Russell Albion Meyer, a renowned filmmaker and photographer, was born in San Leandro, California, to Lydia Lucinda Hauck, a nurse, and William Arthur Meyer, a police officer, who divorced during his childhood. Both of his parents were of German descent. Meyer's early life was marked by creative pursuits, as he began winning prizes for his amateur films at the tender age of 15.
As a young man, Meyer spent World War II in Europe, where he worked as a combat cameraman. After the war, he transitioned into a career as a professional photographer, capturing some of the earliest Playboy centerfolds. This experience laid the groundwork for his future success in the film industry.
Meyer made his directorial debut with the 1959 film "Mr. Tease and His Playthings," which marked the first nudie (softcore sex) film to gross over a million dollars. This initial success led to a string of self-financed films that gradually became more bizarre, violent, and cartoonish.
In the mid-1960s, Meyer established his unique style with a quartet of black-and-white films, including "Russ Meyer's Lorna," "Mudhoney," "Motorpsycho!," and "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!," which many consider to be his best work.
Following the blockbusting success of "Vixen!" in 1968, Meyer was hired by 20th-Century Fox to create studio pictures. His first film for the studio, "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls," was an enormous hit. However, the lukewarm reception of his next film, "The Seven Minutes," led Meyer to return to the sex-and-violence films that had made his name.
Meyer's final film, "Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens," was released in 1979. In the 1980s, he worked on various autobiographies, including the film "Breast of Russ Meyer" and the book "A Clean Breast."
