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."

Filmography

• 2025Twiggy — (archival footage)
• 2016Kitsune — Thanks
• 2012The Devils Original on-set footage
• 2010Mr. Nice — Russell Miegs
• 2009Boudica Bites Back — Roman Senator, Director, Screenplay
• 2007A Kitten for Hitler — Santa, Director, Writer
• 2007Watch the Birdie — Director
• 2006Charlotte Brontë Enters the Big Brother House — Director, Director of Photography, Writer, Choreographer, Producer
• 2006Trapped Ashes — Dr. Lucy (segment "The Girl with Golden Breasts"), Director
• 2005Colour Me Kubrick — The Man In Nightgown
• 2005The Miners' Picnic by Ken Russell — Director
• Agatha Christie's Marple — Rev Caleb Dane Calthrop
• 2004Revenge of the Elephant Man — Director, Writer, Producer
• 2002Elgar: Fantasy on a Composer on a Bicycle — Narrator (voice), Director, Producer, Writer
• 2002The Fall of the Louse of Usher — Dr. Calahari, Director, Writer, Producer, Cinematography, Editor, Director of Photography
• Waking the Dead — Gerry Raistrick
• 2000Lion's Mouth — Ken, Director, Screenplay
• 1998Dogboys — Director, Producer
• 1997In Search of the English Folk Song — Self, Director, Writer
• 1996Mindbender — Director, Writer
• 1996Tales of Erotica — Mr. Kirsch (segment 'The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch') (uncredited), Director, Writer
• 1995Alice in Russialand — Director, Writer
• 1995The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch — Mr. Kirsch, Director, Writer
• 1995Treasure Island — Director, Teleplay
• Lady Chatterley — Sir Michael Reid, Writer, Director, Creator
• 1992The Mystery of Dr Martinu — Writer, Director
• 1992The Secret Life of Arnold Bax — Sir Arnold Bax, Writer, Director
• 1991Prisoner of Honor — Director
• 1991Road to Mandalay — Self, Director, Writer
• 1991Whore — Waiter (uncredited), Director, Screenplay, Camera Operator
• Plunder
• 1990The Russia House — Walter
• 1990The Strange Affliction of Anton Bruckner — Director, Writer
• 1990Women and Men: Stories of Seduction — Director
• 1989A British Picture: Portrait of an Enfant Terrible — Director, Writer
• 1989Il Mefistofele — Director
• 1989The Rainbow — Director, Screenplay, Producer
• 1988Ken Russell's ABC of British Music — Himself, Director, Writer
• 1988Salome's Last Dance — Cappadocian, Director, Screenplay
• 1988The Lair of the White Worm — Police Radio (voice) (uncredited), Director, Screenplay, Producer
• 1987Aria — Director, Writer
• 1987Gothic — Tourist, Director
• 1987Your Honour, I Object! Guccione V Russell
• 1985Faust — Director
• 1984Crimes of Passion — Director
• 1984Vaughan Williams: A Symphonic Portrait — Self, Director, Producer, Writer
• 1983The Planets — Director
• 1980Altered States — Director
• Clouds of Glory — Director, Writer, Creator
• The South Bank Show — Self, Director
• 1977Valentino — Rex Ingram (uncredited), Director, Screenplay
• 1975Lisztomania — Director, Screenplay
• 1975Tommy — Cripple (uncredited), Director, Screenplay, Producer
• 1974Mahler — Director, Writer
• 1972Savage Messiah — Passenger getting off train in station (uncredited), Director, Producer
• 1971The Boy Friend — Director, Screenplay, Producer
• 1971The Devils — Director, Screenplay, Producer
• 1971The Music Lovers — Director, Producer
• 1970Dance of the Seven Veils — Director, Writer
• 1969Women in Love — Director
• 1968Song of Summer — Priest, Director, Writer
• 1967Billion Dollar Brain — Director
• 1967Dante's Inferno — Director
• 1966Don’t Shoot the Composer — Himself, Director, Producer
• 1966Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World — Captain Patterson, Director, Writer
• 1966Russell at Work
• 1965Always on Sunday — Director, Scenario Writer, Producer
• 1965The Debussy Film — Director, Scenario Writer
• 1964Bela Bartók — Director, Screenplay
• 1964French Dressing — Director
• Six — Writer, Director
• 1964The Diary of a Nobody — Director, Writer
• 1962Elgar — Director, Writer
• 1962Mr Chesher’s Traction Engines — Director
• 1962Pop Goes the Easel — Director
• 1962The Lonely Shore — Director
• 1962The Preservation Man — Director
• 1961Antonio Gaudí — Director
• 1961London Moods — Director
• 1961Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill — Director
• 1961Old Battersea House — Director
• 1961Prokofiev — Director
• 1961Walk With The Damned — Hood
• 1960A Bedlington Miners' Picnic — Director
• 1960A House in Bayswater — Director, Writer
• 1960Journey Into a Lost World — Director
• 1960Shelagh Delaney's Salford — Director
• 1960The Light Fantastic — Director
• 1959From Spain to Streatham — Director
• 1959Gordon Jacob — Director
• 1959John Betjeman: A Poet in London — Director
• 1959Portrait of a Goon — Director
• 1959Scottish Painters — Director
• 1959Variations on a Mechanical Theme — Director
• 1958Amelia and the Angel — Director, Writer, Story, Cinematography
• 1958Lourdes — Director
• Monitor — Director, Writer
• 1956Knights on Bikes — Director
• 1956Peepshow — Director
• PuzzleFace — god

Appearances as themselves (18)

• 2022The Who: One Band's Explosive Story — Self (archive footage)
• 2012Director of Devils — Self
• 2012Ken Russell: A Bit of a Devil — Self (archive footage)
• 200710 Best Elgar — Self (archive footage)
• 2006Brothers of the Head — Himself
• 2006The Real Blue Nuns — Self
• 2003100 Greatest Sexy Moments — Self
• 2003Celebrity Naked Ambition — Self - Contributor
• 2002Hell on Earth: The Desecration & Resurrection of The Devils — Self
• Celebrity Big Brother — Self
• 2000The Real Oliver Reed — Self
• 1995Empire of the Censors — Self
• 1995Music for the Movies: Georges Delerue — Self
• Frank Stubbs Promotes — Self
• 1986A Turnip Head's Guide To The British Cinema — Self
• 1979The Who: The Kids Are Alright — Self
• Film '72 — Self
• Omnibus — Self