Russ Meyer

Russ Meyer
Meyer in 1996 (photo by Roger Ebert)
Born	Russell Albion Meyer (1922-03-21)March 21, 1922 San Leandro, California, U.S.
Died	September 18, 2004(2004-09-18) (aged 82) Hollywood Hills, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Pneumonia
Nationality	American
Years active	1947-1979
Spouse(s)	Betty Valdovinos (1949–1950) Eve Meyer (1952–1966) Edy Williams (1970–1973)

Russell Albion "Russ" Meyer (March 21, 1922 – September 18, 2004) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, film editor, actor, and photographer. Meyer is known primarily for writing and directing a series of successful sexploitation films that featured campy humor, sly satire and large-breasted women, such as Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

Russ Meyer was born in San Leandro, California, the son of Lydia Lucinda (Hauck) and William Arthur Meyer, an Oakland police officer. His parents were both of German descent. Meyer's parents divorced soon after he was born, and Meyer was to have virtually no contact with his father during his life. When he was 14 years old, his mother pawned her wedding ring in order to buy him an 8mm film camera. He made a number of amateur films at the age of 15, and served during World War II as a U.S. Army combat cameraman for the 166th Signal Photo Company. Even then he already demonstrated a corny directing style and included nudity, like in scenes of naked GIs bathing in the Rhine in March 1945. In the Army, Meyer forged his strongest friendships, and he would later ask many of his fellow combat cameramen to work on his films. Much of Meyer's work during World War II can be seen in newsreels and in the film Patton (1971). On his return to civilian life, he was unable to secure cinematography work in Hollywood due to a lack of industry connections. He made industrial films, freelanced as a still photographer for mainstream films (he did the still photography for Giant), and became a well known glamour photographer whose work included some of the initial shoots for Hugh Hefner's Playboy magazine. Meyer would go on to shoot three Playboy centerfolds during the magazine's early years, one of his wife Eve Meyer in 1955. He also shot a pictorial of then-wife Edy Williams in March 1973.