Russ Meyer mini-bio: His first feature, the nudist comedy The Immoral Mr. Teas (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 twenty movies with a trademark blend of warped humor, huge-breasted starlets
and All-American sleaze, including classics 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.
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! starring Tura Satana, is usually considered to be his
most well known film and it also routinely chosen as having some of the most
powerful female characters ever seen on the big screen. It has a cult following all
over the world and has inspired countless imitations, music videos and tributes.
Because his films were expertly photographed and unique he was able to eventually
find mainstream success and press, even with an X rating. After the huge success of
both Cherry, Harry & Raquel!(1966) and Vixen, Hollywood, which had initially
rejected him, came calling and at the height of his independent career, Russ Meyer
got the chance to make a big-budget Hollywood film for 20th Century Fox, producing
the brilliant but not-exactly-what-Fox-expected Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
(1970, co-written by Roger Ebert). After a second film for Fox (The Seven Minutes)
Meyer returned to the independent film world and made four more films, including
Supervixens (1974). Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens, his final film proper
(1979), is considered by many to be his funniest and it is also his most sexually
explicit. It should be noted that Russ Meyer never did hardcore
pornographic films and eventually retired because of how cynical and unprofessional
the world of adult films had become by the late 1970s.
