Russ Meyer
Encyclopedia
Russell Albion "Russ" Meyer (March 21, 1922 – September 18, 2004) was a U.S.
motion picture
director
, producer
, screenwriter
, cinematographer
, editor
, actor
and photographer.
Meyer is known primarily for writing and directing a series of successful low-budget sexploitation
films that featured campy humor, sly satire and large-breasted women.
to William Arthur Meyer, a German-American police officer, and his wife Lydia Lucinda Hauck. His parents divorced shortly after he was born, and Meyer was to have virtually no contact with his father during his life. When he was fourteen years old, his mother pawned her wedding ring in order to buy him an 8mm film camera. He made a number of amateur film
s at the age of 15, and served during World War II
as a U.S. Army
combat cameraman for the 166th Signal Photo Company. In the Army Meyer forged his strongest friendships, and he would later ask many of his fellow combat cameramen to work on his films. Much of Meyer's work during World War II
can be seen in newsreels and in the film Patton
(1971). On his return to civilian life, he was unable to secure cinematography work in Hollywood due to a dearth of industry connections. He made industrial films
, freelanced as a still photographer for mainstream films (he did the still photography for Giant), and became a well known glamour photographer whose work included some of the initial shoots for Hugh Hefner
's Playboy
magazine. Meyer would go on to shoot three Playboy centerfold
s during the magazine's early years, one of his wife Eve Meyer
in 1955. He also shot a pictorial of then-wife Edy Williams
in March 1973.
(1959), cost $24,000 to produce and eventually grossed more than $1,000,000 on the independent/exploitation circuit, ensconcing Meyer as "King of the Nudies." Over the next decade, he made nearly 20 movies with a trademark blend of odd humor, huge-breasted starlets and All-American sleaze, including such notable films as Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
(1965) and Vixen!
(1968). Russ Meyer was a true auteur who wrote, directed, edited, photographed and distributed all his own films. He was able to finance each new film from the proceeds of the earlier ones, and became very wealthy in the process. Unlike many independent directors of his era, he chose to cast actresses like Shari Eubank
or Cynthia Myers
who were considered extremely beautiful and wholesome.
Meyer's output can be divided into several eras. Earlier works like The Immoral Mr. Teas, Eve and the Handyman, and the Western-themed Wild Gals of the Naked West were stylistically similar to the nudie cutie fare of the era, though separated from the pack by their superior color cinematography. 1964's Lorna
saw the ever-economical director revert to black-and-white; with this change came a greater emphasis on storyline, almost theatrical violence, domineeringly psychosexual women, and their insipid male counterparts. The "Gothic" period (as it was termed by Meyer) reached its apex with the commercially underwhelming Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
, which would eventually be reclaimed as a cult classic. It has a following all over the world and has inspired countless imitations, music videos and tributes.
After producing the popular mockumentary
Mondo Topless
(1966) with the remnants of his production company's assets and two mildly successful color melodramas, Meyer made headlines once again in 1968 with the controversial Vixen!
. Although its lesbian overtones are tame by today's standards, the film — designed by Meyer and longtime cohort Jim Ryan as a reaction to provocative European art films — grossed millions on a five-figure budget and captured the zeitgeist just as The Immoral Mr. Teas had a decade earlier. He followed it with Cherry, Harry & Raquel!
(1970), which utilized long montages of the California landscape (replete with anti-marijuana
voiceovers) and Uschi Digard
dancing in the desert as the film's "lost soul." These plot devices were necessitated after lead actress Linda Ashton left the shoot early, leaving Meyer missing 20 minutes of footage.
After the unexpected success of Easy Rider
and impressed by Meyer's frugality and profitability, 20th Century Fox signed him to produce and direct a long-proposed sequel to Valley of the Dolls
in 1969, fulfilling his longstanding ambition to direct for a major Hollywood studio. What eventually appeared was Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
(1970), scripted by film critic (and Meyer devotee) Roger Ebert
and bearing no relation to the novel or film's continuity (necessitated after Jacqueline Susann
sued the studio). Many critics perceive the film as perhaps the greatest expression of his intentionally vapid surrealism — Meyer went so far as to refer to it as his definitive work in several interviews. Others, such as Variety
, saw "BVD" "as funny as a burning orphanage and a treat for the emotionally retarded." Contractually stipulated to produce an R-rated film, the brutally violent climax (depicting a decapitation) ensured an X rating (Later reclassified to NC-17). Though disowned by the studio for years to come and amid gripes from the director after he attempted to recut the film to include more titillating scenes after the ratings debacle, it still earned over $6 million domestically in the United States on a budget of less than $1 million.
After making his most subdued film, a commercially unsuccessful adaptation of the popular Irving Wallace
novel The Seven Minutes
(1971) for Fox, Meyer returned to grindhouse
-style independent cinema in 1973 with the Blaxploitation
period piece Black Snake
, which was dismissed by critics and audiences as incoherent. In 1975, he released Supervixens
, a return to the world of big bosoms, square jaws, and the Mojave desert that earned $17 million (American) on a shoestring budget. Meyer's theatrical career ended with the release of the surreal Up! (1976) and 1979's Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens
, his most sexually graphic films. Film historians and fans have called these last three films "Bustoons" because Russ Meyer's use of color and mise en scène
recalled larger than life pop art
settings and cartoonish characters.
