Glenda Jackson, a two-time Academy Award-winning performer who had a second career in politics as a British lawmaker before an acclaimed late-life return to stage and screen, has died at age 87.
Jackson’s agent Lionel Larner said she died Thursday at her home in London after a short illness. He said she had recently completed filming “’The Great Escaper”, in which she co-starred with 90-year-old Michael Caine.
Caine said Jackson was “one of our greatest movie actresses. I shall miss her.”
Born into a working-class family in Birkhenhead, northwest England, in 1936 Jackson trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. She performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company — where she starred in the cutting-edge drama “Marat/Sade” directed by Peter Brook — and became one of the biggest British stars of the 1960s and 70s, winning two Academy Awards, for the brooding D.H. Lawrence adaptation “Women in Love” in 1971 and the...
Jackson’s agent Lionel Larner said she died Thursday at her home in London after a short illness. He said she had recently completed filming “’The Great Escaper”, in which she co-starred with 90-year-old Michael Caine.
Caine said Jackson was “one of our greatest movie actresses. I shall miss her.”
Born into a working-class family in Birkhenhead, northwest England, in 1936 Jackson trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. She performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company — where she starred in the cutting-edge drama “Marat/Sade” directed by Peter Brook — and became one of the biggest British stars of the 1960s and 70s, winning two Academy Awards, for the brooding D.H. Lawrence adaptation “Women in Love” in 1971 and the...
- 6/15/2023
- by Melissa Romualdi
- ET Canada
Glenda Jackson, the British actress who hit the snooze bar on her acting career for a 23-year career in politics, died on Thursday, as per her representatives. During her peak years in the 1970s and 80s, she won two Oscars (and was nominated for two more) and two Emmy Awards. She was nominated for four Tony Awards, finally winning one in 2018 after a late-in-life career resurgence. She was 87 years old.
Jackson, whose father was a bricklayer and whose mother was a barmaid and domestic, studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She was told by the academy’s principal that, due to her looks, she would likely only find work as a character actress, and she shouldn’t depend on getting jobs after 40.
This proved to be the opposite of true. Her big break came when experimental theater director Peter Brook cast her in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s groundbreaking adaptation of “Marat/Sade.
Jackson, whose father was a bricklayer and whose mother was a barmaid and domestic, studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She was told by the academy’s principal that, due to her looks, she would likely only find work as a character actress, and she shouldn’t depend on getting jobs after 40.
This proved to be the opposite of true. Her big break came when experimental theater director Peter Brook cast her in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s groundbreaking adaptation of “Marat/Sade.
- 6/15/2023
- by Jordan Hoffman
- Gold Derby
Glenda Jackson in Ken Russell's Women In Love
Glenda Jackson, who made her name in films like Women In Love, Sunday Bloody Sunday and A Touch Of Class before going on to spend 23 years as Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate (later Hampstead and Kilburn), has died at the age of 87, it was announced today. The Birkenhead-born star, who won two Oscars, three Emmys and a Tony over the course of her career, made a late life return to acting and her final film, The Great Escaper, is expected to be released early next year.
A forthright woman who always put politics front and centre in her life and once described herself as an antisocial socialist, Jackson chose films which gave her the chance to address issues she felt passionate about, such as Ken Russell's The Music Lovers, which broke onscreen taboos about homosexuality and female sexual expression. Offscreen,...
Glenda Jackson, who made her name in films like Women In Love, Sunday Bloody Sunday and A Touch Of Class before going on to spend 23 years as Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate (later Hampstead and Kilburn), has died at the age of 87, it was announced today. The Birkenhead-born star, who won two Oscars, three Emmys and a Tony over the course of her career, made a late life return to acting and her final film, The Great Escaper, is expected to be released early next year.
A forthright woman who always put politics front and centre in her life and once described herself as an antisocial socialist, Jackson chose films which gave her the chance to address issues she felt passionate about, such as Ken Russell's The Music Lovers, which broke onscreen taboos about homosexuality and female sexual expression. Offscreen,...
- 6/15/2023
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Glenda Jackson, the two-time Oscar winner who walked away from a hugely successful acting career to spend nearly a quarter-century in the U.K. parliament, only to make a comeback on the stage, died Thursday. She was 87.
Jackson died peacefully after a brief illness at her home in Blackheath, London, and her family was at her side, her agent Lionel Larner said in a statement. “Today we lost one of the world’s greatest actresses, and I have lost a best friend of over 50 years,” he said.
She recently completed filming The Great Escaper opposite Michael Caine, Larner noted.
The British actress collected a slew of honors that included best actress Academy Awards for Women in Love (1969) and A Touch of Class (1973); two Emmys for her performance as Elizabeth I in the BBC miniseries Elizabeth R (a role she also played in the 1971 film Mary, Queen of Scots); and a...
Jackson died peacefully after a brief illness at her home in Blackheath, London, and her family was at her side, her agent Lionel Larner said in a statement. “Today we lost one of the world’s greatest actresses, and I have lost a best friend of over 50 years,” he said.
She recently completed filming The Great Escaper opposite Michael Caine, Larner noted.
The British actress collected a slew of honors that included best actress Academy Awards for Women in Love (1969) and A Touch of Class (1973); two Emmys for her performance as Elizabeth I in the BBC miniseries Elizabeth R (a role she also played in the 1971 film Mary, Queen of Scots); and a...
- 6/15/2023
- by Frank Scheck
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Glenda Jackson, who segued from a successful actress — Oscars for “Women in Love” and “A Touch of Class” and two Emmys for “Elizabeth R” — into a 23-year career as member of the U.K.’s House of Commons, has died. She was 87.
Jackson died after a brief illness at her home in London, her agent Lionel Larner said. “Glenda Jackson, two-time Academy Award-winning actress and politician, died peacefully at her home in Blackheath, London this morning after a brief illness with her family at her side. She recently completed filming ‘The Great Escaper’ in which she co-starred with Michael Caine,” Larner said in a statement.
Aside from her prize-winning roles, Jackson gave terrific performances in such films as 1967’s “Marat/Sade” (as Charlotte Corday), “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and on TV in “The Patricia Neal Story,” a 1981 work about that actress’s stroke and recovery with husband Roald Dahl. A defining role in...
Jackson died after a brief illness at her home in London, her agent Lionel Larner said. “Glenda Jackson, two-time Academy Award-winning actress and politician, died peacefully at her home in Blackheath, London this morning after a brief illness with her family at her side. She recently completed filming ‘The Great Escaper’ in which she co-starred with Michael Caine,” Larner said in a statement.
Aside from her prize-winning roles, Jackson gave terrific performances in such films as 1967’s “Marat/Sade” (as Charlotte Corday), “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and on TV in “The Patricia Neal Story,” a 1981 work about that actress’s stroke and recovery with husband Roald Dahl. A defining role in...
