind
1982

Sons
1990

Filmmakers in Action
2006

Nuits transparentes
2011

Scene Missing
2012

Sam Fuller & the Big Red One
1984

Cinématon
1978

The Bleeding Star
1987

Motion and Emotion: The Films of Wim Wenders
1990

Sodankylä Forever
2010

1941
1979

Scott Joplin
1977

Somebody to Love
1994

Necro not(to b)e
2003

Films to Die For
2025
Directing (29 movies)

House of Bamboo
1955

Shark
1969

Hell and High Water
1954

Pickup on South Street
1953

The Naked Kiss
1964

Park Row
1952

The Crimson Kimono
1959

Shock Corridor
1963

Run of the Arrow
1957

Merrill's Marauders
1962

Underworld U.S.A.
1961

I Shot Jesse James
1949

Forty Guns
1957

The Baron of Arizona
1950

The Big Red One
1980

The Steel Helmet
1951

Fixed Bayonets!
1951

White Dog
1982

Street of No Return
1989

Verboten!
1959

China Gate
1957

The Meanest Men in the West
1978

Thieves After Dark
1984

The Madonna and the Dragon
1990

V-E +1
1945

Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street
1972

Dogface
1959

The Big Red One: The Reconstruction
2005

The Day of Reckoning
1990