In 1977, Malcolm McLaren
hired Meyer to direct a film starring The Sex Pistols
. Meyer handed the scriptwriting duties over to Ebert, who, in collaboration with McLaren, produced a screenplay entitled Who Killed Bambi? According to Ebert, filming ended after a day and a half when the electricians walked off the set after McLaren proved unable to pay them. (McLaren has claimed that the project actually died at the behest of main financier 20th Century-Fox, under the pretext that "We are in the business of making family entertainment.") The project ultimately evolved into The Great Rock & Roll Swindle.
Despite the fact that hardcore pornographic films would overtake Meyer's softcore market share, he retired in the late 1970s a very wealthy man.
ing conservative American values. Many of his films feature a narrator who attempts to give the audience a "moral roadmap" of what they are watching. Like contemporary Terry Southern
, Meyer realized that sex — as one of the few common interests among most humans — was a natural vehicle for satirizing values and conventions held by the Greatest Generation
. According to Roger Ebert
in a commentary recorded for the DVD release of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Meyer continually reiterated that this irreverence was the true secret to his artistic success.
Meyer was also known for his quick wit. While participating with Ebert in a panel discussion at Yale University
, he was confronted by an angry woman who accused him of being "nothing but a breast man
." His immediate reply: "That's only the half of it."
, Erica Gavin
, Lorna Maitland
, Tura Satana
, and Uschi Digard
among many others. The majority of them were naturally large breasted and he occasionally cast women in their first trimesters of pregnancy as it enhanced their breast size even further.
Rarely were there cosmetically enhanced breasts in any of his films until Up! (1976) and Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens
(1979). However, by the early 1980s, when surgical advancements had made the gargantuan breasts of Meyer's fantasies a reality, many felt he had started viewing the female body as simply a "tit transportation device" and that his aesthetic vision was no longer attractive or vibrant. Darlene Gray
, a natural 36H-22-33 from Great Britain
, who appeared in Mondo Topless
(1966) is said to be Russ Meyer's most busty discovery.
The Russ Meyer female physical archetype is fairly complex to decipher.
Firstly, it's not to be confused with today's surgically enhanced Hollywood porn
starlets or even slim, naturally endowed actresses. Russ Meyer was almost as much about a shapely 1950s hip-to-waist ratio or "wasp waist
" as he was about very large breasts. The six-pack abdominal muscles and built-up squarish appearance of modern Hollywood figures do not mesh with his pin-up aesthetic. Secondly, he required that even his most busty actresses looked good braless; "gravity-defying" and "cantilever
ed" became two of his favorite expressions.
In his films such as Vixen!
and Cherry, Harry & Raquel!
some of the actresses do not have large (by Russ Meyer standards) breasts yet their chests are always accentuated with very clever camera angles and well constructed bras. Reportedly, Gavin was cast as the lead in Vixen! because her "smaller" bust would make the character "more relatable to women."
He went on record numerous times to say that Anita Ekberg
was the most beautiful woman he ever photographed and that her 39DD breasts were the biggest in A-list Hollywood history, dwarfing both Jayne Mansfield
and the British actress Sabrina
.
Dolly Parton
was the only modern Hollywood actress Meyer ever expressed interest in working with.
While he often referred to his actresses as "Junoesque" and "Amazonian" this was probably more in their spirit than their actual physiques" as Meyer rarely cast very tall or symmetrically built actresses with strong legs and large posteriors.
So while the general public could easily perceive Jane Russell
or Sophia Loren
as "Russ Meyer material", their balanced bodies did not mesh with Meyer's precise aesthetic preferences." And indeed Meyer said many times that it was Gina Lollobrigida
's smaller breasted figure that he preferred visually over her larger breasted, taller and bigger hipped rival, Sophia Loren
. Thus Meyer's complete oeuvre shows the viewer that while his actresses could easily be described as voluptuous, buxom and curvaceous, it's debatable to some if they were strapping, stately or even statuesque as Meyer readily proclaimed."
The tallest actress Meyer ever cast in a lead was the 5'9", slim hipped, huge breasted Lorna Maitland
(working with whom he admitted he found intimidating). Nearly all the other women he featured were no taller than 5'7". Tura Satana
's performance as Varla in Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
was Meyer's only true portrayal of the large, strong and aggressive Amazonian archetype in the classic visual sense.
In many of Meyer's films women eventually defeat men, winning sexual fulfillment as their reward, e.g., Super Vixen (Supervixens
), Margo Winchester (Up!) and Lavonia Shed (Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens
). And even in the 1950s and '60s his films were sometimes centered on a woman's need and struggle for sexual satisfaction (Lorna
, Good Morning and... Goodbye!
and Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens
). Additionally, Russ Meyer's female characters were often allowed to express anger and violence towards men (Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
and Supervixens
).
Yet in his research, McDonough also notes that Meyer's female characters were limited in how powerful they could appear; often the female lead is raped (Up! and Lorna
) or brutally murdered (Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
, Supervixens
, Lorna
and Blacksnake
). While Russ Meyer may have championed powerful woman characters, he also forced them into violent and terrifying situations, making them prove their physical and mental strength against tremendous odds. He also ensured that women's breasts were at least semi-exposed during these ordeals for comic or erotic effect. Furthermore, according to frequent collaborator and longtime lover Kitten Natividad
, Meyer's love of dominant women extended to his personal life, and he was almost always in a tumultuous relationship.
who, upon finding out that Meyer was a virgin, offered him the prostitute of his choice. Meyer picked the one with the largest breasts.
