Stanley Kubrick
American filmmaker and photographer (1928–1999)
A film career built across genres
Photography and first films
Stanley Kubrick worked as a photographer for Look magazine before making short documentaries. His early features included Fear and Desire in 1953 and the crime film The Killing in 1956. Paths of Glory, released the next year, brought a sharper examination of military authority to a wider audience.
War, satire and space
After directing Spartacus, Kubrick made Lolita and the nuclear-war satire Dr. Strangelove. His 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey brought visual effects, music and an unusually open-ended narrative together. The film earned him an Academy Award for its visual effects.
Later adaptations
Kubrick continued adapting novels in A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon and The Shining. Full Metal Jacket returned to war through the experience of soldiers in Vietnam. His final film, Eyes Wide Shut, was completed before his death in 1999 and released afterward.