- 6/15/2023
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
From The Video Archives Podcast, writer/director Roger Avary and writer/producer Gala Avary discuss a few of their favorite movies with Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Taxi Driver (1976)
Star Wars (1977)
Matinee (1993)
Dune (1984)
Terror On A Train a.k.a. Time Bomb (1953)
Licorice Pizza (2021)
Batman (1989)
Yentl (1983)
Nuts (1987)
Spaceballs (1987)
Die Hard (1988)
Top Gun (1986)
Cocksucker Blues (1972)
Mijn nachten met Susan, Olga, Albert, Julie, Piet & Sandra (1975)
Straw Dogs (1971)
The Godfather (1972)
A History Of Violence (2005)
Day Of The Dolphin (1973)
Babylon (2022)
Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (2022)
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (2022)
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979)
Carrie (1976)
Indictment: The McMartin Trial (1995)
Blow Out (1981)
The Matrix (1999)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Killing Zoe (1993)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Tenant (1976)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Bugsy Malone (1976)
Phantom Of The Paradise (1974)
The Muppet Movie (1979)
The Rules Of Attraction (2002)
The Sound Of Music (1965)
Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971)
Giant (1956)
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Babe (1995)
Time Bandits...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Taxi Driver (1976)
Star Wars (1977)
Matinee (1993)
Dune (1984)
Terror On A Train a.k.a. Time Bomb (1953)
Licorice Pizza (2021)
Batman (1989)
Yentl (1983)
Nuts (1987)
Spaceballs (1987)
Die Hard (1988)
Top Gun (1986)
Cocksucker Blues (1972)
Mijn nachten met Susan, Olga, Albert, Julie, Piet & Sandra (1975)
Straw Dogs (1971)
The Godfather (1972)
A History Of Violence (2005)
Day Of The Dolphin (1973)
Babylon (2022)
Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (2022)
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (2022)
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979)
Carrie (1976)
Indictment: The McMartin Trial (1995)
Blow Out (1981)
The Matrix (1999)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Killing Zoe (1993)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Tenant (1976)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Bugsy Malone (1976)
Phantom Of The Paradise (1974)
The Muppet Movie (1979)
The Rules Of Attraction (2002)
The Sound Of Music (1965)
Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971)
Giant (1956)
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Babe (1995)
Time Bandits...
- 2/28/2023
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Returning to Cannes a year after his feverish drama “Petrov’s Flu” hit the Croisette, Kirill Serebrennikov can finally attend the festival in person after recently being free from years of house arrest. Debuting in competition, his latest offering, “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” is a slow-burn historical drama that never manages to escape from being a bore despite its seemingly intriguing premise.
As opposed to channeling all of his energy into making a project entirely focused on the life and career of famed 19th-century Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky — “The Music Lovers” already exists for that — Serebrennikov instead, as the title suggests, puts all the attention on Antonina Miliukova, a music student who becomes fully consumed with her affections for Tchaikovsky and eventually marries him.
Continue reading ‘Tchaikovsky’s Wife’ Review: Kirill Serebrennikov’s Historical Melodrama Is a Repetitive Tale Of A Toxic Marriage [Cannes] at The Playlist.
As opposed to channeling all of his energy into making a project entirely focused on the life and career of famed 19th-century Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky — “The Music Lovers” already exists for that — Serebrennikov instead, as the title suggests, puts all the attention on Antonina Miliukova, a music student who becomes fully consumed with her affections for Tchaikovsky and eventually marries him.
Continue reading ‘Tchaikovsky’s Wife’ Review: Kirill Serebrennikov’s Historical Melodrama Is a Repetitive Tale Of A Toxic Marriage [Cannes] at The Playlist.
- 5/18/2022
- by Jihane Bousfiha
- The Playlist
The Cannes Film Festival has been careful to steer clear of Russian participation this year, barring “official Russian delegations” and “anyone linked to the Russian government” and also declining to credential many Russian journalists. That puts a clear focus on director Kirill Serebrennikov, whose “Tchaikovsky’s Wife” is the only Russian film in the festival’s official selection.
And when you consider that Serebrennikov had publicly criticized Vladimir Putin’s government in the past and had been placed under house arrest on what some say were trumped-up fraud charges, you’d figure that his presence in the festival probably means that he’s bringing a film that wags a finger at the country where he no longer lives.
But instead, “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” which premiered on Wednesday as part of the festival’s Main Competition, is set in the late 19th century, toward the end of a different Russian empire, which means...
And when you consider that Serebrennikov had publicly criticized Vladimir Putin’s government in the past and had been placed under house arrest on what some say were trumped-up fraud charges, you’d figure that his presence in the festival probably means that he’s bringing a film that wags a finger at the country where he no longer lives.
But instead, “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” which premiered on Wednesday as part of the festival’s Main Competition, is set in the late 19th century, toward the end of a different Russian empire, which means...
- 5/18/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
With Ken Russell’s madly over-the-top The Music Lovers reassuringly tucked in dusty attic corners after 52 years, a fresh and notably inspired take on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s fraught marriage arrives in the churningly emotional and visually rich Tchaikovsky’s Wife.
Director Kirill Serebrennikov, whose most recent films were Leto and Petrov’s Flu, is currently in exile from his homeland following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Additional ill will at home surrounding the prominent theater and opera director’s new work stems from its exploration of the composer’s gay leanings, an officially taboo subject locally but one that will stir interest among significant audiences internationally.
By all accounts, Tchaikovsky’s intimate life was fraught, complicated and likely rooted in a need to at least appear to adhere to convention. Almost at once, the film pulls you into to swirl of musically driven movement, emotional instability and highly focused desire...
Director Kirill Serebrennikov, whose most recent films were Leto and Petrov’s Flu, is currently in exile from his homeland following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Additional ill will at home surrounding the prominent theater and opera director’s new work stems from its exploration of the composer’s gay leanings, an officially taboo subject locally but one that will stir interest among significant audiences internationally.
By all accounts, Tchaikovsky’s intimate life was fraught, complicated and likely rooted in a need to at least appear to adhere to convention. Almost at once, the film pulls you into to swirl of musically driven movement, emotional instability and highly focused desire...
- 5/18/2022
- by Todd McCarthy
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s hard to imagine that anyone could make another movie about 19th century Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky that’s as febrile and virtuosic as Ken Russell’s “The Music Lovers,” but dissident filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov — freshly released from his Putin-ordered house arrest, but still awaiting trial on ludicrous charges of fraud — has risen to the challenge with his usual aplomb, orchestrating
Then again, Serebrennikov’s film isn’t really about the mercurial gay man who wrote “Swan Lake.” As you might be able to deduce from its title, the morbidly opulent “Tchaikovsky’s Wife” is more interested in the obsessive music student who married him. Social conventions of the time are sufficient to explain how Antonina Miliukova remained oblivious to — or in semi-denial of — her husband’s unyielding sexual orientation (even after he set his bed on fire in order to get her out of it), but Serebrennikov...
Then again, Serebrennikov’s film isn’t really about the mercurial gay man who wrote “Swan Lake.” As you might be able to deduce from its title, the morbidly opulent “Tchaikovsky’s Wife” is more interested in the obsessive music student who married him. Social conventions of the time are sufficient to explain how Antonina Miliukova remained oblivious to — or in semi-denial of — her husband’s unyielding sexual orientation (even after he set his bed on fire in order to get her out of it), but Serebrennikov...
- 5/18/2022
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Back when art-house movies played full-time in art houses, “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” at least on paper, might have seemed a film of middlebrow commercial hooks — the sort of movie that would have slipped into the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in New York and played there comfortably for a month or so. The first hook, of course, is Tchaikovsky himself, the Russian composer who created works of such timeless and popular beauty that he is always in danger, in an odd way, of being underrated, like the Spielberg of longhairs. Tchaikovsky’s short-lived marriage, to Antonina Miliukova, was both a disaster and a semi-scandal, but the time now feels ripe for a rediscovery of this tragic episode, which hinged on Tchaikovsky’s homosexuality and the fact that he agreed to marry as a desperate closeted strategic ploy. That the late 19th century was a time when even an artist of his magnitude could not live openly,...
- 5/18/2022
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Alyona Mikhailova is tremendous as estranged wife Antonina, whose naivety and narcissism fester in the rubble of her marriage to the gay composer
Writer-director Kirill Serebrennikov brings his intense sympathies to the unhappy figure of Antonina Miliukova, estranged wife of composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky, in a part once taken by Glenda Jackson in Ken Russell’s 1971 film The Music Lovers. Serebrennikov’s movie imagines Antonina as selfish, fanatical, naive, narcissistic and self-indulgent, not to say antisemitic, but also as the most wronged-genius wife since Sophia Tolstoy, or, indeed, Constance Wilde.