Despite his reputation as a Rabelaisian man, Russ Meyer never employed the casting couch
and rarely slept with any of his actresses. He had no children though there were rumored unsuccessful pregnancies with his second wife Edy Williams
and last serious girlfriend Melissa Mounds who was also found guilty of assaulting him in 1999. There is a long standing rumor among his closest friends and at least one biographer that he had a son in 1964 with a secret lover who he would refer to only as "Miss Mattress" or "Janet Buxton".
Meyer was very upfront throughout his life about being too selfish to be a father or even a caring partner, or husband. Yet he is also said to have been very generous with all his friends and acquaintances, and never isolated friends from one another. Biographers have attributed most of his brutish and eccentric nature to the fact that he was abandoned by his father, an Oakland police officer and overly coddled by his mother, Lydia, who was married six times. Meyer had a half sister, Lucinda, who was diagnosed in her twenties with paranoid schizophrenia and was committed to California
State mental institutions until her death in 1999. Mental illness ran in his family and it was something he secretly feared. During his entire life Russ Meyer spoke with only the highest reverence for his mother and sister.
Meyer was married to:
Contrary to some accounts, Meyer was never married to Kitten Natividad
, the star of his final two films.
and DVD
market. He worked out of the very same Los Angeles
, California home he lived in and usually answered the phone to take orders himself. A major retrospective of his work was given at The British Film Institute (1983), the Chicago Film Festival honored him in 1985, and many revival movie houses booked his films for midnight movie marathons.
He also worked obsessively for over a decade on a massive three volume autobiography entitled A Clean Breast
. Finally printed in 2000, it features numerous excerpts of reviews, clever details of each of his films and countless photos and erotic musings.
Starting in the mid-1990s Meyer had frequent fits and bouts of memory loss
. By 2000 he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease
, and his health and well-being were thereafter looked after by Janice Cowart, his secretary and estate executor. That same year, with no wife or children to claim his wealth, Meyer willed that the majority of his money and estate would be sent to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
in honor of his late mother.
Russ Meyer died at his home in the Hollywood Hills, of complications of pneumonia
, on September 18, 2004. He was 82 years old. Meyer's grave is located at Stockton Rural Cemetery in San Joaquin County
, Stockton
. His headstone reads:
Fox Searchlight Pictures is currently negotiating the rights to create a biopic covering the early years of Meyer's career.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
motion picture
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
, editor
Film editing
Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...
, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and photographer.
Meyer is known primarily for writing and directing a series of successful low-budget sexploitation
Sexploitation
Sexploitation, or "sex-exploitation", describes a class of independently produced, low-budget feature films generally associated with the 1960s and serving largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit sexual situations and gratuitous nudity. The genre is a subgenre of exploitation films...
films that featured campy humor, sly satire and large-breasted women.
Early years
Russ Meyer was born in San Leandro, CaliforniaSan Leandro, California
San Leandro is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is considered a suburb of Oakland and San Francisco. The population was 84,950 as of 2010 census. The climate of the city is mild throughout the year.-Geography and water resources:...
to William Arthur Meyer, a German-American police officer, and his wife Lydia Lucinda Hauck. His parents divorced shortly after he was born, and Meyer was to have virtually no contact with his father during his life. When he was fourteen years old, his mother pawned her wedding ring in order to buy him an 8mm film camera. He made a number of amateur film
Amateur film
Amateur Film is the low-budget hobbyist art of film practiced for passion and enjoyment and not for business purposes.-Organizations:The international organization for amateur film makers is UNICA ; in the United States the American Motion Picture Society , in Canada the Society of Canadian Cine...
s at the age of 15, and served during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as a U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
combat cameraman for the 166th Signal Photo Company. In the Army Meyer forged his strongest friendships, and he would later ask many of his fellow combat cameramen to work on his films. Much of Meyer's work during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
can be seen in newsreels and in the film Patton
Patton (film)
Patton is a 1970 American biographical war film about U.S. General George S. Patton during World War II. It stars George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates, and Karl Michael Vogler. It was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner from a script by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H...
(1971). On his return to civilian life, he was unable to secure cinematography work in Hollywood due to a dearth of industry connections. He made industrial films
Sponsored film
Sponsored film, or ephemeral film, as defined by film archivist Rick Prelinger, is film made by a particular sponsor for a specific purpose other than as a work of art: the films were designed to serve a specific pragmatic purpose for a limited time...
, freelanced as a still photographer for mainstream films (he did the still photography for Giant), and became a well known glamour photographer whose work included some of the initial shoots for Hugh Hefner
Hugh Hefner
Hugh Marston "Hef" Hefner is an American magazine publisher, founder and Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises.-Early life:...
's Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
magazine. Meyer would go on to shoot three Playboy centerfold
Centerfold
The centerfold of a magazine refers to a gatefolded spread, usually a portrait such as a pin-up or a nude, inserted in the middle of the publication, or to the model featured in the portrait...
s during the magazine's early years, one of his wife Eve Meyer
Eve Meyer
Eve Meyer was an American pin-up model, motion picture actress, and later, film producer...
in 1955. He also shot a pictorial of then-wife Edy Williams
Edy Williams
Edwina Beth "Edy" Williams is an American television and film actress.-Early years:Born in Utah and raised in Oregon and Southern California, Williams began her career as a model and beauty pageant contestant...
in March 1973.
