---
name: "Ken Russell"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/ken-russell"
fi1m_id: "ken-russell"
imdb_id: "nm0001692"
tmdb_id: 32327
wikidata_id: "Q55249"
roles: ["Director","Writer","Producer"]
born: "3 July 1927"
died: "27 November 2011"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "director"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-10-05T04:34:08.709910+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Ken Russell

## Identity

Ken Russell

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/ken-russell
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** ken-russell
- **IMDb ID:** nm0001692
- **TMDB ID:** 32327
- **Wikidata ID:** Q55249
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Russell, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q55249, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001692/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/32327

Director and writer. Born 3 July 1927 in Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK. Died 27 November 2011.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Writer, Producer
- **Born:** 3 July 1927, Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK
- **Died:** 27 November 2011
- **Active:** 1971–1975
- **Also known as:** Alfred Russell, Alf Russell
- **Frequently works with:** [Oliver Reed](https://film.one/person/oliver-reed.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Russell, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q55249, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001692/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/32327

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Tommy*](https://film.one/film/tommy.md) (74)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Ken Russell

> Ken Russell turns music into extravagant screen fantasy, with performances pitched to match. We admire the invention and recommend *Tommy* with reservations: his determination to make every number count can leave little room for the drama.

In *Tommy* (1975), a musical number rarely arrives without demanding our full attention. Russell treats Pete Townshend’s songs as permission for theatrical extravagance, and the performances help justify the noise. It is a good, uneven film, worth an evening for anyone with a taste for excess. His enthusiasm is part of the appeal, although he does not always seem to notice when a number has made its point.

That interest in putting music on screen was already central to his BBC work, including the composer profiles *Elgar* (1962) and *Song of Summer* (1968). The move into features brought a breakthrough with *Women in Love* (1969), followed by composer films such as *The Music Lovers* (1971) and *Mahler* (1974). He approaches the composers through fantasy, dreams and psychological distress rather than a dutiful account of the life. Music gives him a way of showing what people cannot comfortably explain about themselves.

In *Tommy*, Townshend’s music supplies a firmer shape than Russell’s screenplay, which struggles to connect one emphatic number to the next. Editor Stuart Baird makes the individual numbers register, but the joins remain less convincing. Russell is persuasive when a song can carry all that extravagance; he is less reliable when the story needs a pause. We grew tired during *Tommy* because the insistent sound and repeated high points left too little time for anything to settle.

It would be a mistake to reduce him to noise: his taste for physically expressive acting matters just as much as the dream sequences. His repeated work with Oliver Reed and Glenda Jackson belongs to a cinema that asks performers to accept its heightened emotions without embarrassment. His later Hollywood work included the science-fiction horror *Altered States* (1980), continuing his interest in putting inner experience on screen. Start with *Tommy* if rock music and theatrical excess appeal; anyone hoping for a quiet introduction should choose another director.

## Biography

Ken Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was an English film director, screenwriter and producer. Born in Southampton, he served in the Merchant Navy and the RAF before working as an actor, dancer and photographer. In the late 1950s he joined the BBC, where he directed arts documentaries for the Monitor programme, including dramatised biographies of composers.

Russell’s feature films include *Women in Love* (1969), *The Devils* (1971), on which he also wrote the screenplay and served as producer, and *Tommy* (1975), for which he was likewise credited as director, screenwriter and producer. Other works include *Altered States* (1980), *Gothic* (1987) and *The Lair of the White Worm* (1988). His films often drew on literary or musical sources and attracted controversy.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, screenonline.org.uk.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Tommy* (1975), Fi1m 74, as Cripple (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/tommy.md)

