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.

Filmography

• 2026The Road to Jericho
• 2025Films to Die For — (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 2013A Fuller Life — Self, Book
• 2011Nuits transparentes
• 2009Carmel
• 2005The Big Red One: The Reconstruction — War Correspondent (uncredited), Writer, Director
• 2003Necro not(to b)e — Sé stesso
• 1997The End of Violence — Louis
• 1994Girls in Prison — Writer
• Rebel Highway — Writer
• 1994Somebody to Love — Sam Silverman
• 1993Golem: The Petrified Garden — Sam
• 1992Golem, the Spirit of Exile — Elimelek
• 1992La Vie de Bohème — Gassot
• Chillers — Director, Writer
• 1990Sons — Father
• 1990The Day of Reckoning — Director, Screenplay
• 1990The Madonna and the Dragon — Chef de bureau Newsweek, Director, Screenplay
• David Lansky
• 1989Street of No Return — Police Commissioner, Director, Screenplay, Dialogue
• 1988Falkenau, the Impossible — Samuel Fuller
• 1988Mer de Chine: Le pays pour mémoire — Le capitaine américain
• 1987A Return to Salem's Lot — Van Meer
• 1987Helsinki Napoli All Night Long — Boss
• 1987Midnight Sun Film Festival
• 1987The Bleeding Star — The Man in the Bar
• 1986Let's Get Harry — Story
• 1985Report from Hollywood
• 1984Thieves After Dark — Zoltan, Writer, Director
• 1982Hammett — Old Man in Pool Hall
• 1982Slapstick of Another Kind — Colonel Sharp
• 1982The State of Things — Joe
• 1982White Dog — Charlie Felton, Screenplay, Director
• 1980The Big Red One — War Correspondent (uncredited), Director, Writer
• 19791941 — Interceptor Commander
• 1978Cinématon — N°602
• 1978The Meanest Men in the West — Director, Screenplay
• 1977Scott Joplin — Impresario
• 1977The American Friend — The American
• 1974The Klansman — Screenplay
• 1973The Deadly Trackers — Story
• 1973The Young Nurses — Doc Haskell
• 1972Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street — Writer, Director
• 1971The Last Movie — Sam
• Scene of the Crime — Director, Writer
• 1969Shark — Director, Screenplay
• 1968Targets — Screenplay
• 1967Cinéastes de notre temps : Samuel Fuller — Interviewee
• 1967Made in U.S.A — Thanks
• 1967The Cape Town Affair — Writer
• 1965Pierrot le Fou — Samuel Fuller (uncredited)
• 1964The Naked Kiss — Director, Writer, Producer
• 1963Shock Corridor — Director, Screenplay, Producer
• 1962Merrill's Marauders — Director, Screenplay
• The Virginian — Director, Writer
• The Dick Powell Show — Director
• 1961Underworld U.S.A. — Director, Writer, Producer
• 1959Dogface — Director, Writer, Producer
• 1959The Crimson Kimono — Director, Writer, Producer
• 1959Verboten! — Writer, Director
• 1957China Gate — Director, Screenplay, Producer
• 1957Forty Guns — Director, Screenplay, Producer
• 1957Run of the Arrow — Writer, Director, Producer
• 1955House of Bamboo — Japanese policeman (uncredited), Director, Additional Dialogue
• 1954Hell and High Water — Screenplay, Director
• 1954The Command — Writer
• 1953Pickup on South Street — Director, Screenplay
• 1952Park Row — Director, Producer, Writer
• 1952Scandal Sheet — Novel
• 1951Fixed Bayonets! — Director, Screenplay
• 1951The Steel Helmet — Writer, Director, Producer
• 1951The Tanks Are Coming — Story
• 1950The Baron of Arizona — Writer, Director
• 1949I Shot Jesse James — Director, Writer
• 1949Shockproof — Writer
• 1945Gangs of the Waterfront — Story
• 1945V-E +1 — Director
• 1943Margin for Error — Screenplay
• 1943Power of the Press — Story
• 1941Confirm or Deny — Story
• 1940Bowery Boy — Original Story
• 1940Gangs of Chicago — Screenplay
• 1939She Married a Cop — Writer
• 1938Adventure in Sahara — Story
• 1938Federal Man-Hunt — Story
• 1938Gangs of New York — Screenplay, Story
• 1937It Happened in Hollywood — Screenplay
• 1936Hats Off — Story, Screenplay

Appearances as themselves (19)

• 2012Scene Missing — Self
• Sodankylä Forever — Self
• 2006Filmmakers in Action — Self (archive footage)
• 2005The Real Glory: Reconstructing 'The Big Red One' — Himself (archive footage)
• 2002The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller — Self
• 1996The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera — Self
• 1994Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made — Self
• 1994Un Américain en Normandie — Himself
• 1993Anything for John — Self
• 1992Shock Corridor — himself
• 1992Where Is Musette? — Self
• 1990Motion and Emotion: The Films of Wim Wenders — Self
• 1989Tell me Sam - Encounters with Sam Fuller — Himself
• 1986A Travelling is a Moral Affair — Himself
• 1986Hooray For Holyrood — Self
• 1984Sam Fuller & the Big Red One — Self
• 1981Sam Fuller: Writings with a Camera — Himself
• Les Rendez-vous du dimanche — Self
• 1966Brigitte and Brigitte — Self