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Ken Russell actor



Ken Russell in other people's films

Mr. Nice, 2010

Ken Russell in Mr. Nice

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

Brothers in the Head

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.

Brothers in the Head

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.

Ken Russell in Brothers of the Head




Ken Russell - Agatha Christie Marple - The Moving Finger  Ken Russell - Agatha Christie Marple - The Moving Finger - title

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).

Ken Russell - Agatha Christie Marple - The Moving Finger - poison pen letter

Ken Russell - Agatha Christie Marple - The Moving Finger

Geraldine McEwan - Agatha Christie Marple - The Moving Finger

Miss Marple (Geraldine McEwan) is always alert.

Imogen Stubbs - Agatha Christie Marple - The Moving Finger

Ken Russell - Agatha Christie Marple - The Moving Finger

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

Ken Russell - Agatha Christie Marple - The Moving Finger

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

Ken Russell - Agatha Christie Marple - The Moving Finger

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

Ken Russell - Agatha Christie Marple - The Moving Finger

...guests are enthralled.

Ken Russell - Agatha Christie Marple - The Moving Finger - envelope

Ken Russell - Agatha Christie Marple - The Moving Finger - typewriter

The typewriter used to address the envelopes is found.

Someone is in danger.

Jerry Burton - Agatha Christie Marple - The Moving Finger  Talulah Riley - Agatha Christie Marple - The Moving Finger

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

Ken Russell - Agatha Christie Marple - The Moving Finger - credit

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

Edmund Dane

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

Color me Kubrick

Victoria Russell, working on the film, got 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.

Ken Russell Colour me Kubrick   Colour me Kubrick Ken Russell

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



Ken Russell - Final Cut - Waking the Dead - title

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.

Ken Russell - Final Cut - Waking the Dead - Crime Scene

Ken Russell - Final Cut - Waking the Dead -body

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

Ken Russell - Final Cut - Waking the Dead - Crime Scene

More bodies are found and also signs of a ritual.

Ken Russell - Final Cut - Waking the Dead

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

Ken Russell - Final Cut - Waking the Dead

He becomes a suspect.

Ken Russell - Final Cut - Waking the Dead

Ken Russell - Final Cut - Waking the Dead - cinema

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.





Sean Connery - The Russia House

"... 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.

Sean Connery - The Russia House

Sean Connery - Michelle Pfeifer - The Russia House

Sean Connery - Michelle Pfeifer - The Russia House

Barley Blair of course falls for Katya.

Ken Russell - The Russia House

"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).

Ken Russell - The Russia House

Ken Russell - The Russia House

Ken Russell - The Russia House

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

Ken Russell - The Russia House

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 - Sean Connery - The Russia House

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

Ken Russell - Sean Connery - The Russia House

Ken Russell - The Russia House

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

Ken Russell - The Russia House - credit

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

Ken Russell - Walk with the Damned

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.

Ken Russell - Walk with the Damned

Any information is welcome.



Being himself - documentaries



Ken Russell - Celebrity Big Brother - logo

Celebrity Big Brother, the reality television series from 2007.  A group of people are locked in a house and filmed non-stop every day.  Ken Russell appeared with Jermaine Jackson of the Jackson Five, singer Leo Sayer, Jo O'Meara of S Club 7, Donny Tourette of the band Towers of London, Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty (who became the winner), journalist Carole Malone (who was on Celebrity Fit Club), Ian H. Watkins of the band Steps, Cleo Rocos (of Kenny Everett fame), Dirk Benedict the television actor (The A Team and Galactica) and former Miss England Danielle Lloyd.

Ken Russell - Celebrity Big Brother

Ken Russell - Celebrity Big Brother

Ken was entertaining with his stories of filming, but soon walked out. He was sensible, as the show soon degenerated into very public racism.

All images from the television series.


