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Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films were mainly liberal adaptations of existing texts, or biographies, notably of composers of the Romantic era. Russell began directing for the BBC, where he made creative adaptations of composers' lives which were unusual for the time. He also directed many feature films independently and for studios.
The Wednesday Play is an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramatic adaptations of fiction also featured. The series gained a reputation for presenting contemporary social dramas, and for bringing issues to the attention of a mass audience that would not otherwise have been discussed on screen.
Kenneth Colley is an English film and television actor whose career spans over 60 years. He came to wider prominence through his role as Admiral Piett in the Star Wars films The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983).
Sir Huw Pyrs Wheldon, was a Welsh broadcaster and BBC executive.
Sir Humphrey McGuire Burton is an English classical music television presenter, broadcaster, director, producer, impresario, lecturer and biographer of musicians. Burton was knighted in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to classical music, the arts and the media.
Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World is a BBC Television film based on the life of the American dancer Isadora Duncan first broadcast on 22 September 1966. The film was directed and produced by Ken Russell and written by Sewell Stokes and Russell. It starred Vivian Pickles and Peter Bowles.
Shirley Ann Russell was a British costume designer. She has been nominated two times, for Agatha (1979) and Reds (1981), for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design.
Lady Chatterley is a 1993 BBC television serial starring Sean Bean and Joely Richardson. It is an adaptation of D. H. Lawrence's 1928 novel Lady Chatterley's Lover, first broadcast on BBC1 in four 55-minute episodes between 6 and 27 June 1993. A young woman's husband returns wounded after the First World War. Facing a life with a husband now incapable of sexual activity she begins an affair with the groundskeeper. The film reflects Lawrence's focus not only on casting away sexual taboos, but also the examination of the British class system.
Monitor is a British arts television programme that was launched on 2 February 1958 on BBC and ran until 1965.
French Dressing is a 1964 British comedy film directed by Ken Russell and starring James Booth, Marisa Mell and Roy Kinnear. Its plot concerns a deckchair attendant in the run-down seaside resort of Gormleigh-on-Sea who is promoted to publicity officer. In an effort to drum up interest in the town he organises a film festival and invites a major French film star. The event is soon thrown into chaos by the machinations of jealous mayors from rival towns.
David Edward Rose was a British television producer and commissioning editor.
Kenneth Charles Loach is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialism are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty, homelessness, and labour rights.
The Debussy Film: Impressions of the French Composer is a 1965 British television film about Claude Debussy. It was written by Melvyn Bragg and Ken Russell, with Russell directing.
Always on Sunday is a 1965 British television film directed by Ken Russell about Henri Rousseau. It was written by Russell and Melvyn Bragg for the Monitor series. Russell's first fully dramatised biopic, the narrator was Oliver Reed.
Dance of the Seven Veils is a 1970 British television film about German composer Richard Strauss. The film, which was directed by Ken Russell, was only screened once by the BBC. After it was condemned for its gratuitous sex scenes and the depiction of the composer as a Nazi sympathiser, the Estate of Richard Strauss took out a legal injunction banning the use of the composer's music on the film's soundtrack. In February 2020, with the expiration of the composer's copyright after more than 70 years since Strauss died, the film was shown at a special screening event in Cumbria, England hosted by Ken Russell's widow.
The Secret Life of Arnold Bax is a 1992 British TV movie directed by Ken Russell, who also stars in the title role as composer Arnold Bax. It was one of eight musical drama documentaries directed by Russell for The South Bank Show on London Weekend Television between 1983 and 2002. The film focuses on the composer's complicated relationship with pianist Harriet Cohen while at the same time seeking inspiration for his music from the dancer Annie. As with all of Russell's films on composers the drama serves as a showcase for the music. Set in 1948, when the film Oliver Twist had just been released, the film mostly uses earlier compositions such as The Garden of Fand, Tintagel and the Symphony No 2 as its soundtrack. Lewis Foreman was musical adviser.
Ken Russell's ABC of British Music is a 1988 British documentary directed by and featuring Ken Russell. It was broadcast as an edition of The South Bank Show on 2 April 1988. The film presents an A to Z selection of Russell's musical enthusiasms, using alphabetical coincidence to present widely contrasting subjects - Elgar and Elton John, Holst and Heavy Metal, Punk and Purcell. Participants include Russell himself introducing each letter, along with soprano Rita Cullis, Thomas Dolby, Evelyn Glennie, Nigel Kennedy, John Lill, Julian Lloyd Webber, Eric Parkin and the saxophone quartet The Fairer Sax.
Bartok is a 1964 British television film about Béla Bartók. It was directed by Ken Russell.
Elgar: Fantasy on a Composer on a Bicycle is a 2002 British documentary film by Ken Russell, who had directed the film Elgar about the composer for the television series Monitor 40 years earlier.
Gordon Jacob is a 1959 British short film about Gordon Jacob from Ken Russell for the Monitor television series. It was Russell's first biopic of a composer.
References
- ↑ Ken Russell
- 1 2 Platt, Russell (29 November 2011). "Ken Russell: The Rare Director Who Understood Musical Greatness". The New Yorker.
- 1 2 TELEVISION An edifying Elgar: Ken Russell revisited JOHN HASLETT CUFF. The Globe and Mail9 Jan 1995: C.1.
- ↑ The Eisenstein file: LEE LANGLEY describes Ken Russell's work on the Deighton thriller, "Billion Dollar Brain" Langley, Lee. The Guardian 26 Oct 1967: 8.
- ↑ BRIEFING/WHO & WHY: Fruitful beldame The Observer 26 June 1966: 23.
- ↑ TRAPPED on BBC-1 Crogier, Mary. The Guardian 27 June 1966: 9.
