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."
2025
as (archival footage)
2022
as Self (archive footage)
2012
as Self
2012
as Self (archive footage)
2012
2010
as Russell Miegs
2010
2009
as Roman Senator
2007
as Santa
2007
as Self (archive footage)
2006
as Self
2006
as Dr. Lucy (segment "The Girl with Golden Breasts")
2006
as Himself
2005
as The Man In Nightgown
2004
as Rev Caleb Dane Calthrop
2004
2002
as Self
2002
as Narrator (voice)
2002
as Dr. Calahari
2001
as Gerry Raistrick
2001
as Self
2000
as Self
2000
as Ken
1997
as Himself
1996
as Self
1996
1995
as Self
1995
as Self
1995
as Mr. Kirsch
1993
as Self
1993
as Sir Michael Reid
1992
as Sir Arnold Bax
1991
as Waiter (uncredited)
1990
as Walter
1990
1989
1988
as Police Radio (voice) (uncredited)
1988
as Cappadocian
1988
as Himself
1987
1986
as Tourist
1986
as Self
1983
as Self
1979
1978
as Self
1977
as Rex Ingram (uncredited)
1975
as Cripple (uncredited)
1972
as Passenger getting off train in station (uncredited)
1968
as Priest
1966
as Himself
1966
as Captain Patterson
1966
1961
as Hood
as god