As often in the past, this director’s film-making inhales or intuits the characteristics of its subject, and so it becomes almost oppressively hysterical and highly strung, like Antonina or Tchaikovsky himself. But the movie also becomes bizarre when it dramatises the reputation that Antonina acquired for sexual obsessiveness, with dozens of well-built naked men brought into the screen for balletic fantasy sequences.
Writer-director Kirill Serebrennikov brings his intense sympathies to the unhappy figure of Antonina Miliukova, estranged wife of composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky, in a part once taken by Glenda Jackson in Ken Russell’s 1971 film The Music Lovers. Serebrennikov’s movie imagines Antonina as selfish, fanatical, naive, narcissistic and self-indulgent, not to say antisemitic, but also as the most wronged-genius wife since Sophia Tolstoy, or, indeed, Constance Wilde.
As often in the past, this director’s film-making inhales or intuits the characteristics of its subject, and so it becomes almost oppressively hysterical and highly strung, like Antonina or Tchaikovsky himself. But the movie also becomes bizarre when it dramatises the reputation that Antonina acquired for sexual obsessiveness, with dozens of well-built naked men brought into the screen for balletic fantasy sequences.
- 5/18/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
William Hurt, who died Sunday at 71, had a look and an aura that appeared, at first, to fit all too snugly into Hollywood’s conception of what a movie star should be. Tall and broad-shouldered, with a silky shock of wheat-colored hair, his handsome features set off by a cleft chin and a faraway gaze, he was, at a glance, the quintessence of the old-fashioned Wasp he-man ideal. In movies, this sort of fellow was generally presented as a paragon of rectitude, a “strong silent type.” But there was nothing silent about William Hurt. The first time audiences encountered him, he was floating in a sensory-deprivation tank in the loony-tunes acid-head psychodrama “Altered States” (1980), and the moment he climbed out of that tank, suffused with the visions he had seen, he couldn’t stop jabbering about them.
“Altered States” had a notorious backstory that translated onscreen in a special way.
“Altered States” had a notorious backstory that translated onscreen in a special way.
- 3/14/2022
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
If 2021 has been a calvacade of bad decisions, dashed hopes, and warning signs for cinema’s strength, the Criterion Channel’s monthly programming has at least buttressed our hopes for something like a better tomorrow. Anyway. The Channel will let us ride out distended (holi)days in the family home with an extensive Alfred Hitchcock series to bring the family together—from the established Rear Window and Vertigo to the (let’s just guess) lesser-seen Downhill and Young and Innocent—Johnnie To’s Throw Down and Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons in their Criterion editions, and some streaming premieres: Ste. Anne, Lydia Lunch: The War is Never Over, and The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love.
Special notice to Yvonne Rainer’s brain-expanding Film About a Woman Who . . .—debuting in “Female Gaze: Women Directors + Women Cinematographers,” a series that does as it says on the tin—and a Joseph Cotten retro boasting Ambersons,...
Special notice to Yvonne Rainer’s brain-expanding Film About a Woman Who . . .—debuting in “Female Gaze: Women Directors + Women Cinematographers,” a series that does as it says on the tin—and a Joseph Cotten retro boasting Ambersons,...
- 11/21/2021
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Jackson returned to acting in 2016 following a 25-year hiatus.
The British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) has made UK actress Glenda Jackson the latest recipient of its honorary Richard Harris award.
She was presented the award in a private ceremony on May 11 by Josh O’Connor, her co-star in Eva Husson’s upcoming Mothering Sunday.
The award is given to an actor or actress who has contributed significantly to British films throughout their career. Previous recipients include Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Day-Lewis and most recently Kristin Scott Thomas in 2019.
Jackson won the 1971 Oscar for best actress for her leading...
The British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) has made UK actress Glenda Jackson the latest recipient of its honorary Richard Harris award.
She was presented the award in a private ceremony on May 11 by Josh O’Connor, her co-star in Eva Husson’s upcoming Mothering Sunday.
The award is given to an actor or actress who has contributed significantly to British films throughout their career. Previous recipients include Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Day-Lewis and most recently Kristin Scott Thomas in 2019.
Jackson won the 1971 Oscar for best actress for her leading...
- 5/26/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Veteran British thespian Glenda Jackson has been recognized as the latest recipient of the Richard Harris Award by the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA).
The award is conferred for outstanding contribution by an actor to the British film industry. The award was presented to her by her co-star in the upcoming film “Mothering Sunday,” Josh O’Connor.
Previous winners include Kristin Scott Thomas, Judi Dench and Vanessa Redgrave, Daniel Day-Lewis, Helena Bonham Carter, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Julie Walters, John Hurt, Emma Thompson and Jim Broadbent.
Jackson won leading actress at the BAFTA TV awards 2020 for her role in “Elizabeth is Missing” (pictured).
Jackson won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. After graduating she was soon discovered by the legendary Peter Brook for his “Theatre of Cruelty” revue, and went on to appear in plays across the West End and Broadway. In 1970, she starred as artist Gudrun Brangwen...
The award is conferred for outstanding contribution by an actor to the British film industry. The award was presented to her by her co-star in the upcoming film “Mothering Sunday,” Josh O’Connor.
Previous winners include Kristin Scott Thomas, Judi Dench and Vanessa Redgrave, Daniel Day-Lewis, Helena Bonham Carter, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Julie Walters, John Hurt, Emma Thompson and Jim Broadbent.
Jackson won leading actress at the BAFTA TV awards 2020 for her role in “Elizabeth is Missing” (pictured).
Jackson won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. After graduating she was soon discovered by the legendary Peter Brook for his “Theatre of Cruelty” revue, and went on to appear in plays across the West End and Broadway. In 1970, she starred as artist Gudrun Brangwen...
- 5/26/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Tomorrow is New Years Eve which means this cursed year is nearly up --happy 'Light at End of Tunnel Day' to you! Obviously our "year in review" festivities will continue a bit still. Plus the 2020 film year is extra long (in a way) due to the Awards Show Shenanigans of extending Oscar & Globe & so on eligibility by two months. So we won't be done with 2020 until April but at least the calendar year is concluding and the 2021 film year can also begin with Sundance in January!
Ten Highlights You Might Have Missed
• Lily James to play Pamela Anderson creative or confounding casting?
• Review: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom proved divisive amongst our readers
• Mad for Mads the Danish star gives his best performance yet in Another Round
• Riz ascends the star really delivers in Sound of Metal
• Podcast on Mank Murtada and Nathaniel talk the Best Director race
• Ann Reinking...
Ten Highlights You Might Have Missed
• Lily James to play Pamela Anderson creative or confounding casting?
• Review: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom proved divisive amongst our readers
• Mad for Mads the Danish star gives his best performance yet in Another Round
• Riz ascends the star really delivers in Sound of Metal
• Podcast on Mank Murtada and Nathaniel talk the Best Director race
• Ann Reinking...
- 12/30/2020
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Oscar-winning film composer and symphony orchestra conductor Andre Previn died Thursday at his home in Manhattan, his manager confirmed to the New York Times. He was 89.
The former enfant terrible of motion picture scoring and accomplished jazz pianist was honored with four Academy Awards. He won the first two, for best scoring of a musical picture (a category that has since been retired), for “Gigi” and “Porgy & Bess” in 1958 and 1959, respectively, while still in his 20s. He then won two for best adaptation or treatment (another retired sub-category) in 1963 and 1964 for “Irma la Douce” and “My Fair Lady,” respectively.
He later abandoned films to conduct such esteemed orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Previn’s jazz influence was pianist Art Tatum and, from the age of 12, he developed a proficiency in jazz piano, which led to his first film assignment at age 16, while still a...
