Russ Meyer Is Dead

His films weren't particularly commercial, or well known, but Russ Meyer - who died on Saturday of complications resulting from pneumonia, aged 82 (his death was not announced until today) - was perhaps the father of the modern independent film scene, influencing an entire movement of cult film-makers like John Waters and Quentin Tarantino. Born in 1922, the 'King of the Nudies' was the son of a policeman. He won awards for the 8mm shorts he made as a kid, but it was as a newsreel cameraman in Europe during the Second World War that Russ Meyer learned his trade. Not only did some of his Signal Corps footage find its way into Franklin Schaffner's Oscar-winning Patton (1970), but he also lost his virginity - courtesy of Ernest Hemingway, who treated him to a night in a French bordello. Returning Stateside, Meyer became a photographer, shooting location stills for Hollywood directors like George Stevens and some of the first centrefolds for Hugh Hefner's Playboy magazine. His first attempt at moviemaking was a little-seen smoker, in which Tempest Storm had a plaster cast made of her bust. But the tale of a false-teeth delivery man whose x-ray vision enabled him to see women naked made Meyer a millionaire. The Immoral Mr Teas (1959) cost just $24,000 to complete and spawned more US skin flicks in the following year than had been produced in the previous five decades. Eroticon (1961) and Naked Gals of the West (1962) added humour to the pneumatic topless formula, but were much less successful. So Meyer changed tack and upped the erotic and violent content of his so-called Gothic quartet' - **Lorna** (1964), **Mudhoney**, **Motor Psycho** (both 1965) and **Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!** (1966) - and, consequently, his cult status soared. By now Meyer was operating as an indie *auteur*, writing, directing, photographing and editing his own pictures, which were always funded out of the profits of the previous offering. However, he was lured into the mainstream following the *succes de scandale* of **Vixen** (1969), whose famous lesbian encounter involving Erica Gavin and Vincene Wallace saw him recoup a $6 million return on his $76,000 outlay. Co-scripted by Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert, 20th Century-Fox's **Beyond the Valley of the Dolls** (1970) performed creditably at the box office. But Meyer's follow-up, **The Seven Minutes** (1971), was a pompous misfire and he returned to the exploitation at which he excelled. However, having scored with **Supervixens** (1976) and **Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens** (1979), Meyer ceased production. Rumours long circulated about an autobiographical opus entitled **The Breast of Russ Meyer** - for which he hoped to land Robin Williams for the lead. But, he refused to stop fishing and womanizing and having epicurean meals and generally having a good time', before succumbing recently to a form of dementia. So, sadly, it was never made.