Film career
His first feature, the nudist comedy The Immoral Mr. TeasThe Immoral Mr. Teas
The Immoral Mr. Teas is the first commercially successful film of director Russ Meyer.-Etymology:The name "Teas" is a homophone of the word tease, and one of the meanings of "tease" includes to sexually excite another person by subtle means, usually explicitly avoiding advancement to more...
(1959), cost $24,000 to produce and eventually grossed more than $1,000,000 on the independent/exploitation circuit, ensconcing Meyer as "King of the Nudies." Over the next decade, he made nearly 20 movies with a trademark blend of odd humor, huge-breasted starlets and All-American sleaze, including such notable films as Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is a 1965 exploitation film directed by Russ Meyer, who also wrote the script with Jack Moran. It stars Tura Satana, Haji, and Lori Williams....
(1965) and Vixen!
Vixen!
Vixen! is a 1968 satiric softcore sexploitation film directed by American motion picture director Russ Meyer. It was the first film to be given an X rating for its sex scenes, and was a breakthrough success for Meyer...
(1968). Russ Meyer was a true auteur who wrote, directed, edited, photographed and distributed all his own films. He was able to finance each new film from the proceeds of the earlier ones, and became very wealthy in the process. Unlike many independent directors of his era, he chose to cast actresses like Shari Eubank
Shari Eubank
Shari Eubank is a retired American 1970s adult actress, who has only appeared in two films.-Early years:...
or Cynthia Myers
Cynthia Myers
Cynthia Myers was an American model and actress, and Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for the December 1968 issue.-Career:...
who were considered extremely beautiful and wholesome.
Meyer's output can be divided into several eras. Earlier works like The Immoral Mr. Teas, Eve and the Handyman, and the Western-themed Wild Gals of the Naked West were stylistically similar to the nudie cutie fare of the era, though separated from the pack by their superior color cinematography. 1964's Lorna
Lorna (film)
Lorna is a 1964 film by Russ Meyer. Shot mainly on the small main street that runs through the town of Locke, California in September 1963, this was Meyer's first film in 35 mm. It was Meyer's first film to employ a dramatic storyline, the most expensive film he had filmed to date, and the first of...
saw the ever-economical director revert to black-and-white; with this change came a greater emphasis on storyline, almost theatrical violence, domineeringly psychosexual women, and their insipid male counterparts. The "Gothic" period (as it was termed by Meyer) reached its apex with the commercially underwhelming Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is a 1965 exploitation film directed by Russ Meyer, who also wrote the script with Jack Moran. It stars Tura Satana, Haji, and Lori Williams....
, which would eventually be reclaimed as a cult classic. It has a following all over the world and has inspired countless imitations, music videos and tributes.
After producing the popular mockumentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
Mondo Topless
Mondo Topless
Mondo Topless is a 1966 pseudo documentary directed by Russ Meyer, featuring Babette Bardot and Lorna Maitland among others. It was Meyer's first color film following a string of black & white "roughie nudies", including Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! While a straightforward sexploitation film, the...
(1966) with the remnants of his production company's assets and two mildly successful color melodramas, Meyer made headlines once again in 1968 with the controversial Vixen!
Vixen!
Vixen! is a 1968 satiric softcore sexploitation film directed by American motion picture director Russ Meyer. It was the first film to be given an X rating for its sex scenes, and was a breakthrough success for Meyer...
. Although its lesbian overtones are tame by today's standards, the film — designed by Meyer and longtime cohort Jim Ryan as a reaction to provocative European art films — grossed millions on a five-figure budget and captured the zeitgeist just as The Immoral Mr. Teas had a decade earlier. He followed it with Cherry, Harry & Raquel!
Cherry, Harry & Raquel!
Cherry, Harry & Raquel! is a 1970 softcore exploitation film produced and directed by American film director Russ Meyer. Following the success of Vixen! , the film is notable for the first appearance of actor Charles Napier playing Harry Thompson, a California border sheriff and marijuana smuggler...
(1970), which utilized long montages of the California landscape (replete with anti-marijuana
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
voiceovers) and Uschi Digard
Uschi Digard
Uschi Digard is a Swedish former softcore porn star and model known for her roles in Russ Meyer films.- Early years :...
dancing in the desert as the film's "lost soul." These plot devices were necessitated after lead actress Linda Ashton left the shoot early, leaving Meyer missing 20 minutes of footage.
After the unexpected success of Easy Rider
Easy Rider
Easy Rider is a 1969 American road movie written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda and directed by Hopper. It tells the story of two bikers who travel through the American Southwest and South with the aim of achieving freedom...
and impressed by Meyer's frugality and profitability, 20th Century Fox signed him to produce and direct a long-proposed sequel to Valley of the Dolls
Valley of the Dolls (film)
The soundtrack was released in 1967. Dionne Warwick sang the title track; however, her version is not on the soundtrack. Warwick was signed to Scepter Records at the time and could not contractually appear...
in 1969, fulfilling his longstanding ambition to direct for a major Hollywood studio. What eventually appeared was Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is a 1970 American schlock melodrama film starring Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom, John LaZar, Michael Blodgett and David Gurian...