Turning Points 2000

Turning Point

A series of shorts where people talk of the turning point in their life.  Ken's is when his first film for the BBC was accepted.  There is an interview and excerpts from Amelia and the Angel.  It is very good, with Ken talking of his life as a very young child then as a young adult- typically the period between is skipped.  Directed by Michael Le Moignan and Dean Arnett of Fly By Night Film Company for the BBC


Felicity Kendal: A Passage from India 2001

A tribute to Felicity Kendal, whose was Dorothy Wordsworth in the two Clouds of Glory films.  She was also in Valentino.  As well as Russell, the documentary includes Melvyn Bragg and Ishmail Merchant.  The director was Angela O´Leary.


Carry on Darkly 1998

A documentary about the main actors of the British "Carry on..." series of comedy films.  Ken worked with one of their stars, Barbara Windsor, on The Boyfriend.  Directed by Paul Gallagher.


Great Composers 1997

Great Composers Ken appears in the segment on Mahler directed by Kriss Russman.  "He lived in this world of amazing sounds that no-one had ever heard before and anything- whatever it was, a child crying or a bird singing- would set him off".  Russell wears a Dogboys hat.  The imagery of the film shows various influences from Ken's Mahler film. Ken Russell

A History of British Art 1996

 History of British Art

Andrew Graham-Dixon's six part assessment of British art for the BBC.



Ken Russell I Camcorder 

I-Camcorder, an educational series for Channel 4 in 1995.  Russell gives advice about filming a wedding.  The director is Vic Finch and Robert Llewellyn of Red Dwarf gives the commentary, 1995.

Ken Russell I Camcorder

Note the car registration.

Ken Russell I Camcorder

The programme is just under 90 minutes and covers all aspects of camcorders.  Ken is in the section filming a wedding.

Ken Russell I Camcorder

Ken gives tips on using the camcorder, and is one of the two cameramen filming the wedding.

Ken Russell I Camcorder

Children just before the wedding.

Ken Russell I Camcorder

Ken Russell I Camcorder

Ken directing and giving advice: "If you have a long shot you should never cut the feet off"

Ken Russell I Camcorder

The happy newly-wed.

Ken Russell I Camcorder

All images from the television episode.



Ken Russell Empire of the Censors

Empire of the Censors, a documentary from 1995 on the influences of the film censor on film and television.  Two parts, directed by Saskia Baron for the BBC.

Ken Russell - Empire of the Censors - The Cheese Mites

The documentary states around 10% of films in the UK were cut.  The first film to be banned was The Cheese Mites (above), a short documentary about bacteria in cheese from 1903.

Censorship focused on religion and nudity, then horror and then political issues.

Ken Russell Empire of the Censors

Interviews with lots of directors, including Ken Russell "The censor has a different perception, it's what turns him on that he's trying to change".  Women in Love with the nude wrestling scene made it through the censor with minor changes, but The Devils was more difficult.  Critic Alexander Walker says of Russell the "abnormal interest the director took in pain and sadism" (he is equally dismissive of Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs).  Russell says of The Devils "religion was the theme of the film, it was the exploitation of religion".

Ken Russell Empire of the Censors

Ken's letter to the censor detailing cuts he has made and hopes there will be little further censorship "at best there can only be a couple of shots in question".

Ken Russell Empire of the Censors

Other director include Polanski- Repulsion passed because it was artistic and not likely to be seen by large numbers of people, whereas Rosemary's Baby was treated harsher.  Bertolucci talks of Last Tango in Paris.

All images from the film.


Music for the Movies: Georges Delerue 1994

The film composer Georges Delerue.  Interviews with directors including Ken "Dialogue, forget it, its music and pictures and god bless you Georges Delerue for giving us directors a helping hand." 60 minutes.  Directed by Jean-Louis Comolli.


Ken Russell - Citizen Kane a Critical Analysis

Citizen Kane: A Critical Analysis from 1991. A 30 minute assessment of Orson Welles' epic Citizen Kane.  Film critic Robert McKee, Raymond Carney and Ken Russell discuss the film.



The Kids are Alright 1979

A documentary about The Who with film footage and interviews.  The reissue in 2004 is exceptionally good with enhanced film and sound and a lot of extras.  Ken has a short, not too interesting, appearance.

Ken Russell The Kids are Alright



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