The former enfant terrible of motion picture scoring and accomplished jazz pianist was honored with four Academy Awards. He won the first two, for best scoring of a musical picture (a category that has since been retired), for “Gigi” and “Porgy & Bess” in 1958 and 1959, respectively, while still in his 20s. He then won two for best adaptation or treatment (another retired sub-category) in 1963 and 1964 for “Irma la Douce” and “My Fair Lady,” respectively.
He later abandoned films to conduct such esteemed orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Previn’s jazz influence was pianist Art Tatum and, from the age of 12, he developed a proficiency in jazz piano, which led to his first film assignment at age 16, while still a...
- 2/28/2019
- by Richard Natale
- Variety Film + TV
Jason Isaacs as Dr. Volmer in A Cure for WellnessIt starts with a whispered melody. It will send frissons of familiarity, of a kind of upsetting longing for clarity. You know that song the odd English girl is singing, but you can't place it. Neither can Lockhart (Dane DeHaan, who they might have called Lockjaw, as he can barely seem to spit his words out), which is what draws him into the guts of a mystery. And it draws the film into a slithering spiral, compels us to observe an autopsy of modern horror. What half-remembered giallo fugue is Gore Verbinski spooning up for us like medicine, pinioned to our chairs like one of the zombie patients in the film’s sinister clinic? A puzzle picture, a conspiracy thriller, a kind of baroque classical nightmare, A Cure For Wellness is too sturdy, busy and sure of itself to be much of a horror film.
- 2/22/2017
- MUBI
It’s hard to think of a musical that would benefit more from a Blu-ray boost than Ken Russell’s kaleidoscopic all dancing, all singing send-up of theatrical clichés on the music hall stage, circa 1925. We’re just happy that the adorable Twiggy got to be put in a film like this, to be enjoyed forever. The Russell crowd is all aboard, led by Glenda Jackson and Murray Melvin. Gosh!
The Boy Friend
Blu-ray
The Warner Archive Collection
1971 / Color / 2:40 widescreen / 136 min. / Street Date February 21, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Twiggy, Christopher Gable, Max Adrian, Bryan Pringle, Murray Melvin, Moyra Fraser, Georgina Hale, Sally Bryant, Vladek Sheybal, Tommy Tune, Brian Murphy, Graham Armitage, Antonia Ellis, Caryl Little, Glenda Jackson.
Cinematography: David Watkin
Film Editor: Michael Bradsell
Production Design: Tony Walton
Costumes: Shirley Russell
Written by: Ken Russell from the musical by Sandy Wilson
Produced and Directed by: Ken Russell
Some...
The Boy Friend
Blu-ray
The Warner Archive Collection
1971 / Color / 2:40 widescreen / 136 min. / Street Date February 21, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Twiggy, Christopher Gable, Max Adrian, Bryan Pringle, Murray Melvin, Moyra Fraser, Georgina Hale, Sally Bryant, Vladek Sheybal, Tommy Tune, Brian Murphy, Graham Armitage, Antonia Ellis, Caryl Little, Glenda Jackson.
Cinematography: David Watkin
Film Editor: Michael Bradsell
Production Design: Tony Walton
Costumes: Shirley Russell
Written by: Ken Russell from the musical by Sandy Wilson
Produced and Directed by: Ken Russell
Some...
- 2/18/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
I’m guessing that you, just like most of us, have always had seasonal favorites when it comes to movies that attempt to address and evoke the spirit of Christmas. Like most from my generation, when I was a kid I learned the pleasures of perennial anticipation of Christmastime as interpreted by TV through a series of holiday specials, like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and even musical variety hours where the likes of Bing Crosby and Andy Williams and Dean Martin et al would sit around sets elaborately designed to represent the ideal Christmas-decorated living room, drinking “wassail” (I’m sure that’s what was in those cups) and crooning classics of the season alongside a dazzling array of guests. (We knew we were moving into a new world of holiday cheer when David Bowie joined Bing Crosby for...
- 12/20/2016
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
Sympathy for The Devils: The Suppression of Ken Russell’s Delirious, Incomparable Masterpiece
Despite the pronounced pedigree of its origins, Ken Russell’s glorious 1971 film The Devils is still mysteriously unavailable in the United States. An infamously plagued reception continues to usurp deserved attention away from its subversive content, though a growing legion of champions within the critical arena which had once sacrilegiously abandoned it has resulted in its growing recuperation.
Based, very loosely on a 1952 novel by literary giant Aldous Huxley depicting the downfall of 17th century French priest Urbain Grandier, it relates an incidence of hysteria and mob mentality run amok in the totalitarian paradigm of the Catholic Church. Russell, his project backed by none other than Warner Bros. studio itself, crafted an off-putting extravaganza of a film (shall we say, making Huxley’s text more Grandier) depicting events decried as pure blasphemy.
Wit unabashedly blunt sexual...
Despite the pronounced pedigree of its origins, Ken Russell’s glorious 1971 film The Devils is still mysteriously unavailable in the United States. An infamously plagued reception continues to usurp deserved attention away from its subversive content, though a growing legion of champions within the critical arena which had once sacrilegiously abandoned it has resulted in its growing recuperation.
Based, very loosely on a 1952 novel by literary giant Aldous Huxley depicting the downfall of 17th century French priest Urbain Grandier, it relates an incidence of hysteria and mob mentality run amok in the totalitarian paradigm of the Catholic Church. Russell, his project backed by none other than Warner Bros. studio itself, crafted an off-putting extravaganza of a film (shall we say, making Huxley’s text more Grandier) depicting events decried as pure blasphemy.
Wit unabashedly blunt sexual...
- 10/10/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
By Todd Garbarini
Update: Producer Ilya Salkind now also slated to appear.
Richard Lester’s film The Four Musketeers is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. With an all-star cast that includes Oliver Reed, Faye Dunaway, Raquel Welch, Richard Chamberlain, Michael York, and Sir Christopher Lee, the film will be shown on Tuesday, September 29th, 2015 at 7:00 pm as a special tribute to Sir Christopher as well as part of the theatre's Anniversary Classics series. Actors Richard Chamberlain and Michael York are scheduled to appear at the screening and take part in a Q & A and discussion on the making of the film.
From the press release:
Last year the Anniversary Classics series presented a successful 40th anniversary screening of The Three Musketeers, director Richard Lester's stylish and entertaining retelling of Alexandre Dumas' classic novel. Join us this year to see Lester's stirring conclusion of the tale, The Four Musketeers...
Update: Producer Ilya Salkind now also slated to appear.
Richard Lester’s film The Four Musketeers is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. With an all-star cast that includes Oliver Reed, Faye Dunaway, Raquel Welch, Richard Chamberlain, Michael York, and Sir Christopher Lee, the film will be shown on Tuesday, September 29th, 2015 at 7:00 pm as a special tribute to Sir Christopher as well as part of the theatre's Anniversary Classics series. Actors Richard Chamberlain and Michael York are scheduled to appear at the screening and take part in a Q & A and discussion on the making of the film.
From the press release:
Last year the Anniversary Classics series presented a successful 40th anniversary screening of The Three Musketeers, director Richard Lester's stylish and entertaining retelling of Alexandre Dumas' classic novel. Join us this year to see Lester's stirring conclusion of the tale, The Four Musketeers...
- 9/1/2015
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Bhubaneshwar (Odisha), Jan.20: Bhubaneshwar's century-old and famous Rajarani Temple reverberated with the rhythm of Indian classical music by eminent classicists over the weekend.
Bhubaneswar legislator A. Panda said: "The main objective is to promote Odisha's art and culture particularly, and music in particular."
Every year, the Department of Tourism organises this festival beginning from January 18 to 20 in the grounds of the magnificent Rajarani Temple.
The evening started with the Odissi vocal recital programme by an eminent singer.