(1970), scripted by film critic (and Meyer devotee) Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
and bearing no relation to the novel or film's continuity (necessitated after Jacqueline Susann
Jacqueline Susann
Jacqueline Susann was an American author known for her best-selling novels. Her most notable work was Valley of the Dolls, a book that broke sales records and spawned an Oscar-nominated 1967 film and a short-lived TV series.-Early years:Jacqueline Susann was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to...
sued the studio). Many critics perceive the film as perhaps the greatest expression of his intentionally vapid surrealism — Meyer went so far as to refer to it as his definitive work in several interviews. Others, such as Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, saw "BVD" "as funny as a burning orphanage and a treat for the emotionally retarded." Contractually stipulated to produce an R-rated film, the brutally violent climax (depicting a decapitation) ensured an X rating (Later reclassified to NC-17). Though disowned by the studio for years to come and amid gripes from the director after he attempted to recut the film to include more titillating scenes after the ratings debacle, it still earned over $6 million domestically in the United States on a budget of less than $1 million.
After making his most subdued film, a commercially unsuccessful adaptation of the popular Irving Wallace
Irving Wallace
Irving Wallace was an American best-selling author and screenwriter. Wallace was known for his heavily researched novels, many with a sexual theme. One critic described him "as the most successful of all the many exponents of junk fiction perhaps because he took it all so seriously, not so say...
novel The Seven Minutes
The Seven Minutes (film)
The Seven Minutes is 1971 drama film directed and produced by Russ Meyer. The film was based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Irving Wallace.-Plot:After a teenager who purchased the erotic novel The Seven Minutes is charged for rape, an...
(1971) for Fox, Meyer returned to grindhouse
Grindhouse
A grindhouse is an American term for a theater that mainly shows exploitation films. It is named after the defunct burlesque theaters located on 42nd Street in New York City, where 'bump n' grind' dancing and striptease were featured.- History :...
-style independent cinema in 1973 with the Blaxploitation
Blaxploitation
Blaxploitation or blacksploitation is a film genre which emerged in the United States circa 1970. It is considered an ethnic sub-genre of the general category of exploitation films. Blaxploitation films were originally made specifically for an urban black audience, although the genre's audience...
period piece Black Snake
Black Snake (film)
Black Snake is a 1973 American film directed by Russ Meyer. It was Meyer's return to self-financed projects, following the end of his brief deal at 20th Century Fox...
, which was dismissed by critics and audiences as incoherent. In 1975, he released Supervixens
Supervixens
Supervixens is a 1975 sexploitation film by American filmmaker Russ Meyer. The cast features Meyer regulars Charles Napier, Uschi Digard, and Haji...
, a return to the world of big bosoms, square jaws, and the Mojave desert that earned $17 million (American) on a shoestring budget. Meyer's theatrical career ended with the release of the surreal Up! (1976) and 1979's Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens
Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens
Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens is a satirical sexploitation film starring Kitten Natividad and Ann Marie with a cameo by Uschi Digard. It was directed by American motion picture director Russ Meyer, and written by Roger Ebert and Meyer....
, his most sexually graphic films. Film historians and fans have called these last three films "Bustoons" because Russ Meyer's use of color and mise en scène
Mise en scène
Mise-en-scène is an expression used to describe the design aspects of a theatre or film production, which essentially means "visual theme" or "telling a story"—both in visually artful ways through storyboarding, cinematography and stage design, and in poetically artful ways through direction...
recalled larger than life pop art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
settings and cartoonish characters.
In 1977, Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...
hired Meyer to direct a film starring The Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
. Meyer handed the scriptwriting duties over to Ebert, who, in collaboration with McLaren, produced a screenplay entitled Who Killed Bambi? According to Ebert, filming ended after a day and a half when the electricians walked off the set after McLaren proved unable to pay them. (McLaren has claimed that the project actually died at the behest of main financier 20th Century-Fox, under the pretext that "We are in the business of making family entertainment.") The project ultimately evolved into The Great Rock & Roll Swindle.
Despite the fact that hardcore pornographic films would overtake Meyer's softcore market share, he retired in the late 1970s a very wealthy man.
Use of satire
Russ Meyer was also adept at mocking moral stereotypes and flagrantly lampoonParody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
ing conservative American values. Many of his films feature a narrator who attempts to give the audience a "moral roadmap" of what they are watching. Like contemporary Terry Southern
Terry Southern
Terry Southern was an American author, essayist, screenwriter and university lecturer, noted for his distinctive satirical style...
, Meyer realized that sex — as one of the few common interests among most humans — was a natural vehicle for satirizing values and conventions held by the Greatest Generation
Greatest Generation
"The Greatest Generation" is a term coined by journalist Tom Brokaw to describe the generation who grew up in the United States during the deprivation of the Great Depression, and then went on to fight in World War II, as well as those whose productivity within the war's home front made a decisive...
. According to Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
in a commentary recorded for the DVD release of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Meyer continually reiterated that this irreverence was the true secret to his artistic success.
Meyer was also known for his quick wit. While participating with Ebert in a panel discussion at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, he was confronted by an angry woman who accused him of being "nothing but a breast man
Breast fetishism
Breast fetishism is a type of sexual fetish which involves a sexual interest in female breasts....
." His immediate reply: "That's only the half of it."
