Born in Oakland, California, Russell (Russ) Meyer took an early interest in photography and the moving image, winning recognition for his amateur efforts during his mid-teens.

He gained professional experience as a newsreel cameraman in Europe during World War II, and upon returning home, took up work as a glamour photographer—from which he moved to ‘nudie’ magazines, shooting centrefolds for Hugh Heffner’s recently established Playboy.

It was a short stretch into film. Meyer produced his first voyeuristicfeature, The Immoral Mr Teas (1959), reaping huge rewards when the film became something of a success. This did not go unnoticed by fellow producers who swiftly moved to imitate Meyer’s fine balance between nudity and obscenity. Always one step ahead, he added the notions of sex and violence to his formula in Lorna (1964), and established the Meyer sexploitation style. 1965 heralded Meyer’s peak, with the bloody and breasty Motor Psycho, following three bad-boy bikers on a brutal, sex-charged rampage, and Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1966), which inverted the formula, showcasing the violent exploits of a trio of curvaceous go-go dancers.

Despite his risqué subject matter, Meyer always managed to keep on the right side of the censors. In 1969, however, he pushed the limits with his first colour film, Vixen, receiving an X rating. Previously, Meyer had courted the R rating, which would allow his films to be shown at drive-ins, but this new rating pushed him into bawdy new territory, and he relished the notoriety the X classification had lent him.

After the success of Vixen, Meyer was commissioned by 20th Century–Fox to direct Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)—his greatest success—and The Seven Minutes (1971), his most serious and least successful film. He returned to independent production until the demise of the drive-in and the advent of hard-core pornography saw his popularity wane. Meyer’s last theatrical feature film was 1979’s Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens.

Meyer’s sexploitation satires often depicted taboo themes, and repeatedly pushed the boundaries of American mores. They have influenced countless filmmakers including John Waters, Quentin Tarantino and the Farelly bothers. Meyer died in Hollywood on September 18, 2004.

Russ Meyer Filmography

• 2000 Russ Meyer’s Pandora Peaks (video short)
• 1979 Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens
• 1976 Up!
• 1975 Supervixens
• 1972 Blacksnake! (a.k.a. Sweet Suzy, Duchess Of Doom)
• 1971 The Seven Minutes
• 1970 Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
• 1969 Cherry, Harry & Raquel
• 1968 Vixen!
• 1968 Finders Keepers, Lovers Weepers!
• 1967 Good Morning and Goodbye!
• 1967 Common Law Cabin
• 1966 Mondo Topless (documentary)
• 1966 Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
• 1965 Motor Psycho
• 1965 Mudhoney (a.k.a Rope of Flesh)
• 1964 Lorna
• 1963 Europe in the Raw (documentary)
• 1963 Skyscrapers and Brassieres (short)
• 1963 Heavenly Bodies!
• 1962 Wild Gals of the Golden West
• 1961 Erotica/Skyscrapers and Brassieres (short)
• 1961 The Naked Camera (short)
• 1960 Eve and the Handyman
• 1959 The Immoral Mr. Teas
• 1959 The French Peep Show (documentary short)