The music lovers present were deeply engrossed in the superb and impeccable elaboration of different Ragas and musical patterns, clear tonal quality and musical renderings.
A.
Bhubaneswar legislator A. Panda said: "The main objective is to promote Odisha's art and culture particularly, and music in particular."
Every year, the Department of Tourism organises this festival beginning from January 18 to 20 in the grounds of the magnificent Rajarani Temple.
The evening started with the Odissi vocal recital programme by an eminent singer.
The music lovers present were deeply engrossed in the superb and impeccable elaboration of different Ragas and musical patterns, clear tonal quality and musical renderings.
A.
- 1/20/2014
- by Diksha Singh
- RealBollywood.com
Some directors deal with thoughts and emotions to drive the story forward, some directors use drama or horror. There are a number of directors who like to use the sex act or sexual overtones to propel the film on. Albeit, some are more blatant in doing this than others.
I have picked nine directors whose work has strong sexual overtones. Directors that are infamous for certain sexy films or sexy scenes. Some directors that are just pervy in everything they do.
We all enjoy a bit of sex to liven things up and here we have sex as a political statement, sex as ribaldry and a part of natural life, sex as an instrument to kill, deprave and corrupt, sex as humour and sex as art.
If you have any favourite pervy directors, please list them below!
9. Ken Russell
The late Lord Ken Russell (as I would deem him in...
I have picked nine directors whose work has strong sexual overtones. Directors that are infamous for certain sexy films or sexy scenes. Some directors that are just pervy in everything they do.
We all enjoy a bit of sex to liven things up and here we have sex as a political statement, sex as ribaldry and a part of natural life, sex as an instrument to kill, deprave and corrupt, sex as humour and sex as art.
If you have any favourite pervy directors, please list them below!
9. Ken Russell
The late Lord Ken Russell (as I would deem him in...
- 6/30/2013
- by Clare Simpson
- Obsessed with Film
The holiday shopping season is in full swing, and just in case you were hoping Walt Disney Pictures wouldn’t add to the burden on your wallet, I hate to, but have to disappoint you. With three more shopping weeks left until Christmas Day, they’ve got two new Blu-ray/DVD combos for our perusal, The Odd Life of Timothy Green and Finding Nemo, both of which were among their big early-fall releases. Of course, the Pixar entry was getting a 3D re-release after its original 2003 release, but still, it’s a notable release because now you can finally claim ownership of every Pixar feature film.
I almost feel bad for not wholeheartedly loving The Odd Life of Timothy Green, an extraordinarily sincere and earnest family film about a childless couple who, one night, discover that their wishes and prayers to become adoptive parents has come true in the form...
I almost feel bad for not wholeheartedly loving The Odd Life of Timothy Green, an extraordinarily sincere and earnest family film about a childless couple who, one night, discover that their wishes and prayers to become adoptive parents has come true in the form...
- 12/4/2012
- by Josh Spiegel
- SoundOnSight
The Wanted is facing a backlash from fans for demanding £100 a year to join their new fan club. The music lovers branded Wanted World 'money-grabbing' and a 'rip-off' because of the prices yesterday. For the amount, they are being offered exclusive content such as webchats, behind-the-scenes video and first listens to new tracks. Amy Lawson, 17, from south London, tweeted: 'Wantedworld is a money-grabbing scheme and a total rip-off, and I think it's taking advantage of fans.' Others tweeted that their British rivals One Direction and Jls give their fan club members special features free. Megan Hogg, 17, wrote: 'The only people that'll get wantedworld will be fans young enough to beg their parents or fans old enough who...
- 8/22/2012
- Monsters and Critics
The onscreen title reads Ken Russell’s Film on Tchaikovsky and The Music Lovers, to differentiate it from a Russian film released the previous year. One of Russell’s most gloriously lurid fantasias, with Richard Chamberlain and Glenda Jackson brilliant as the haunted composer and his mad nymphomaniacal wife. Despite its many memorable and even shocking sequences this musical fever dream was savaged by the critics, with Pauline herselfopining, ”You really feel you should drive a stake through the heart of the man who made it. I mean it is so vile. It is so horrible.”...
- 6/1/2012
- by Danny
- Trailers from Hell
Underground cinema proves itself a force to be reckoned with as London film clubs unite to celebrate the late British film-maker
This month film clubs across the capital will unite in tribute to one of our greatest and most controversial film-makers, Ken Russell, who died in November 2011. Over 10 days and 10 venues, Ken Russell Forever promises to be a fittingly excessive, raucous and idiosyncratic tribute, with cinemagoers able to gorge themselves on films from a career that spanned biopic, horror, musicals, documentaries, thrillers, grindhouse and more. If eyes could get indigestion, you'll be rolling yours in crushed up Rennies by the end of this rich mix.
Bringing together this ragtag group of film clubs, independent cinemas and film blogs is no small feat – and it surely marks a "moment" in the evolution of the pop-up cinema movement that has been quietly gathering steam for some time. Outfits as varied as Strange...
This month film clubs across the capital will unite in tribute to one of our greatest and most controversial film-makers, Ken Russell, who died in November 2011. Over 10 days and 10 venues, Ken Russell Forever promises to be a fittingly excessive, raucous and idiosyncratic tribute, with cinemagoers able to gorge themselves on films from a career that spanned biopic, horror, musicals, documentaries, thrillers, grindhouse and more. If eyes could get indigestion, you'll be rolling yours in crushed up Rennies by the end of this rich mix.
Bringing together this ragtag group of film clubs, independent cinemas and film blogs is no small feat – and it surely marks a "moment" in the evolution of the pop-up cinema movement that has been quietly gathering steam for some time. Outfits as varied as Strange...
- 3/12/2012
- by Ruth Jamieson
- The Guardian - Film News
Better late than never with the shill…I mean the Wow Look At All These Great Things! (And, all joking aside, I do mean that sincerely.)
We’ve finally done it. We’ve reached the end of our biggest year ever here at Trailers From Hell, a year with a lot of growing pains and a lot of triumphs. So allow me to extend some seasonal greetings to you, readers, watchers, visitors and strangers who may have just now stumbled upon our humble little site. (If you’re of the latter group, really, what took you so long?) We can only hope to keep growing the site though (please tell your friends!), and our always-amazing, never-ceasing stable of gurus only increases the realm of greatness we hope to bring you.
In the spirit of the season — that spirit being crass consumerism, of course — we thought we might direct your attention...
We’ve finally done it. We’ve reached the end of our biggest year ever here at Trailers From Hell, a year with a lot of growing pains and a lot of triumphs. So allow me to extend some seasonal greetings to you, readers, watchers, visitors and strangers who may have just now stumbled upon our humble little site. (If you’re of the latter group, really, what took you so long?) We can only hope to keep growing the site though (please tell your friends!), and our always-amazing, never-ceasing stable of gurus only increases the realm of greatness we hope to bring you.
In the spirit of the season — that spirit being crass consumerism, of course — we thought we might direct your attention...
- 12/13/2011
- by Danny
- Trailers from Hell
Dan Ireland offers his rememberance of “Uncle Ken.”
A benefit of having such an eclectic stable of gurus is that our well of experience and stories about working in the business — often with and for giants — is increasingly deep. A number of our gurus, then, have Ken Russell (who died this past weekend) stories. Bernard Rose shared such a story in 2008. And Dan Ireland remembers the man just below.
One of the great joys of my life was my wonderful association with the great, the brilliant, the bad boy of British Cinema himself, Uncle Ken Russell.
Being an early devotee of Women In Love, The Music Lovers, The Devils, The Boyfriend, Savage Messiah, Mahler, Tommy, Altered States, Crimes of Passion and just about anything he did, I once tried in vain to get him to attend a tribute that I, along with my partner Darryl Macdonald, organized at the Seattle...