Big breast fixation, or the Meyer physical archetype
Russ Meyer's lifelong unabashed fixation on large breasts featured prominently in all his films and is his best known character trait both as an artist and as a person. His discoveries include Kitten NatividadKitten Natividad
Kitten Natividad is a Mexican American film actress and exotic dancer, noted for her 44-inch chest and appearances in cult films by her ex-partner, director Russ Meyer.-Early years:...
, Erica Gavin
Erica Gavin
Erica Gavin, , is an American film actress best known for playing the title role in Russ Meyer's 1968 film Vixen!-Early years:...
, Lorna Maitland
Lorna Maitland
Lorna Maitland is a film actress noted mostly for her large-breasted figure and appearances in three Russ Meyer films: Lorna, Mudhoney and Mondo Topless. Her given name is Barbara Popejoy...
, Tura Satana
Tura Satana
Tura Satana was an American actress and former exotic dancer. She was best known for her role as "Varla" in Russ Meyer's 1965 cult film, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.-Early life:...
, and Uschi Digard
Uschi Digard
Uschi Digard is a Swedish former softcore porn star and model known for her roles in Russ Meyer films.- Early years :...
among many others. The majority of them were naturally large breasted and he occasionally cast women in their first trimesters of pregnancy as it enhanced their breast size even further.
Rarely were there cosmetically enhanced breasts in any of his films until Up! (1976) and Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens
Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens
Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens is a satirical sexploitation film starring Kitten Natividad and Ann Marie with a cameo by Uschi Digard. It was directed by American motion picture director Russ Meyer, and written by Roger Ebert and Meyer....
(1979). However, by the early 1980s, when surgical advancements had made the gargantuan breasts of Meyer's fantasies a reality, many felt he had started viewing the female body as simply a "tit transportation device" and that his aesthetic vision was no longer attractive or vibrant. Darlene Gray
Darlene Gray
Darlene Gray is a stripper and actress who appeared in Russ Meyer's 1966 film Mondo Topless. Roger Ebert reportedly said that Gray, a natural 36H-22-33 from Great Britain, was "undoubtedly the most voluptuous actress [Russ] Meyer has ever used in a film," .-Filmography:-Magazine Appearances:*...
, a natural 36H-22-33 from Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, who appeared in Mondo Topless
Mondo Topless
Mondo Topless is a 1966 pseudo documentary directed by Russ Meyer, featuring Babette Bardot and Lorna Maitland among others. It was Meyer's first color film following a string of black & white "roughie nudies", including Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! While a straightforward sexploitation film, the...
(1966) is said to be Russ Meyer's most busty discovery.
The Russ Meyer female physical archetype is fairly complex to decipher.
Firstly, it's not to be confused with today's surgically enhanced Hollywood porn
PORN
Porn is a common short form for pornography. It may also refer to:* Progressive outer retinal necrosis, a disease of the retina* PORN, a French industrial rock band...
starlets or even slim, naturally endowed actresses. Russ Meyer was almost as much about a shapely 1950s hip-to-waist ratio or "wasp waist
Wasp waist
Wasp waist refers to a woman's fashion silhouette, produced by a style of corset and girdle, that has experienced various periods of popularity in the 19th and 20th centuries. Its primary feature is the abrupt transition from a natural-width rib cage to an exceedingly small waist, with the hips...
" as he was about very large breasts. The six-pack abdominal muscles and built-up squarish appearance of modern Hollywood figures do not mesh with his pin-up aesthetic. Secondly, he required that even his most busty actresses looked good braless; "gravity-defying" and "cantilever
Cantilever
A cantilever is a beam anchored at only one end. The beam carries the load to the support where it is resisted by moment and shear stress. Cantilever construction allows for overhanging structures without external bracing. Cantilevers can also be constructed with trusses or slabs.This is in...
ed" became two of his favorite expressions.
In his films such as Vixen!
Vixen!
Vixen! is a 1968 satiric softcore sexploitation film directed by American motion picture director Russ Meyer. It was the first film to be given an X rating for its sex scenes, and was a breakthrough success for Meyer...
and Cherry, Harry & Raquel!
Cherry, Harry & Raquel!
Cherry, Harry & Raquel! is a 1970 softcore exploitation film produced and directed by American film director Russ Meyer. Following the success of Vixen! , the film is notable for the first appearance of actor Charles Napier playing Harry Thompson, a California border sheriff and marijuana smuggler...
some of the actresses do not have large (by Russ Meyer standards) breasts yet their chests are always accentuated with very clever camera angles and well constructed bras. Reportedly, Gavin was cast as the lead in Vixen! because her "smaller" bust would make the character "more relatable to women."
He went on record numerous times to say that Anita Ekberg
Anita Ekberg
Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg is a Swedish model, actress and cult sex symbol. She is best known for her role as Sylvia in the 1960 Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita which features the legendary scene of her cavorting in Trevi Fountain alongside Marcello Mastroianni.-Biography:Ekberg was born in...
was the most beautiful woman he ever photographed and that her 39DD breasts were the biggest in A-list Hollywood history, dwarfing both Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield was an American actress working both in Hollywood and on the Broadway theatre...
and the British actress Sabrina
Sabrina (actress)
Norma Ann Sykes , better known as Sabrina, was a 1950s English glamour model who progressed to a minor movie career. Her main claim to fame was her hourglass figure of prodigious breasts coupled with a tiny 17" waist...
.
Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
was the only modern Hollywood actress Meyer ever expressed interest in working with.
