Ken Russell in other people's films

Mr. Nice, 2010

Ken Russell acts in Bernard Rose's Mr. Big, but unfortunately his scene was cut from the film.  It is available on the DVD as one of the extras. Rhys Ifans stars.  As well as three sublime films Paperhouse, Candyman and Ivansxtc, Rose also directed Immortal Beloved on Beethoven, which could have been a Ken Russell film.

Brothers of the Head 2006

Siamese twins as punk rockers.  Directed by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe (who previously did the documentary Lost in La Mancha about Terry Gilliam) and starring Harry and Luke Treadaway.  This is a filming of the Brian Aldiss novel.  Ken plays appears with segments of his own attempt to film the book, Two Way Romeo.  The film starts promisingly with an image Ken Russell would be proud of- a fire engine driving by, but it is on fire.

However the film declines rapidly- the pseudo-documentary format isn't convincing.  In the DVD extras Ken says that he paid £50,000 for the rights to the novel, but didn't realise that Brian Aldiss had based his novel on living people.  So after Ken started filming Two Way Romeo, he was faced with a lawsuit from the real-life people, and Ken had to stop filming.  Brothers of the Head features scenes from Two Way Romeo.

The Moving Finger, part of an Agatha Christie Miss Maple television series from 2006.

"A spate of poison pen letters wreaks havoc on an English village. Once a place of trust, now all inhabitants are full of accusations. Who could be writing the letters and why?" (Agatha Christie official website, click here).

Miss Marple (Geraldine McEwan) is always alert.

The suicide note is a clue, but no-one seems to realise it is clearly part of a longer note.

Ken appears as the Reverend Caleb Dane Calthrop and gives a suitable performance.

At a celebration he entertains by reading Horace's Rectius Vives in Latin...

...guests are enthralled.

The typewriter used to address the envelopes is found.

Someone is in danger.

The two lovers, Jerry Burton (James D'Arcy) and Megan Hunter (Talulah Riley) eventually find each other.

The director was Tom Shankland, the editor was Tim Murrell and the director of photography was Cinders Forshaw.  The title comes from Edward FitzGerald's translation (1859) of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: "The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, / Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit / Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line. / Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it"

All images from the television episode.

Edmund Dane 2005

Ken has provides the voice-over for a short film, Edmund Dane.  The film is directed by Jenn Elliott and features Alan Gordon, Audrey Ann Meyers, Badria Abdul-Raouf and Thelma Miller.

Colour me Kubrick 2004

Victoria Russell, working on the film, obtained a cameo role for her father.  The film is a true life story of a man who pretended to be Stanley Kubrick.  The trailer for Color Me Kubrick. Ken is at the end of the trailer.  Click on the image to view it.  Thanks to Michael for the information.

Thanks to Vicky Russell for the photos which are by Nick Wall and are copyright © Nick Wall 2004.

Waking the Dead, the BBC television crime series with two episodes each an hour long per story. A British police cold cases team investigate crimes which have been dropped for lack of evidence.

In the double episode Final Cut from 2003 a body is found in  a house, but the body has been mummified.

More bodies are found and also signs of a ritual.

Ken Russell has a guest role playing Gerry Raistrick, a director involved in murder.

He becomes a suspect.

But when it gets too tough, Ken dies in a cinema watching Battleship Potemkin.  It seems a good cinema as other films include Solaris and Sunset Boulevard.

The story is over-complex with improbable events such as one of the detective having previously lived in the crime house and possibly knowing the real killer, but he is allowed to continue as an investigator on the case.

The director of the television series was Betsan Morris Evans, the writer was Stephen Davis, editor Pamela Power and cinematography by Andrei Austin and Mike Spragg.

All images from the television episodes.

Frank Stubbs Promotes, a BBC television comedy series with Timothy Spall trying to become a promoter.  He tries various fields such as skating, artists, authors etc.

In the episode Starlet Stubbs tries to enter the film world.  He finds a young trainee actress and wants to turn her into a star.

He changes her image though she is not confident in her new persona.

Stubbs sneaks into a celebrity party and tries to build up contacts, but Ken Russell and Barbara Windsor are too pre-occupied.

Emer McCourt plays the starlet, and she meets a party guest who claims to be a director (called Ken !!), played by John Gordon Sinclair from the magnificent Gregory's Girl.

Timothy Stubbs previously appeared in Ken Russell's Gothic, and Barbara Windsor in The Boyfriend.

The Director of Photography was John Kenway and the Director was Tom Cotter.  The theme music (not very notable) was by Brian May of Queen.

All images from the television episode.

"... Ken Russell has a spicy part as a busy Brit spook Soviet code expert, who walks off with supporting actor honors" (Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews, 9 Feb 2007, click here).

The Russia House with Sean Connery as Barley Blair, a publisher, and Michelle Pfeiffer as Katya with a manuscript which draws Blair into espionage.  Other actors include Roy Scheider, James Fox and Klaus Maria Brandauer.

Barley Blair of course falls for Katya.

"It takes a lot of patience to watch 'The Russia House,' but it takes even more patience to be a character in the movie. To judge by this film, the life of a Cold War spy consists of sitting for endless hours in soundproof rooms with people you do not particularly like, waiting for something to happen. Sort of like being a movie critic" (Roger Ebert, 21 Dec 1990 from his website click here).

The film benefits from location shooting in the then Soviet Union.

Ken Russell plays Walter, one of the many British and American Intelligence officers investigating Sean Connery.

"The supporting cast includes Roy Scheider, James Fox, J. T. Walsh and Ken Russell (the director), all acting like actors trying very hard to find the interesting aspects of characters who have none. They appear as intelligence and military men of various temperaments.  The only one who stands out is Mr. Russell. With his unpressed white hair and his beetling way of walking, he behaves in the busy, gadfly fashion one would expect of the man who made 'The Music Lovers', 'Tommy' and 'Salome's Last Dance.'" (Vincent Canby, 19 Dec 1990, New York Times).

Ken Russell with Sean Connery.  It is Russell's only significant acting role outside his own films.

There is an in-joke as Ken Russell playing Walter asks about Roy Scheider's character "What about Russell?"

The director was Fred Schepisi, with director of photography Ian Baker and editor Peter Honess.  The screenplay was by playwright Tom Stoppard adapting the novel by John le Carré.

All images from the film.

Walk with the Damned 1962

The imdb (Internet Movie Database) mentions a role as a hood in the 1962 film Walk with the Damned- click here.  The director is James H. Russell- no relation- his only film as a director.  Other sites give the date as 1961.

Any information is welcome.