A benefit of having such an eclectic stable of gurus is that our well of experience and stories about working in the business — often with and for giants — is increasingly deep. A number of our gurus, then, have Ken Russell (who died this past weekend) stories. Bernard Rose shared such a story in 2008. And Dan Ireland remembers the man just below.
One of the great joys of my life was my wonderful association with the great, the brilliant, the bad boy of British Cinema himself, Uncle Ken Russell.
Being an early devotee of Women In Love, The Music Lovers, The Devils, The Boyfriend, Savage Messiah, Mahler, Tommy, Altered States, Crimes of Passion and just about anything he did, I once tried in vain to get him to attend a tribute that I, along with my partner Darryl Macdonald, organized at the Seattle...
- 11/30/2011
- by Danny
- Trailers from Hell
Oscar-nominated maverick found inspiration for his work in music and literature
After a film career full of wild drama, gaudy conflagrations and operatic flourishes, the director Ken Russell died quietly in hospital on Sunday afternoon at the age of 84, after suffering a series of strokes. – effecting a quiet, discreet exit from the comfort of his hospital bed. "My father died peacefully," said his son Alex Verney-Elliott. "He died with a smile on his face."
Known for his flamboyant, often outrageous brand of film-making, Russell made movies that juggled high and low culture with glee and invariably courted controversy. His 1969 breakthrough, the Oscar-winning Women in Love, electrified audiences with its infamous nude wrestling scene, while 1971's The Devils – a torrid brew of sex, violence and Catholicism – found itself banned across Italy and was initially rejected by its backer, Warner Bros. His other notable films include Altered States, The Boy Friend and Tommy,...
After a film career full of wild drama, gaudy conflagrations and operatic flourishes, the director Ken Russell died quietly in hospital on Sunday afternoon at the age of 84, after suffering a series of strokes. – effecting a quiet, discreet exit from the comfort of his hospital bed. "My father died peacefully," said his son Alex Verney-Elliott. "He died with a smile on his face."
Known for his flamboyant, often outrageous brand of film-making, Russell made movies that juggled high and low culture with glee and invariably courted controversy. His 1969 breakthrough, the Oscar-winning Women in Love, electrified audiences with its infamous nude wrestling scene, while 1971's The Devils – a torrid brew of sex, violence and Catholicism – found itself banned across Italy and was initially rejected by its backer, Warner Bros. His other notable films include Altered States, The Boy Friend and Tommy,...
- 11/29/2011
- by Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
Naked wrestling, religious mania and The Who's Tommy: director Ken Russell transformed British cinema. His closest collaborators recall a fierce, funny and groundbreaking talent
Glenda Jackson
I worked with Ken on six films. Women in Love was the first time I'd worked with a director of that genius, and on a film of that size. What I remember most was the creative and productive atmosphere on set: he was open to ideas from everyone, from the clapperboard operator upwards. Like any great director, he knew what he didn't want – but was open to everything else.
As a director he never said anything very specific. He'd say, "It needs to be a bit more … urrrgh, or a bit less hmmm", and you knew exactly what he meant. I used to ask him why he never said "Cut", and he said, "Because it means you always do something different." They gave...
Glenda Jackson
I worked with Ken on six films. Women in Love was the first time I'd worked with a director of that genius, and on a film of that size. What I remember most was the creative and productive atmosphere on set: he was open to ideas from everyone, from the clapperboard operator upwards. Like any great director, he knew what he didn't want – but was open to everything else.
As a director he never said anything very specific. He'd say, "It needs to be a bit more … urrrgh, or a bit less hmmm", and you knew exactly what he meant. I used to ask him why he never said "Cut", and he said, "Because it means you always do something different." They gave...
- 11/29/2011
- by Melissa Denes, Laura Barnett
- The Guardian - Film News
Legendary British filmmaker Ken Russell, the notorious director famous for boundary-pushing films such as Women in Love, Altered States and The Devils, has died at 84 following a series of strokes.
For an artist who's been called an iconoclast, a maverick and a genius — one with a professed love for consciousness-altering drugs — Russell (born July 3, 1927) got his start in a fairly conventional manner. Following a stint in the service, Russell worked as a photojournalist to minor acclaim before going to work at the BBC as a director in 1959.
While at the BBC, Russell made a series of historical documentaries, still regarded as impressive for their impressionistic visual technique. This is the beginning of the flamboyant style that became synonymous with the name Ken Russell. Many of these television films focused on renowned composers, including Edward Elgar, Richard Strauss and Claude Debussy. Interestingly, this is subject matter Russell would return to often...
For an artist who's been called an iconoclast, a maverick and a genius — one with a professed love for consciousness-altering drugs — Russell (born July 3, 1927) got his start in a fairly conventional manner. Following a stint in the service, Russell worked as a photojournalist to minor acclaim before going to work at the BBC as a director in 1959.
While at the BBC, Russell made a series of historical documentaries, still regarded as impressive for their impressionistic visual technique. This is the beginning of the flamboyant style that became synonymous with the name Ken Russell. Many of these television films focused on renowned composers, including Edward Elgar, Richard Strauss and Claude Debussy. Interestingly, this is subject matter Russell would return to often...
- 11/28/2011
- by Theron
- Planet Fury
Director Ken Russell, best known for his movies featuring sex-starved nuns, nude male wrestling, "offensive" religious symbolism, and kaleidoscopic musical numbers, died Sunday, Nov. 27, in the United Kingdom. Russell had suffered a series of strokes. He was 84. Now hardly as remembered or admired as, say, '70s Hollywood icons Steven Spielberg, Robert Altman, or Martin Scorsese, Russell not only was — more than — their equal in terms of vision and talent, but he was also infinitely more daring both thematically and esthetically. In fact, Russell was so innovatively controversial that he was referred to as the enfant terrible of British cinema while already in his 40s and 50s. But if middle age brings out complacency and apathy in most people, its effect on Russell (born July 3, 1927, in Southampton) seems to have been the opposite. Following years of work on British television, Russell's 1969 film adaptation of D. H. Lawrence's Women in Love...
- 11/28/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The first review I ever wrote — God help me — was of a movie directed by Ken Russell, the high-trash visionary of over-the-top British psychodrama who died Sunday at 84. It was 1975, the fall of my senior year in high school, and my friends and I had gone to the opening night show of Tommy, the deluxe, star-packed big-screen version of the Who’s rock opera. (Elton John as the Pinball Wizard! Tina Turner as the Acid Queen! Ann-Margret writhing in beans and suds! Jack Nicholson leering!) I thought parts of the movie were amazing, but it had a certain jaw-dropping vulgar psychedelic shamelessness that,...
- 11/28/2011
- by Owen Gleiberman
- EW - Inside Movies
Following a series of strokes, British film director Ken Russell died on Sunday at the age of 84. Russell was famed for being experimental and flamboyant with his films which had heavily sexual overtones and often rebelled against the otherwise rigid and subdued tone used by other famed British filmmakers. It earned him the nickname 'The Fellini of the North'.
Russell first came to notice with 1967's "Billion Dollar Brain", the third film in the Michael Caine-led Harry Palmer spy drama series based on Len Deighton's books. Two years later he directed his signature film - an adaptation of Dh Lawrence's "Women In Love".
'Women' scored numerous Oscar nominations and featured the now infamous nude wrestling scene between Oliver Reed and Alan Bates that broke the taboo of full frontal male nudity on camera in a mainstream film.
That lead to numerous films in the 1970's that have since become infamous.
Russell first came to notice with 1967's "Billion Dollar Brain", the third film in the Michael Caine-led Harry Palmer spy drama series based on Len Deighton's books. Two years later he directed his signature film - an adaptation of Dh Lawrence's "Women In Love".
