Ken Russell
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."
86 directing credits · 58 acting credits
Directing · 86
Lady Chatterley
1993
The South Bank Show
1978
The Devils
1971
Altered States
1980
Crimes of Passion
1984
The Lair of the White Worm
1988
Tommy
1975
Aria
1987
Women in Love
1969
Clouds of Glory
1978
Whore
1991
Valentino
1977
Lisztomania
1975
Gothic
1987
Billion Dollar Brain
1967
Six
1964
Trapped Ashes
2006
Tales of Erotica
1996
Salome's Last Dance
1988
The Rainbow
1989
Savage Messiah
1972
Women and Men: Stories of Seduction
1990
Mahler
1974
Prisoner of Honor
1991
Dogboys
1998
The Boy Friend
1971
The Music Lovers
1971
French Dressing
1964
The Secret Life of Arnold Bax
1992
Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World
1966
Mindbender
1996
The Diary of a Nobody
1964
The Strange Affliction of Anton Bruckner
1990
Treasure Island
1995
The Mystery of Dr Martinu
1993
Alice in Russialand
1995
Faust
1985
The Fall of the Louse of Usher
2002
Elgar
1962
Ken Russell's ABC of British Music
1988
A Kitten for Hitler
2007
Dante's Inferno
1967
The Planets
1983
The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch
1995
A British Picture: Portrait of an Enfant Terrible
1989
The Debussy Film
1965
Dance of the Seven Veils
1970
Il Mefistofele
1989
Song of Summer
1968
Bela Bartók
1964
The Light Fantastic
1960
John Betjeman: A Poet in London
1959
Charlotte Brontë Enters the Big Brother House
2006
Amelia and the Angel
1958
Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill
1961
Vaughan Williams: A Symphonic Portrait
1983
The Preservation Man
1962
Variations on a Mechanical Theme
1959
Antonio Gaudí
1961
Elgar: Fantasy of a Composer on a Bicycle
2002
From Spain to Streatham
1959
The Miners' Picnic by Ken Russell
2005
Boudica Bites Back
2009
Don’t Shoot the Composer
1966
A Bedlington Miners' Picnic
1960
Lourdes
1958
Shelagh Delaney's Salford
1960
Pop Goes the Easel
1962
Prokofiev
1961
Gordon Jacob
1959
Knights on Bikes
1956
Portrait of a Goon
1959
London Moods
1961
Revenge of the Elephant Man
2004
Peepshow
1956
Pandora's Box: It's All Coming Back to Me Now
1989
Watch the Birdie
2007
Scottish Painters
1959
Old Battersea House
1961
A House in Bayswater
1960
Always on Sunday
1965
Lion's Mouth
2000
Mr Chesher’s Traction Engines
1962
The Lonely Shore
1962
Ken Russell: In Search of the English Folk Song
1997
Journey Into a Lost World
1960
Acting · 58
Agatha Christie's Marple
2004
Waking the Dead
2001
Omnibus
1967
Celebrity Big Brother
2001
Lady Chatterley
1993
The South Bank Show
1978
Frank Stubbs Promotes
1993
Plunder
1990
The Lair of the White Worm
1988
Tommy
1975
The Russia House
1990
Whore
1991
Valentino
1977
Celebrity Naked Ambition
2003
Gothic
1987
Twiggy
2025
Mr. Nice
2010
Trapped Ashes
2006
Colour Me Kubrick
2005
Tales of Erotica
1996
100 Greatest Sexy Moments
2003
Salome's Last Dance
1988
Vem Var Dracula
1996
Savage Messiah
1972
Hell on Earth: The Desecration & Resurrection of The Devils
2002
The Who: The Kids Are Alright
1979
Brothers of the Head
2006
A Turnip Head's Guide To The British Cinema
1986
The Secret Life of Arnold Bax
1992
Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World
1966
The Aristofrogs
2010
Alice in Russialand
1995
The Real Oliver Reed
2000
Empire of the Censors
1995
The Fall of the Louse of Usher
2002
Ken Russell's ABC of British Music
1988
A Kitten for Hitler
2007
The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch
1995
A British Picture: Portrait of an Enfant Terrible
1989
The Who: One Band's Explosive Story
2022
Song of Summer
1968
Walk With The Damned
1961
Ken Russell: A Bit of a Devil
2012
Director of Devils
2012
The Real Blue Nuns
2006
10 Best Elgar
2007
Vaughan Williams: A Symphonic Portrait
1983
Elgar: Fantasy of a Composer on a Bicycle
2002
Boudica Bites Back
2009
Don’t Shoot the Composer
1966
Russell at Work
1966
Revenge of the Elephant Man
2004
Your Honour, I Object! Guccione V Russell
1987
The Devils Original on-set footage
2012
Music for the Movies: Georges Delerue
1995
PuzzleFace
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Lion's Mouth
2000
Ken Russell: In Search of the English Folk Song
1997