Ken Russell
Biography
Henry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was an English film director. He is known for his pioneering work in television and film, and for his controversial style. He has been criticized as being over-obsessed with sexuality and the church. His subject matter is often about famous composers, or based on other works of art which he adapts loosely. Russell began directing for the BBC, where he did creative adaptations of composers' lives which were unusual for the time. He also directed many feature films independently and for studios.
He is best known for his Oscar-winning romantic drama Women in Love (1969), the notoriously controversial The Devils (1971), the rock musical Tommy (1975), and the science fiction film Altered States (1980).
One noted admirer, British film critic Mark Kermode, attempting to sum up the director's achievement, called Russell; "somebody who proved that British cinema didn't have to be about kitchen-sink realism – it could be every bit as flamboyant as Fellini. He now makes very strange experimental films like Lion's Mouth and Revenge of the Elephant Man, and they are as edgy and out there as the work he made in the 1970s."
Acting (42 movies)
Whore
1991
Vaughan Williams: A Symphonic Portrait
1983
Gothic
1987
The Real Blue Nuns
2006
Tommy
1975
Trapped Ashes
2006
Valentino
1977
Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World
1966
Salome's Last Dance
1988
The Real Oliver Reed
2000
The Fall of the Louse of Usher
2002
A Kitten for Hitler
2007
Hell on Earth: The Desecration & Resurrection of The Devils
2002
Music for the Movies: Georges Delerue
1995
Savage Messiah
1972
The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch
1995
Mr. Nice
2010
The Who: One Band's Explosive Story
2022
Vem Var Dracula
1996
Your Honour, I Object! Guccione V Russell
1987
Don’t Shoot the Composer
1966
Brothers of the Head
2006
Ken Russell's ABC of British Music
1988
Director of Devils
2012
A Turnip Head's Guide To The British Cinema
1986
10 Best Elgar
2007
The Russia House
1990
Ken Russell: A Bit of a Devil
2012
Song of Summer
1968
Colour Me Kubrick
2005
The Lair of the White Worm
1988
Walk With The Damned
1961
The Secret Life of Arnold Bax
1992
The Aristofrogs
2010
A British Picture: Portrait of an Enfant Terrible
1989
Ken Russell: In Search of the English Folk Song
1997
The Who: The Kids Are Alright
1979
Twiggy
2025
Elgar: Fantasy of a Composer on a Bicycle
2002
Alice in Russialand
1995
100 Greatest Sexy Moments
2003
Tales of Erotica
1996
Directing (82 movies)
French Dressing
1964
Billion Dollar Brain
1967
Tommy
1975
The Lair of the White Worm
1988
Whore
1991
Ken Russell: In Search of the English Folk Song
1997
Altered States
1980
The Devils
1971
The Boy Friend
1971
Gothic
1987
Crimes of Passion
1984
The Rainbow
1989
Trapped Ashes
2006
Valentino
1977
Women in Love
1969
Lisztomania
1975
Salome's Last Dance
1988
The Music Lovers
1971
Mahler
1974
Savage Messiah
1972
The Fall of the Louse of Usher
2002
Dante's Inferno
1967
Song of Summer
1968
Dogboys
1998
A Kitten for Hitler
2007
Dance of the Seven Veils
1970
Amelia and the Angel
1958
Elgar: Portrait of a Composer
1962
Tales of Erotica
1996
Mindbender
1996
Boudica Bites Back
2009
Prisoner of Honor
1991
The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch
1995
The Diary of a Nobody
1964
A House in Bayswater
1960
Pop Goes the Easel
1962
Revenge of the Elephant Man
2004
Lion's Mouth
2000
The Light Fantastic
1960
Vaughan Williams: A Symphonic Portrait
1983
London Moods
1961
The Preservation Man
1962
From Spain to Streatham
1959
The Lonely Shore
1962
Bela Bartók
1964
The Debussy Film
1965
Knights on Bikes
1956
Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World
1966
Always on Sunday
1965
Antonio Gaudí
1961
Shelagh Delaney's Salford
1960
Old Battersea House
1961
Gordon Jacob
1959
Don’t Shoot the Composer
1966
Scottish Painters
1959
The Strange Affliction of Anton Bruckner
1990
Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill
1961
Variations on a Mechanical Theme
1959
Peepshow
1956
Mr Chesher’s Traction Engines
1962
Journey Into a Lost World
1960
Faust
1985
Alice in Russialand
1995
The Planets
1983
A British Picture: Portrait of an Enfant Terrible
1989
Ken Russell's ABC of British Music
1988
The Miners' Picnic by Ken Russell
2005
Prokofiev
1961
Treasure Island
1995
The Mystery of Dr Martinu
1993
Pandora's Box: It's All Coming Back to Me Now
1989
Watch the Birdie
2007
Aria
1987
The Secret Life of Arnold Bax
1992
Elgar: Fantasy of a Composer on a Bicycle
2002
Il Mefistofele
1989
Charlotte Brontë Enters the Big Brother House
2006
John Betjeman: A Poet in London
1959
A Bedlington Miners' Picnic
1960
Portrait of a Goon
1959
Women and Men: Stories of Seduction
1990
Lourdes
1958