'Women' scored numerous Oscar nominations and featured the now infamous nude wrestling scene between Oliver Reed and Alan Bates that broke the taboo of full frontal male nudity on camera in a mainstream film.
That lead to numerous films in the 1970's that have since become infamous.
- 11/28/2011
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Though the product of his unique filmmaking eye hasn't been prominent on the big screen for many years, director Ken Russell has certainly left his mark on filmmaking with his groundbreaking adaptation D.H. Lawrence's novel Women in Love and his take on The Who's rock opera Tommy. However, we have sad news for our return from the long Thanksgiving break as The Guardian reports Russell has passed away at age 84. Russell is best known for the controversy his films stirred, especially following the male wrestling scene in Women in Love which featured full frontal male nudity, but that didn't stop Oscar nominations. The film received nominations for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography and resulted in an Oscar win for actress Glenda Jackson. Other films included such adult dramas as The Music Lovers, The Devils and Altered States. British TV personality Jonathan Ross honored Russell via Twitter calling...
- 11/28/2011
- by Ethan Anderton
- firstshowing.net
Ken Russell with Twiggy on the set of The Boyfriend (1971)
By Lee Pfeiffer
Director Ken Russell, who once seemed destined to enter his family's shoe business, has died after a series of strokes at age 84. Russell served in the British navy before using his talents as a photographer to become a documentary film maker. Once he began making major studio films, they were often steeped in controversy. Russell seemed to have little regard for whether his movies had boxoffice appeal. Instead, he focused on his own creative visions of storytelling. One of Russell's most acclaimed films, the 1970 version of D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love earned him as Oscar nomination and was both a critical and financial success. The films he made in the years after were not as well regarded. His 1971 film The Devils was considered so shocking that it has been censored and cut into various versions throughout the world.
By Lee Pfeiffer
Director Ken Russell, who once seemed destined to enter his family's shoe business, has died after a series of strokes at age 84. Russell served in the British navy before using his talents as a photographer to become a documentary film maker. Once he began making major studio films, they were often steeped in controversy. Russell seemed to have little regard for whether his movies had boxoffice appeal. Instead, he focused on his own creative visions of storytelling. One of Russell's most acclaimed films, the 1970 version of D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love earned him as Oscar nomination and was both a critical and financial success. The films he made in the years after were not as well regarded. His 1971 film The Devils was considered so shocking that it has been censored and cut into various versions throughout the world.
- 11/28/2011
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Following the sad death of director Ken Russell yesterday, James looks back at his sometimes stunning body of work...
While his best years were clearly long behind him, the passing of director Ken Russell, one of the undoubted titans of post-war British cinema, still feels like a huge loss for the world of film. Contrarian, provocateur and a lover of excess in all its forms, Russell was a filmmaker whose work was rarely restrained, seldom safe and almost always memorable, although not necessarily for the right reasons.
Despite a childhood desire to be a ballet dancer, it was as a photographer that Russell initially made his name, and it was through this route that he secured a job in 1959 within the BBC.
Working as an arts documentarian during the 1960s, Russell honed his craft, creating a series of artful, evocative films, mainly focusing on composers such as Debussy, Elgar and Strauss.
While his best years were clearly long behind him, the passing of director Ken Russell, one of the undoubted titans of post-war British cinema, still feels like a huge loss for the world of film. Contrarian, provocateur and a lover of excess in all its forms, Russell was a filmmaker whose work was rarely restrained, seldom safe and almost always memorable, although not necessarily for the right reasons.
Despite a childhood desire to be a ballet dancer, it was as a photographer that Russell initially made his name, and it was through this route that he secured a job in 1959 within the BBC.
Working as an arts documentarian during the 1960s, Russell honed his craft, creating a series of artful, evocative films, mainly focusing on composers such as Debussy, Elgar and Strauss.
- 11/28/2011
- Den of Geek
Ken Russell, who has died aged 84, was so often called rude names – the wild man of British cinema, the apostle of excess, the oldest angry young man in the business – that he gave up denying it all quite early in his career. Indeed, he often seemed to court the very publicity that emphasised only the crudest assessment of his work. He gave the impression that he cared not a damn. Those who knew him better, however, knew that he did. Underneath all the showbiz bluster, he was an old softie. Or, perhaps as accurately, a talented boy who never quite grew up.
It has, of course, to be said that he was capable of almost any enormity in the careless rapture he brought to making his films. He could be dreadfully cruel to his undoubted talent,...
It has, of course, to be said that he was capable of almost any enormity in the careless rapture he brought to making his films. He could be dreadfully cruel to his undoubted talent,...
- 11/28/2011
- by Derek Malcolm
- The Guardian - Film News
"Ken Russell, the British director whose daring and sometimes outrageous films often tested the patience of audiences and critics, has died," reports the AP. "He was 84."
"Known for a flamboyant style that was developed during his early career in television, Russell's films often courted controversy," writes Henry Barnes for the Guardian. "Women in Love, released in 1969, became notorious for its nude male wrestling scene between Alan Bates and Oliver Reed, while Tommy, his starry version of The Who's rock opera, was his biggest commercial success, beginning as a stage musical before being reimagined for the screen in 1976. But Russell fell out of the limelight in recent years, as some of his funding resources dried up and his proposed projects ever more eclectic. He returned to the public eye in 2007, when he appeared on the fifth edition of Celebrity Big Brother, before quitting the show after a disagreement with fellow contestant Jade Goody.
"Known for a flamboyant style that was developed during his early career in television, Russell's films often courted controversy," writes Henry Barnes for the Guardian. "Women in Love, released in 1969, became notorious for its nude male wrestling scene between Alan Bates and Oliver Reed, while Tommy, his starry version of The Who's rock opera, was his biggest commercial success, beginning as a stage musical before being reimagined for the screen in 1976. But Russell fell out of the limelight in recent years, as some of his funding resources dried up and his proposed projects ever more eclectic. He returned to the public eye in 2007, when he appeared on the fifth edition of Celebrity Big Brother, before quitting the show after a disagreement with fellow contestant Jade Goody.
- 11/28/2011
- MUBI
It was his third film, the Oscar-winning Women In Love, that put him on the map in 1969 and over the next two decades he helmed an extraordinary succession of dramas, comedies, and horror films with an unmistakable flamboyance that garnered him a huge cult following. Ken Russell’s most successful was his filming of The Who’s Tommy in 1975 but his series of composer biographies (The Music Lovers, Mahler, Lisztomania) were among his most acclaimed. He tried his hand at Hollywood Musicals (The Boyfriend – 1971) and horror fans will always embrace The Devils (1971), Gothic (1986), Lair Of The White Worm (1988), and the insane Altered States (1982). Ken Russell’s films used to play constantly at the Tivoli back in its’ repertory days but Russell spent the last couple of decades working primarily in British television. Russell died on Sunday following a series of strokes at age 84.
From The UK Telegraph:
Russell, known for...
From The UK Telegraph:
Russell, known for...
- 11/28/2011
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
John Bridcut on Ken Russell, a film-maker who 'resisted the facts getting in the way of his visual imagination'
The wild visual imagination of Ken Russell brought classical music to a whole new audience, and made his name notorious in respectable musical circles. His feature films about composers went straight for the jugular – sometimes almost literally, as in his blood-soaked Mahler. He loved the music, but he also loved the sex. He sold the idea of The Music Lovers on the basis that it was a story about a nymphomaniac who fell in love with a homosexual, and sure enough the film opens in a bedroom, with an unbridled romp between Richard Chamberlain as Tchaikovsky and Christopher Gable as his lover.
His films on Liszt, Debussy, Richard Strauss and Wagner all involved sexual fantasy, to the dismay and outrage of people who took the music rather more seriously. Each one made headlines,...
