(Henry)Ken(neth)(Alfred)Russell was born in Southampton on July 3rd, 1927.
After serving in the Merchant Navy and the RAF, he worked as an actor and dancer. In the 50's he found success as a photographer.
From there he went to work for the BBC on the Arts programme: Monitor where he made Elgar (1962) which put him on the film-making map!
In 1963 his first feature film French Dressing flopped so he returned to television where he amazed us all with: The Debussy Film (1965); Isadora Duncan: The Biggest Dancer in the World (1966) and Song of Summer (1968) before shocking 'them' with the still banned Dance of the Seven Veils: A Comic Strip in Seven Episodes on the Life of Richard Strauss (1970).
Then - cue music - he stunned the world and changed lives with a string of masterpieces starting with Women in Love (1969) for which he was nominated for his only Oscar and sallied forth with The Music Lovers (1970) and, his crowning glory The Devils (1971) which still causes uproar to this very day and still isn't officially released on DVD!
Besides many other TV films and Operas his films include The Boyfriend; Savage Messiah; Mahler; Tommy; Lisztomania; Valentino; Altered States; Crimes of Passion; Gothic; Lair of the White Worm; The Rainbow and Whore. 2007 ushered in Ken's 80th year on earth!
The BFI (South Bank) in London held a month long event in July showing many of his early TV films. There was an exhibition of his 1950's photos 'Lost London Rediscovered' at the Proud Gallery, London which showed us more of Ken's genius!
The Master has just finished a 5-minute short called 'A Kitten fur Hitler' which can seen at ComedyBox. Also, 'Boudica Bites Back!' a 20 minute musical has just been filmed with help from film students in Wales last autumn. Two excerpts can be viewed online.