While he often referred to his actresses as "Junoesque" and "Amazonian" this was probably more in their spirit than their actual physiques" as Meyer rarely cast very tall or symmetrically built actresses with strong legs and large posteriors.
So while the general public could easily perceive Jane Russell
Jane Russell
Jane Russell was an American film actress and was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s....
or Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
as "Russ Meyer material", their balanced bodies did not mesh with Meyer's precise aesthetic preferences." And indeed Meyer said many times that it was Gina Lollobrigida
Gina Lollobrigida
Gina Lollobrigida is an Italian actress, photojournalist and sculptress. She was one of the most popular European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s. She was also an iconic sex symbol of the 1950s. Today, she remains an active supporter of Italian and Italian American causes, particularly the...
's smaller breasted figure that he preferred visually over her larger breasted, taller and bigger hipped rival, Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
. Thus Meyer's complete oeuvre shows the viewer that while his actresses could easily be described as voluptuous, buxom and curvaceous, it's debatable to some if they were strapping, stately or even statuesque as Meyer readily proclaimed."
The tallest actress Meyer ever cast in a lead was the 5'9", slim hipped, huge breasted Lorna Maitland
Lorna Maitland
Lorna Maitland is a film actress noted mostly for her large-breasted figure and appearances in three Russ Meyer films: Lorna, Mudhoney and Mondo Topless. Her given name is Barbara Popejoy...
(working with whom he admitted he found intimidating). Nearly all the other women he featured were no taller than 5'7". Tura Satana
Tura Satana
Tura Satana was an American actress and former exotic dancer. She was best known for her role as "Varla" in Russ Meyer's 1965 cult film, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.-Early life:...
's performance as Varla in Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is a 1965 exploitation film directed by Russ Meyer, who also wrote the script with Jack Moran. It stars Tura Satana, Haji, and Lori Williams....
was Meyer's only true portrayal of the large, strong and aggressive Amazonian archetype in the classic visual sense.
Female empowerment
Film historian Jimmy McDonough posits that Russ Meyer's usage of physically and sexually overwhelming female characters places him in his own separate genre. He argues that despite portraying women as sex objects, Meyer nonetheless depicts them as more powerful than men and is therefore an inadvertent feminist filmmaker.In many of Meyer's films women eventually defeat men, winning sexual fulfillment as their reward, e.g., Super Vixen (Supervixens
Supervixens
Supervixens is a 1975 sexploitation film by American filmmaker Russ Meyer. The cast features Meyer regulars Charles Napier, Uschi Digard, and Haji...
), Margo Winchester (Up!) and Lavonia Shed (Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens
Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens
Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens is a satirical sexploitation film starring Kitten Natividad and Ann Marie with a cameo by Uschi Digard. It was directed by American motion picture director Russ Meyer, and written by Roger Ebert and Meyer....
). And even in the 1950s and '60s his films were sometimes centered on a woman's need and struggle for sexual satisfaction (Lorna
Lorna
Lorna is a modern feminine given name. The name may have been first coined by R. D. Blackmore for the heroine of his novel Lorna Doone, which appeared in 1869....
, Good Morning and... Goodbye!
Good Morning and... Goodbye!
Good Morning and... Goodbye! is a 1967 American exploitation film directed by Russ Meyer. It features Alaina Capri, Karen Ciral, as well as Meyer regular Jack Moran, who co-wrote the script....
and Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens
Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens
Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens is a satirical sexploitation film starring Kitten Natividad and Ann Marie with a cameo by Uschi Digard. It was directed by American motion picture director Russ Meyer, and written by Roger Ebert and Meyer....
). Additionally, Russ Meyer's female characters were often allowed to express anger and violence towards men (Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is a 1965 exploitation film directed by Russ Meyer, who also wrote the script with Jack Moran. It stars Tura Satana, Haji, and Lori Williams....
and Supervixens
Supervixens
Supervixens is a 1975 sexploitation film by American filmmaker Russ Meyer. The cast features Meyer regulars Charles Napier, Uschi Digard, and Haji...
).
Yet in his research, McDonough also notes that Meyer's female characters were limited in how powerful they could appear; often the female lead is raped (Up! and Lorna
Lorna (film)
Lorna is a 1964 film by Russ Meyer. Shot mainly on the small main street that runs through the town of Locke, California in September 1963, this was Meyer's first film in 35 mm. It was Meyer's first film to employ a dramatic storyline, the most expensive film he had filmed to date, and the first of...
) or brutally murdered (Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is a 1970 American schlock melodrama film starring Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom, John LaZar, Michael Blodgett and David Gurian...
, Supervixens
Supervixens
Supervixens is a 1975 sexploitation film by American filmmaker Russ Meyer. The cast features Meyer regulars Charles Napier, Uschi Digard, and Haji...
, Lorna
Lorna (film)
Lorna is a 1964 film by Russ Meyer. Shot mainly on the small main street that runs through the town of Locke, California in September 1963, this was Meyer's first film in 35 mm. It was Meyer's first film to employ a dramatic storyline, the most expensive film he had filmed to date, and the first of...
and Blacksnake
Black Snake (film)
Black Snake is a 1973 American film directed by Russ Meyer. It was Meyer's return to self-financed projects, following the end of his brief deal at 20th Century Fox...
