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Savage Messiah: Ken Russell => Savage Messiah: Ken Russell => Topic started by: Iain Fisher on November 28, 2011, 10:27:37 AM
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Sadly Ken Russell has died. He passed away in his sleep at home.
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Very sad news. RIP.
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I'm not sure what more can be added, but by way of a thumbnail obituary he was an exuburant visionary and one of the best.
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Devastated.
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Underappreciated
Yes. That's because he was always smarter than his critics and most of the audiences for whom he made his films.
Bad (at times)
Yes. He even his biggest fans can admit he really did make some dreadful films.
Uninteresting
But an uninteresting film director. What? No! Never! Hardly ever! Even in his worst films, there are moments of interest worth watching. And that is why he'll be sorry missed.
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Rupert Russell on his father in The Independent, 9 Dec 2011
www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/my-father-ken-russell-the-domestic-director-6274313.html (http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/my-father-ken-russell-the-domestic-director-6274313.html)
"... Dad put movie-making at the heart of his domestic life. We lived in the Lake District, a National Park carved out of lakes and mountains in northern England. He'd filmed everything he could there; black-and-white gems in the 1960s for the BBC, the Hollywood pictures Mahler and Tommy, a television drama series on William and Dorothy Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge in the 1970s, a pop video for Cliff Richard, and DH Lawrence's The Rainbow in the 1980s. The interior of the cottage was pure production design for a Victorian period piece. A large antique organ was the centrepiece of the living room, flanked by five-foot angels on the walls. Most important were the two enormous speakers that would provide the score to our everyday domesticity. After I came home from school, we'd play with elaborate steam-train-sets he had built in a small hut. Even these toys didn't escape his cinematic imagination: they were a staple feature of his films, in Savage Messiah, The Music Lovers and others."
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Ken was cremated at Bournemouth Crematorium on 12 Dec 2011.
Glenda Jackson, Georgina Hale and Ken's wife Lisi gave the readings, Humphrey Burton gave the address and Mark Kermode led the choir.
More soon.
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"But an uninteresting film director. What? No! Never! Hardly ever! Even in his worst films, there are moments of interest worth watching".
Agreed. Would I want any film to disappear- no!!
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A memorial service, and a Viking funeral with Ken's ashes. More soon.
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Maybe of interest but my last meeting with Ken, 28 Aug 2011 (the Chichester filming of Dance of the Seven Veils).
(http://www.iainfisher.com/russell/Chichester Film Festival Iain and Ken small.gif)
Ken near right, beside wheelchair, me next but one. Am I happy to be with Ken and Lisi again?
(http://www.iainfisher.com/russell/chichester iain.gif)
Both photos by Ken's wife Lisi.
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Ken was remembered at the British BAFTA ceremony (the British Oscars) today.
(http://www.iainfisher.com/russell/ken-BAFTA.jpg)