Biography
Kenneth Anger (born Kenneth Wilbur Anglemeyer; February 3, 1927 - May 11, 2023) was an American underground experimental filmmaker, actor and author. Working exclusively in short films, he produced almost forty works since 1937, nine of which in particular have been grouped together as the "Magick Lantern Cycle," and form the basis of Anger's reputation as one of the most influential independent filmmakers in cinema history. His films variously merge surrealism with homoeroticism and the occult, and have been described as containing "elements of erotica, documentary, psychodrama, and spectacle." Anger himself has been described as "one of America's first openly gay filmmakers, and certainly the first whose work addressed homosexuality in an undisguised, self-implicating manner," and his "role in rendering gay culture visible within American cinema, commercial or otherwise, is impossible to overestimate." Some of his particularly homoerotic works, such as Fireworks (1947) and Scorpio Rising (1964), were produced prior to the legalisation of homosexuality in the United States. He has also focused upon occult themes in many of his films, being fascinated by the notorious English occultist Aleister Crowley, and is a follower of Crowley's religion, Thelema. This influence is evident from films like Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954), Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969) and Lucifer Rising (1972).
Anger has described filmmakers such as Auguste and Louis Lumière and Georges Méliès as influences, and has been cited as an important influence on later film directors like Martin Scorsese, David Lynch and John Waters.He has also been described as having "a profound impact on the work of many other filmmakers and artists, as well as on music video as an emergent art form using dream sequence, dance, fantasy, and narrative." During the 1960s and 70s he associated and worked with a number of different figures in popular culture and the occult, including Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey, sexologist Alfred Kinsey, artist Jean Cocteau, playwright Tennessee Williams and musicians Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page and Marianne Faithfull. He is also the author of the controversial best seller Hollywood Babylon (1959) and its sequel Hollywood Babylon II (1986), in which he claims to expose many of the rumours and secrets of Hollywood celebrities.
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Filmography
all 70
Movies 67
Director 31
self 26
TV Shows 3
Writer 1
Producer 1
24 Hour Sunset (2023)
Anton LaVey: Into the Devil's Den (2019)
Cinemagician: Conversations with Kenneth Anger (2019)
Magick Lantern Cycle (2019)
72 Hours In André Balazs’ Chateau Marmont With Kenneth Anger (2018)
Mansfield 66/67 (2017)
Satan Lives (2015)
The 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin (2015)
Airships 1, 2, 3 (2013)
42 One Dream Rush (2010)
Missoni (2010)
FLicKeR (2009)
Brush of Baphomet (2009)
Night of Pan (2009)
Ich will! (2008)
Foreplay (2008)
Uniform Attraction (2008)
The Films of Kenneth Anger: Volume Two (2007)
Disinfo.Con (2007)
The Films of Kenneth Anger: Volume One (2007)
Elliott's Suicide (2007)
I'll Be Watching You (2007)
My Surfing Lucifer (2007)
Anger Me (2006)
Notes on Marie Menken (2006)
Hedy Lamarr: Secrets of a Hollywood Star (2006)
Kinsey (2005)
Mouse Heaven (2004)
Anger Sees Red (2004)
The Spells of Kenneth Anger (2003)
Busby Berkeley: Going Through the Roof (2003)
The Man We Want to Hang (2002)
Added Attractions: The Hollywood Shorts Story (2002)
Rescued from the Closet (2001)
Aleister Crowley: The Other Loch Ness Monster (2000)
Hollywood Babylon (2000)
Don't Smoke That Cigarette (1999)
SexTV (1998)
Arthouse (1997)
The Beach Boys and The Satan (1997)
Birth of a Nation (1997)
Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker (1995)
Jonas in the Desert (1994)
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life (1986)
The Rolling Stones - The First 20 Years (1982)
Rabbit's Moon (1979)
Senators in Bondage (1976)
Arena (1975)
Lucifer Rising (1974)
Look Back at Anger (1974)
Hollywood Babylon (1972)
Rabbit's Moon (1971)
Langlois (1970)
Kenneth Anger: Film as Magical Ritual (1970)
Scorpio Rising (1969)
Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969)
Kustom Kar Kommandos (1965)
Arabesque for Kenneth Anger (1961)
The Dead (1960)
The Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954)
Eaux d'artifice (1953)
Puce Moment (1949)
Fireworks (1947)
Escape Episode (1947)
The Nest (1943)
Prisoner of Mars (1942)
Tinsel Tree (1942)
Who Has Been Rocking My Dreamboat (1941)
Technicolor Skull
Death
Ratings
Gallery
Information
Known ForDirecting
GenderMale
Birthday1927-02-03
Deathday2023-05-11 (96 years old)
Birth NameKenneth Wilbur Anglemyer
Birth PlaceSanta Monica, United States of America
Religionagnostic
CitizenshipsUnited States of America
Also Known Asケネス・アンガー, 케네스 앵거, Kenneth Anglemyer
AwardsMaya Deren Award, prix de l'Âge d'or
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