Ken Russell  Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films in the main were liberal adaptations of existing texts, or biographies, notably of composers of the Romantic era. Russell began directing for the BBC, where he made 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 film "Women in Love" (1969), "The Devils" (1971), The Who's "Tommy" (1975), and the science fiction film "Altered States" (1980). Russell also directed several films based on the lives of classical music composers, such as Elgar, Delius, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, and Liszt. Film critic Mark Kermode, speaking in 2006, and 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. Later in his life he turned to making low-budget experimental films such as "Lion's Mouth" and "Revenge of the Elephant Man", and they are as edgy and 'out there' as ever". Russell was born in Southampton, England, on 3 July 1927, the elder of two sons of Ethel (née Smith) and Henry Russell, a shoeshop owner. His father was distant and took out his rage on his family, so Russell spent much of his time at the cinema with his mother, who was mentally ill. He cited the films "Die Nibelungen" and "The Secret of the Loch" as two early influences. He was educated at private schools in Walthamstow and at Pangbourne College, and studied photography at Walthamstow Technical College (now part of the University of East London). He harboured a childhood ambition to be a ballet dancer but instead joined the Royal Air Force and the Merchant Navy as a teenager. On one occasion he was made to stand watch in the blazing sun for hours on end while crossing the Pacific. His mentally ill captain feared an attack by Japanese midget submarines despite the war having ended. He moved into television work after short careers in dance and photography. His series of documentary 'Teddy Girl' photographs were published in "Picture Post" magazine in 1955, and he continued to work as a freelance documentary photographer until 1959.