## Complete filmography (99)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Twiggy* (2025), as (archival footage)
- *Kitsune* (2016), Thanks
- *The Devils Original on-set footage* (2012), Actor
- *Mr. Nice* (2010), as Russell Miegs
- *Boudica Bites Back* (2009), as Roman Senator · Director, Screenplay
- *A Kitten for Hitler* (2007), as Santa · Writer, Director
- *Watch the Birdie* (2007), Director
- *Trapped Ashes* (2006), as Dr. Lucy (segment "The Girl with Golden Breasts") · Director
- *Charlotte Brontë Enters the Big Brother House* (2006), Choreographer, Producer, Writer, Director of Photography, Director
- *Colour Me Kubrick* (2005), as The Man In Nightgown
- *The Miners' Picnic by Ken Russell* (2005), Director
- *Agatha Christie's Marple* (2004), series, as Rev Caleb Dane Calthrop
- *Revenge of the Elephant Man* (2004), Writer, Director, Producer
- *Elgar: Fantasy on a Composer on a Bicycle* (2002), as Narrator (voice) · Director, Producer, Writer
- *The Fall of the Louse of Usher* (2002), as Dr. Calahari · Director, Editor, Writer, Producer, Cinematography, Director of Photography
- *Waking the Dead* (2001), series, as Gerry Raistrick
- *Lion's Mouth* (2000), as Ken · Director, Screenplay
- *Dogboys* (1998), Director, Producer
- *In Search of the English Folk Song* (1997), Director, Writer
- *Mindbender* (1996), Writer, Director
- *Tales of Erotica* (1996), as Mr. Kirsch (segment 'The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch') (uncredited) · Director, Writer
- *Treasure Island* (1995), Director, Teleplay
- *The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch* (1995), as Mr. Kirsch · Director, Writer
- *Alice in Russialand* (1995), Director, Writer
- *Lady Chatterley* (1993), series, as Sir Michael Reid · Writer, Director, Creator
- *The Secret Life of Arnold Bax* (1992), as Sir Arnold Bax · Writer, Director
- *The Mystery of Dr Martinu* (1992), Writer, Director
- *Prisoner of Honor* (1991), Director
- *Whore* (1991), as Waiter (uncredited) · Director, Screenplay, Camera Operator
- *Road to Mandalay* (1991), Director, Writer
- *The Russia House* (1990), as Walter
- *The Strange Affliction of Anton Bruckner* (1990), Director, Writer
- *Women and Men: Stories of Seduction* (1990), Director
- *Plunder* (1990), series, Actor
- *The Rainbow* (1989), Screenplay, Director, Producer
- *A British Picture: Portrait of an Enfant Terrible* (1989), Director, Writer
- *Il Mefistofele* (1989), Director
- *The Lair of the White Worm* (1988), as Police Radio (voice) (uncredited) · Producer, Director, Screenplay
- *Salome's Last Dance* (1988), as Cappadocian · Director, Screenplay
- *Ken Russell's ABC of British Music* (1988), Writer, Director
- *Your Honour, I Object! Guccione V Russell* (1987), Actor
- *Aria* (1987), Writer, Director
- *Gothic* (1987), as Tourist · Director
- *Faust* (1985), Director
- *Crimes of Passion* (1984), Director
- *Vaughan Williams: A Symphonic Portrait* (1984), Director, Producer, Writer
- *The Planets* (1983), Director
- *Altered States* (1980), Director
- *Clouds of Glory* (1978), series, Director, Writer, Creator
- *Valentino* (1977), as Rex Ingram (uncredited) · Director, Screenplay
- *Lisztomania* (1975), Director, Screenplay
- *Tommy* (1975), as Cripple (uncredited) · Director, Screenplay, Producer — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/tommy.md)
- *Mahler* (1974), Director, Writer
- *Savage Messiah* (1972), as Passenger getting off train in station (uncredited) · Director, Producer
- *The Boy Friend* (1971), Director, Screenplay, Producer
- *The Devils* (1971), Director, Screenplay, Producer
- *The Music Lovers* (1971), Director, Producer
- *Dance of the Seven Veils* (1970), Director, Writer
- *Women in Love* (1969), Director
- *Song of Summer* (1968), as Priest · Director, Writer
- *Dante's Inferno* (1967), Director
- *Billion Dollar Brain* (1967), Director
- *Don’t Shoot the Composer* (1966), Director, Producer
- *Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World* (1966), as Captain Patterson · Director, Writer
- *Russell at Work* (1966), Actor
- *Always on Sunday* (1965), Director, Scenario Writer, Producer
- *The Debussy Film* (1965), Scenario Writer, Director
- *The Diary of a Nobody* (1964), Director, Writer
- *Six* (1964), series, Writer, Director
- *Bela Bartók* (1964), Director, Screenplay
- *French Dressing* (1964), Director
- *Elgar* (1962), Director, Writer
- *Mr Chesher’s Traction Engines* (1962), Director
- *The Preservation Man* (1962), Director
- *Pop Goes the Easel* (1962), Director
- *The Lonely Shore* (1962), Director
- *London Moods* (1961), Director
- *Old Battersea House* (1961), Director
- *Walk With The Damned* (1961), as Hood
- *Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill* (1961), Director
- *Prokofiev* (1961), Director
- *Antonio Gaudí* (1961), Director
- *The Light Fantastic* (1960), Director
- *Shelagh Delaney's Salford* (1960), Director
- *A House in Bayswater* (1960), Director, Writer
- *A Bedlington Miners' Picnic* (1960), Director
- *Journey Into a Lost World* (1960), Director
- *Scottish Painters* (1959), Director
- *Portrait of a Goon* (1959), Director
- *From Spain to Streatham* (1959), Director
- *Variations on a Mechanical Theme* (1959), Director
- *Gordon Jacob* (1959), Director
- *John Betjeman: A Poet in London* (1959), Director
- *Amelia and the Angel* (1958), Director, Story, Cinematography, Writer
- *Monitor* (1958), series, Director, Writer
- *Lourdes* (1958), Director
- *Peepshow* (1956), Director
- *Knights on Bikes* (1956), Director
- *PuzzleFace*, as god

## Gallery

- ![On the set of Russell's outrageous Franz Liszt rock bio-fantasia, LISZTOMANIA (1975). Ringo plays the Pope./ The film was Russell's follow-up to his film of the (1974)](https://film.one/media/person/92976/gallery-b06d25b07321.jpg) On the set of Russell's outrageous Franz Liszt rock bio-fantasia, LISZTOMANIA (1975). Ringo plays the Pope./ The film was Russell's follow-up to his film of the (1974) — Rossano aka Bud Care, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Beatle_RINGO_Starr_%26_Director_Ken_RUSSELL_%281975%29.jpg/1280px-Beatle_RINGO_Starr_%26_Director_Ken_RUSSELL_%281975%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Ken Russell](https://film.one/media/person/92976/gallery-e31fc8793ffa.jpg) Ken Russell — DiVicenzo at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Ken_Russell_2008.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Ken Russell](https://film.one/media/person/92976/gallery-952fcdd4eb9b.jpg) Ken Russell — Image via TMDB
- ![Ken Russell](https://film.one/media/person/92976/gallery-71dcc32b484a.jpg) Ken Russell — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 1971: Best Director (nominated), for *Women in Love*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/ken-russell