ORBITRA
Ken Russell

Directing

Ken Russell

Jul 3, 1927 – Nov 27, 2011119 titles 108 movies · 11 TV
Explore orbit
IMDb

Biography

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."

Also known as

Alfred Russell · Alf Russell

Born

Jul 3, 1927 – Nov 27, 2011

Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK

Open in OpenStreetMap

Photos

Profile images from TMDB · click to enlarge

3 images

Roles across career

Titles counted once; a person can act and direct on the same film (roles merged).

60

Acting credits

86

Directing

44

Writing

20

Other crew

Most critically rated

Highest TMDB score (min 100 votes)

Most commercially successful

Highest TMDB vote count (attention / reach proxy; not box office)

Career timeline

By release / first air year · movie & TV merged

Orbit ↑

1956 2 title(s)

1958 2 title(s)

1959 6 title(s)

1960 5 title(s)

1961 6 title(s)

1962 5 title(s)

1964 4 title(s)

1965 2 title(s)

1966 3 title(s)

1967 3 title(s)

1968 1 title(s)

1969 1 title(s)

1970 1 title(s)

1971 4 title(s)

1972 1 title(s)

1974 1 title(s)

1975 2 title(s)

1977 1 title(s)

1978 2 title(s)

1979 1 title(s)

1980 1 title(s)

1983 1 title(s)

1984 2 title(s)

1985 1 title(s)

1986 1 title(s)

1987 3 title(s)

1988 3 title(s)

1989 3 title(s)

1990 4 title(s)

1991 3 title(s)

1992 2 title(s)

1993 2 title(s)

1995 5 title(s)

1996 3 title(s)

1997 1 title(s)

1998 1 title(s)

2000 2 title(s)

2001 2 title(s)

2002 3 title(s)

2003 2 title(s)

2004 2 title(s)

2005 2 title(s)

2006 4 title(s)

2007 3 title(s)

2009 1 title(s)

2010 2 title(s)

2012 3 title(s)

2016 1 title(s)

2022 1 title(s)

2025 1 title(s)

Undated 1 title(s)