Ken Russell

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Ken Russell

Henry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell (born July 3, 1927 in Southampton , England , † November 27, 2011 in London ) was a British film director , producer , screenwriter and actor .

Life

After attending Pangbourne Nautical College, Russell trained as a photographer at Walthamstow Art School in London. He dealt with film as a medium from an early age. As an amateur, he experimented with 16 mm cine film , which he later used professionally.

He made his first three amateur films , including Amelia and the Angels , in 1957 and 1958. From 1958 he made several documentaries about composers for the BBC . His unconventional style - Russell focused less on facts than on his individual feelings - earned him the accusation of disrespect from various music critics. At the same time, the international press praised him as an exceptionally resourceful director.

After making his first feature film (French dressing) in 1964, he made his breakthrough as a feature film director in 1969 with Liebende Frauen ( Women in Love , after DH Lawrence ). Glenda Jackson received the Oscar for best leading role for this film . This was followed by other successes such as the Aldous-Huxley film Die Teufel (The Devils) from 1972, the rock opera Tommy by and with the band The Who in 1974 and the musical film Lisztomania in 1975 .

In the 1980s, Russell worked in the United States for a long time. This resulted in modern genre classics such as 1980 Der Höllentrip (Altered States) , 1984 China Blue by day and night (Crimes of Passion) with Kathleen Turner and Anthony Perkins , Gothic from 1986 and Der Biss der Schlangenfrau (Lair of the White Worm) by 1988. 1990 followed the whore (whore) .

During the first half of the 1980s Russell also worked as an opera director and staged various operas in Florence , Lyon , Charleston (USA), at the Vienna State Opera and in Spoleto , including Arrigo Boitos Mefistofele and Charles Gounod's Faust . His productions underlined his reputation as an imaginative eccentric, but were largely panned by the critics.

In the 1990s, Russell had increasing difficulties getting his projects funded - not least because of his choice of subjects and actors. He therefore went over to taking over the financing himself and producing low-budget underground films.

Issues such as sexuality and religion run through Russell's works, which Russell treated freely and often deliberately provocatively. His strongly symbolic imagery sometimes draws on mannerist elements.

Ken Russell died on November 27, 2011 at the age of 84 in London.

Filmography (selection)

Director
  • 1956: Knights on Bikes
  • 1962: Elgar (TV movie)
  • 1964: Try it in French (French Dressing)
  • 1965: The Debussy Film (TV movie)
  • 1965: Always On Sunday (TV movie)
  • 1965: Don't Shoot The Composer (TV movie)
  • 1967: Dante's Inferno (TV movie)
  • 1967: The Billion Dollar Brain
  • 1968: Song Of Summer (TV movie)
  • 1969: Women in Love (Women in Love)
  • 1970: The Devil (The Devils)
  • 1970: Tchaikovsky - Genius and Madness (The Music Lovers)
  • 1971: Boyfriend (The Boy Friend)
  • 1972: Savage Messiah
  • 1974: Mahler
  • 1974: Tommy
  • 1975: Lisztomania
  • 1976: Valentino
  • 1980: The Hell Trip (Altered States)
  • 1984: China Blue by day and night (Crimes of Passion)
  • 1986: Aria (1 episode)
  • 1986: Gothic
  • 1987: Salome's Last Dance
  • 1988: The Lair of the White Worm (The Lair of the White Worm)
  • 1989: Ken Russell's Crazy Picture Show ( A British Picture , TV movie)
  • 1989: The Rainbow (The Rainbow)
  • 1990: The whore (Whore)
  • 1990: The Strange Affliction of Anton Bruckner (TV movie)
  • 1991: Prisoners of the Devil's Island ( Prisoners of Honor , TV movie)
  • 1992: The Double Life of Arnold Bax ( The Secret Life of Sir Arnold Bax , TV movie)
  • 1992: Lady Chatterley (TV movie)
  • 1993: Alice in Russialand (TV movie)
  • 1993: Fall Martinu ( The Mystery of Doctor Martinu , TV movie)
  • 1993: Seductive Tales ( Women & Men: Stories of Seduction , 1 episode TV film)
  • 1994: Erotic Tales (1 episode)
  • 1995: The Uri Geller Story ( Mindbender , TV film)
  • 1998: Hunted and Chained ( Dogboys , TV movie)
  • 2000: Lion's Mouth
  • 2002: Elgar: Fantasy of a Composer on a Bicycle (TV movie)
  • 2002: The Fall of the Louse of Usher: A Gothic Tale for the 21st Century
  • 2006: Trapped Ashes

Literature (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ British scandal director: Ken Russell is dead in the Süddeutsche Zeitung on November 28, 2011.
  2. ↑ New York Times, May 22, 1983 on nytimes.com
personal data
SURNAME Russell, Ken
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Russell, Henry Kenneth Alfred (full name); Russell, Alfred; Russell, Alf; Russell, Kenneth (other names)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British film director and producer, screenwriter and actor
DATE OF BIRTH July 3, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Southampton , UK
DATE OF DEATH November 27, 2011
Place of death London , UK