Ken Russell, one of England's most provocative directors, was born on July 3, 1927, and attended naval school before beginning a career in photography for the Picture Post. Here, he is pictured in 1967 examining film.
A 1959 short film Russell shot impressed the BBC so much that they hired him to produce films for their "Monitor" art series. His first feature film, pictured here, was a 1969 adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love. It would earn him an Oscar nomination for Best Director.
Russell began pushing the envelope in his first film; already a controversial book in itself, Russell's Women In Love famously featured a nude wrestling scene between the two stars, Alan Bates and Oliver Reed, above.
Following Women in Love, Russell released The Music Lovers in 1970, which focuses on the life of Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The movie contains little dialogue, telling its story instead through flashbacks, nightmares and fantasy sequences set to the composer's music.
In 1971, Russell cast British supermodel Twiggy The Boy Friend, pictured here, an homage to 1920s musicals.
Russell was voted Best Director by the National Board of Review for The Boy Friend, and Twiggy won two Golden Globes for her first starring role, which would launch her nascent acting career.
Tommy's star-studded cast is enhanced by the movie's absurdity; in this scene, Tommy appears with a cult that worships Marilyn Monroe, with Eric Clapton preaching blues-solo sermons. The film and the casting are often surreal; Jack Nicholson lends one of his only singing roles to the film.
Russell cast The Who's Roger Daltrey in 1976's Lisztomania, depicting Franz Liszt as the first pop star of classical music. Posters read that "it out-Tommys 'Tommy,'" and while less successful, it featured Yes pianist Rick Wakeman as Thor, and Ringo Starr as the Pope.
Russell's Altered States, released in 1980, was his first attempt at science fiction and one of his last successful films. TIME's Richard Corliss praised the intensely sensory experience of exploring abnormal psychology, calling it the "anthology and apotheosis of American pop movies."
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