). While Russ Meyer may have championed powerful woman characters, he also forced them into violent and terrifying situations, making them prove their physical and mental strength against tremendous odds. He also ensured that women's breasts were at least semi-exposed during these ordeals for comic or erotic effect. Furthermore, according to frequent collaborator and longtime lover Kitten Natividad
Kitten Natividad
Kitten Natividad is a Mexican American film actress and exotic dancer, noted for her 44-inch chest and appearances in cult films by her ex-partner, director Russ Meyer.-Early years:...
, Meyer's love of dominant women extended to his personal life, and he was almost always in a tumultuous relationship.
Personal and family life
It was in World War II that, according to Meyer, he found himself at a French brothel with Ernest HemingwayErnest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
who, upon finding out that Meyer was a virgin, offered him the prostitute of his choice. Meyer picked the one with the largest breasts.
Despite his reputation as a Rabelaisian man, Russ Meyer never employed the casting couch
Casting couch
The casting couch, casting couch syndrome or casting couch mentality is a term which involves the trading of sexual favors by an aspirant, apprentice employee, or subordinate to a superior, in return for entry into an occupation, or for other career advancement within an organization...
and rarely slept with any of his actresses. He had no children though there were rumored unsuccessful pregnancies with his second wife Edy Williams
Edy Williams
Edwina Beth "Edy" Williams is an American television and film actress.-Early years:Born in Utah and raised in Oregon and Southern California, Williams began her career as a model and beauty pageant contestant...
and last serious girlfriend Melissa Mounds who was also found guilty of assaulting him in 1999. There is a long standing rumor among his closest friends and at least one biographer that he had a son in 1964 with a secret lover who he would refer to only as "Miss Mattress" or "Janet Buxton".
Meyer was very upfront throughout his life about being too selfish to be a father or even a caring partner, or husband. Yet he is also said to have been very generous with all his friends and acquaintances, and never isolated friends from one another. Biographers have attributed most of his brutish and eccentric nature to the fact that he was abandoned by his father, an Oakland police officer and overly coddled by his mother, Lydia, who was married six times. Meyer had a half sister, Lucinda, who was diagnosed in her twenties with paranoid schizophrenia and was committed to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
State mental institutions until her death in 1999. Mental illness ran in his family and it was something he secretly feared. During his entire life Russ Meyer spoke with only the highest reverence for his mother and sister.
Meyer was married to:
- Betty Valdovinos (born 1922, divorced)
- Edy WilliamsEdy WilliamsEdwina Beth "Edy" Williams is an American television and film actress.-Early years:Born in Utah and raised in Oregon and Southern California, Williams began her career as a model and beauty pageant contestant...
(born July 9, 1942, divorced) - Eve MeyerEve MeyerEve Meyer was an American pin-up model, motion picture actress, and later, film producer...
(December 13, 1928 - March 27, 1977, died)
Contrary to some accounts, Meyer was never married to Kitten Natividad
Kitten Natividad
Kitten Natividad is a Mexican American film actress and exotic dancer, noted for her 44-inch chest and appearances in cult films by her ex-partner, director Russ Meyer.-Early years:...
, the star of his final two films.
Final years
Meyer owned the rights to nearly all of his films and spent the majority of the 1980s and 1990s making millions reselling his films on the home videoHome video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
market. He worked out of the very same Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California home he lived in and usually answered the phone to take orders himself. A major retrospective of his work was given at The British Film Institute (1983), the Chicago Film Festival honored him in 1985, and many revival movie houses booked his films for midnight movie marathons.
He also worked obsessively for over a decade on a massive three volume autobiography entitled A Clean Breast
A Clean Breast
A Clean Breast is film director Russ Meyer's self-published three volume autobiography.Written under the pen name "Adolph Schwartz" and published by a company named "Hauck" for Meyer's late mother's maiden name. It was published in August 2000 after fifteen years of delays and rewrites...
. Finally printed in 2000, it features numerous excerpts of reviews, clever details of each of his films and countless photos and erotic musings.
Starting in the mid-1990s Meyer had frequent fits and bouts of memory loss
Memory loss
Memory loss can be partial or total and it is normal when it comes with aging. Sudden memory loss is usually a result of brain trauma and it may be permanent or temporary. When it is caused by medical conditions such as Alzheimers, the memory loss is gradual and tends to be permanent.Brain trauma...
. By 2000 he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
, and his health and well-being were thereafter looked after by Janice Cowart, his secretary and estate executor. That same year, with no wife or children to claim his wealth, Meyer willed that the majority of his money and estate would be sent to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center is a cancer treatment and research institution founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital...
in honor of his late mother.
Russ Meyer died at his home in the Hollywood Hills, of complications of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
, on September 18, 2004. He was 82 years old. Meyer's grave is located at Stockton Rural Cemetery in San Joaquin County
San Joaquin County, California
San Joaquin County is a county located in Central Valley of the U.S. state of California, just east of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 685,306. The county seat is Stockton.-History:...
, Stockton
Stockton, California
Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
. His headstone reads:
Fox Searchlight Pictures is currently negotiating the rights to create a biopic covering the early years of Meyer's career.
External links
- Nathaniel RichNathaniel Rich (novelist)Nathaniel Rich is an American novelist and essayist. He is the author of a novel, The Mayor's Tongue , published by Riverhead in 2008. A work of nonfiction, San Francisco Noir: The City in Film Noir from 1940 to the Present , was published by The Little Bookroom in 2005...
on Russ Meyer in the San Francisco Chronicle