Ken Russell
Directing
Born July 3, 1927 · Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK
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."
Directed (82)
Boudica Bites Back
2009
A Kitten for Hitler
2007
Watch the Birdie
2007
Trapped Ashes
2006
Charlotte Brontë Enters the Big Brother House
2006
The Miners' Picnic by Ken Russell
2005
Revenge of the Elephant Man
2004
Elgar: Fantasy of a Composer on a Bicycle
2002
The Fall of the Louse of Usher
2002
Lion's Mouth
2000
Dogboys
1998
Ken Russell: In Search of the English Folk Song
1997
Mindbender
1996
Tales of Erotica
1996
Treasure Island
1995
The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch
1995
Alice in Russialand
1995
The Mystery of Dr Martinu
1993
The Secret Life of Arnold Bax
1992
Prisoner of Honor
1991
Whore
1991
Women and Men: Stories of Seduction
1990
The Strange Affliction of Anton Bruckner
1990
Pandora's Box: It's All Coming Back to Me Now
1989
The Rainbow
1989
A British Picture: Portrait of an Enfant Terrible
1989
Il Mefistofele
1989
The Lair of the White Worm
1988
Salome's Last Dance
1988
Ken Russell's ABC of British Music
1988
Aria
1987
Gothic
1987
Faust
1985
Crimes of Passion
1984
The Planets
1983
Vaughan Williams: A Symphonic Portrait
1983
Altered States
1980
Valentino
1977
Lisztomania
1975
Tommy
1975
Mahler
1974
Savage Messiah
1972
The Boy Friend
1971
The Devils
1971
The Music Lovers
1971
Dance of the Seven Veils
1970
Women in Love
1969
Song of Summer
1968
Dante's Inferno
1967
Billion Dollar Brain
1967
Don’t Shoot the Composer
1966
Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World
1966
Always on Sunday
1965
The Debussy Film
1965
The Diary of a Nobody
1964
Bela Bartók
1964
French Dressing
1964
Elgar
1962
Mr Chesher’s Traction Engines
1962
The Preservation Man
1962
Pop Goes the Easel
1962
The Lonely Shore
1962
London Moods
1961
Old Battersea House
1961
Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill
1961
Prokofiev
1961
Antonio Gaudí
1961
The Light Fantastic
1960
Shelagh Delaney's Salford
1960
A House in Bayswater
1960
A Bedlington Miners' Picnic
1960
Journey Into a Lost World
1960
Scottish Painters
1959
Portrait of a Goon
1959
From Spain to Streatham
1959
Variations on a Mechanical Theme
1959
Gordon Jacob
1959
John Betjeman: A Poet in London
1959
Amelia and the Angel
1958
Lourdes
1958
Peepshow
1956
Knights on Bikes
1956
Acting (49)
Twiggy
2025
The Who: One Band's Explosive Story
2022
Director of Devils
2012
Ken Russell: A Bit of a Devil
2012
The Devils Original on-set footage
2012
Mr. Nice
2010
The Aristofrogs
2010
Boudica Bites Back
2009
A Kitten for Hitler
2007
10 Best Elgar
2007
The Real Blue Nuns
2006
Trapped Ashes
2006
Brothers of the Head
2006
Colour Me Kubrick
2005
Revenge of the Elephant Man
2004
100 Greatest Sexy Moments
2003
Celebrity Naked Ambition
2003
Hell on Earth: The Desecration & Resurrection of The Devils
2002
Elgar: Fantasy of a Composer on a Bicycle
2002
The Fall of the Louse of Usher
2002
The Real Oliver Reed
2000
Lion's Mouth
2000
Ken Russell: In Search of the English Folk Song
1997
Vem Var Dracula
1996
Tales of Erotica
1996
Empire of the Censors
1995
Music for the Movies: Georges Delerue
1995
The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch
1995
Alice in Russialand
1995