The wild visual imagination of Ken Russell brought classical music to a whole new audience, and made his name notorious in respectable musical circles. His feature films about composers went straight for the jugular – sometimes almost literally, as in his blood-soaked Mahler. He loved the music, but he also loved the sex. He sold the idea of The Music Lovers on the basis that it was a story about a nymphomaniac who fell in love with a homosexual, and sure enough the film opens in a bedroom, with an unbridled romp between Richard Chamberlain as Tchaikovsky and Christopher Gable as his lover.
His films on Liszt, Debussy, Richard Strauss and Wagner all involved sexual fantasy, to the dismay and outrage of people who took the music rather more seriously. Each one made headlines,...
- 11/28/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
London — Ken Russell, an iconoclastic British director whose daring films blended music, sex and violence in a potent brew seemingly drawn straight from his subconscious, has died at age 84.
Russell died in a hospital on Sunday following a series of strokes, his son Alex Verney-Elliott said Monday.
"My father died peacefully," Verney-Elliott said. "He died with a smile on his face."
Russell was a fiercely original director whose vision occasionally brought mainstream success, but often tested the patience of audiences and critics. He had one of his biggest hits in 1969 with "Women in Love," based on the book by D.H. Lawrence, which earned Academy Award nominations for the director and for writer Larry Kramer, and a "Best Actress" Oscar for the star, Glenda Jackson.
It included one of the decade's most famous scenes – a nude wrestling bout between Alan Bates and Oliver Reed.
Reed said at the time that the...
Russell died in a hospital on Sunday following a series of strokes, his son Alex Verney-Elliott said Monday.
"My father died peacefully," Verney-Elliott said. "He died with a smile on his face."
Russell was a fiercely original director whose vision occasionally brought mainstream success, but often tested the patience of audiences and critics. He had one of his biggest hits in 1969 with "Women in Love," based on the book by D.H. Lawrence, which earned Academy Award nominations for the director and for writer Larry Kramer, and a "Best Actress" Oscar for the star, Glenda Jackson.
It included one of the decade's most famous scenes – a nude wrestling bout between Alan Bates and Oliver Reed.
Reed said at the time that the...
- 11/28/2011
- by AP
- Huffington Post
The director Ken Russell has died aged 84. We look back at his most memorable moments, from The Devils to Women in Love
• Ken Russell: films in photographs
After early attempts at carving out a career as a photographer, Russell and his future wife Shirley-Ann began making short films with a fantasy/parable bent – in contrast with the socially engaged spirit of the then influential Free Cinema movement. Peep Show (1956) was a parody of silent cinema, while arguably the most striking of the shorts was Amelia and the Angel, part funded by the BFI, about a girl looking for angel's wings for a school play.
Russell's proficiency got him noticed by the BBC, and he was put to work on the arts documentary strand Monitor. He made a string of TV programmes with increasingly elaborate formats – on everything from pop art to brass bands, culminating with his epic film about Edward Elgar,...
• Ken Russell: films in photographs
After early attempts at carving out a career as a photographer, Russell and his future wife Shirley-Ann began making short films with a fantasy/parable bent – in contrast with the socially engaged spirit of the then influential Free Cinema movement. Peep Show (1956) was a parody of silent cinema, while arguably the most striking of the shorts was Amelia and the Angel, part funded by the BFI, about a girl looking for angel's wings for a school play.
Russell's proficiency got him noticed by the BBC, and he was put to work on the arts documentary strand Monitor. He made a string of TV programmes with increasingly elaborate formats – on everything from pop art to brass bands, culminating with his epic film about Edward Elgar,...
- 11/28/2011
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Ken Russell, the British director whose daring and sometimes outrageous films often tested the patience of audiences and critics, has died at age 84.
Russell died in a hospital on Sunday following a series of strokes, his son Alex Verney-Elliott said Monday.
One of Russell’s biggest successes came in 1969 with Women in Love, based on the book by D.H. Lawrence, which earned Academy Award nominations for the director and for writer Larry Kramer, and an Oscar for the star, Glenda Jackson.
Music played a central role in many of Russell’s films including The Music Lovers in 1970, and Lisztomania and Tommy in 1975.
“My father died peacefully,” Verney-Elliott said. “He had had a series of strokes. He died with a smile on his face.”...
Russell died in a hospital on Sunday following a series of strokes, his son Alex Verney-Elliott said Monday.
One of Russell’s biggest successes came in 1969 with Women in Love, based on the book by D.H. Lawrence, which earned Academy Award nominations for the director and for writer Larry Kramer, and an Oscar for the star, Glenda Jackson.
Music played a central role in many of Russell’s films including The Music Lovers in 1970, and Lisztomania and Tommy in 1975.
“My father died peacefully,” Verney-Elliott said. “He had had a series of strokes. He died with a smile on his face.”...
- 11/28/2011
- by Associated Press
- EW - Inside Movies
DVD Playhouse—November 2011
By Allen Gardner
Tree Of Life (20th Century Fox) Terrence Malick’s latest effort is both the best film of 2011 and the finest work of his (arguably) mixed, but often masterly canon. A series of vignettes, mostly set in 1950s Texas, capture the memory of a man (Sean Penn) in present-day New York who looks back on his life, and his parents’ (Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain) troubled marriage, when word of his younger brother’s suicide reaches him. Almost indescribable beyond that, except to say no other film in history so perfectly evokes the magic and mystery of the human memory, which both crystalizes (and sometimes idealizes) the past. Like Stanley Kubrick’s 2001, this is a challenging, polarizing work that you must let wash over you. If you go along for the ride, you’re in for a unique, rewarding cinematic experience. Also available on Blu-ray disc.
By Allen Gardner
Tree Of Life (20th Century Fox) Terrence Malick’s latest effort is both the best film of 2011 and the finest work of his (arguably) mixed, but often masterly canon. A series of vignettes, mostly set in 1950s Texas, capture the memory of a man (Sean Penn) in present-day New York who looks back on his life, and his parents’ (Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain) troubled marriage, when word of his younger brother’s suicide reaches him. Almost indescribable beyond that, except to say no other film in history so perfectly evokes the magic and mystery of the human memory, which both crystalizes (and sometimes idealizes) the past. Like Stanley Kubrick’s 2001, this is a challenging, polarizing work that you must let wash over you. If you go along for the ride, you’re in for a unique, rewarding cinematic experience. Also available on Blu-ray disc.
- 11/25/2011
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back," Snoop Dogg's "Drop It Like It's Hot" and Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass" were among the tunes Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon added to their "History of Rap" series on Friday night's "Late Night." The music lovers also performed Kanye West's "Stronger," LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out" and "Parents Just Don't Understand" by DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. Read more: Stephen Colbert Ends His Bromance with Jimmy Fallon (Video) Check out a clip of J.T. and J.F. unleashing "History of Rap 3," which, according...
- 10/31/2011
- by Kimberly Potts
- The Wrap
Play Dirty (1969) is a nakedly opportunistic cash-in on Robert Aldrich's The Dirty Dozen (1967), produced by James Bond bankroller Harry Saltzman, but somewhere something went wrong and some actual filmmaking quality and wit and energy got into the mix. When star Michael Caine signed up for the ride, he thought he was getting René Clement as director, and was disappointed to be saddled with Hungarian cyclops André de Toth. Hard to see why, except that de Toth was tough to work with, and I guess by 1969 his name carried far less cache than the fashionable Clement. De Toth had just produced The Billion Dollar Brain, Saltzman's third Harry Palmer film with Caine, directed in inimitable style by Ken Russell. Here, more or less forced back into the director's chair, he adopts a notably unsentimental style, aided by screenwriters Melvyn Bragg (The Music Lovers) and an uncredited John McGrath (Bragg's collaborator...
- 3/31/2011
- MUBI
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