Russell regulars

The people Ken Russell has worked with.
 

Oliver Reed

Reed was a Hammer Horror star, his most famous role with them being The Werewolf. Reed says Russell rescued him from B-movies and his roles with Russell are stunning, from the early Monitor TV work (playing Debussy, Rossetti etc) to Women in Love, Tommy, The Devils and Prisoners of Honor. He makes guest appearances in Mahler and Lisztomania (playing Strauss). For his role, Gladiator, he earned a million dollars. Starring roles he turned down were Jaws and The Sting, and he was a candidate to replace Sean Connery as James Bond.

Glenda Jackson

A highly gifted actress, both on the stage and in the cinema (she is a double Oscar winner). She is now a government minister in Britain's Labour cabinet. She appeared in The Music Lovers and Women in Love, and made an uncredited but significant appearance in The Boy Friend. Later she appeared in Salome's Last Dance and The Rainbow. She had virtually no acting experience when Russell first used her.

Imogen Claire

The actress plays small roles in many Ken Russell films: Georges Sand in Lisztomania, the singer in Prisoners of Honor as well as Lair of the White Worm, Salome, The Rainbow and the Clouds of Glory tv films. She has also worked on stage, for example in Steven Berkoff´s Salome.  She died in 2005.

Max Adrian

Best known as the dying Delius in Song of Summer. His other roles with Russell included The Music Lovers, The Devils and The Boyfriend. Born in (Northern) Ireland he died in 1973. Other work included under Olivier in Henry V and the stage musical Candide by Bernstein. He appeared in the stage version of The Devils 10 years before Russell filmed it.

Judith Paris

She has worked with Russell from the 1960s to now. She appeared in Dante's Inferno, The Devils, Savage Messiah, The Rainbow, Prisoners of Honor and Lady Chatterley. She wrote and starred in a play about Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya which Russell directed.

Christopher Gable

A ballet dancer he was due to play the dancer Nijinsky but the film collapsed. Russell later brought him in as Eric Fenby, the un-dancer like youth in Song of Summer. Gable has also played in Women in Love, The Boyfriend, The Music Lovers, The Lair of the White Worm and The Rainbow. Even though he had genuine acting abilities, he remained a dancer and built up a distinguished career. He recently died of cancer.

Murray Melvin

Murray Melvin has acted for Ken Russell for 30 years. He started in British theatre and television, including Shelagh Delaney's groundbreaking play A Taste of Honey and then Tony Richardson's film adaptation- Ken Russell did a documentary about Delaney.  His early television with Russell included Diary of a Nobody and Isadora Duncan, then the films The Devils, The Boyfriend, Lisztomania and the late television Clouds of Glory and Prisoners of Honor. His other work includes his best role, the clergyman in Kubrick´s Barry Lyndon. I was fortunate enough to meet him, a friendly, open and intelligent person.  Someone asked him how old he was- he said 29 and he said he would continue to say that until he decided to move to 30.  He said he and other regular actors call themselves the "Ken Russell Repertory Company".

Graham Armitage

Acted in The Music Lovers, The Boyfriend and most spectacularly as Louis XIII in The Devils. His career continued outside films when he visited South Africa and stayed there, establishing himself as a theatre director. He died in 1999.

Georgina Hale

A British actress playing Phillipa in The Devils, Fay in The Boyfriend, Mahler's wife Alma in Mahler and guest appearances in Lisztomania and Valentino. Other films include playing a nun in Roeg´s Castaway alongside Oliver Reed and Amanda Donohoe.

Andrew Faulds

Acted in Russell's early Dante's Inferno and later on The Devils, The Music Lovers, Mahler and Lisztomania. He later became a Labour member of the British parliament, a colleague of Glenda Jackson. He died in 2000.

Christopher Logue

A long standing but occasional actor for Ken from television in Dante's Inferno through to The Devils where he was memorable as the cardinal, to Prisoners of Honor. As Ken's request he wrote the screenplay for Savage Messiah, Ken's most autobiographical film. He had not written professionally before- similar to Ken's use of amateurs in acting roles. He is now an established poet.

Vladek Sheybal

Polish born refugee and concentration camp survivor Vladek build up an acting career in television, in particular the UFO series, and films including From Russia with Love where Connery requested him personally. For Ken he was in The Debussy Film playing the director, Billion Dollar Brain, Women in Love and the Boyfriend. He died in 1992.

Kenneth Colley

Colley played Modeste in The Music Lovers, Legrand in The Devils, Chopin in Lisztomania and Dreyfus in Prisoners of Honor. Other Russell films include Mahler, The Rainbow and Arnold Bax. He also played Jesus in Life of Brian and Admiral Piett in two of the Star Wars films.

Ben Aris

A stage and film actor. His films include The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (as Southey), Savage Messiah, The Music Lovers, Tommy (as the Reverend Simpson) and Lady Chatterley. His theatre roles include Alan Bennett's latest West End play Lady in the Van.

Robert Powell

Powell's early career began in 1970 with the BBC series Doomwatch playing Toby Wren.  This early X-files type drama changed the bounds of television drama when Toby, the most popular character, did not succeed in defusing a bomb but died in the explosion.  Never again could you assume the hero was immune.  He then appeared in the cult horror film The Asphyx.  Powell's classic period included Mahler, a guest role in Tommy, and the highly praised television Jesus of Nazareth.  He married Top of the Pops dancer Babs from Pans People.

Linzi Drew 

A porn star and Page 3 girl, Drew appeared as a stripper in Russell's ABC of British Music, then in three Russell films, most memorably starring in Aria, plus minor roles in Salome and Lair.  In American Werewolf in London she is the star of the porn film showing when the final werewolf transformation takes place in a cinema. She was imprisoned for selling porn, was an editor of Penthouse magazine and has written her autobiography, which has some interesting short sections on the Russell films.