Kenneth Anger obit

Kenneth Anger, Experimental Filmmaker and ‘Hollywood Babylon’ Author, Dies at 96

He was not on the list.

Experimental filmmaker, artist and author Kenneth Anger has died. He was 96.

His gallery, operated by Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers, confirmed the news on their website, writing, “Kenneth was a trailblazer. His cinematic genius and influence will live on and continue to transform all those who encounter his films, words and vision.”

Born in 1927 in Santa Monica, Calif., Anger produced over 30 short films from 1937 to 2013, having made his first movie at 10 years old. Known as “one of America’s first openly gay filmmakers,” he gained a reputation for exploring themes of erotica and homosexuality decades before gay sex was legalized in America. Anger received recognition for his homoerotic 1947 film “Fireworks,” which landed him in court on obscenity charges. Filmed in his childhood home in Beverly Hills while his parents were away for the weekend, “Fireworks” is known as the first gay narrative film produced in the U.S.

Afterward, Anger moved to France and immersed himself in the avant-garde film scene, which inspired Anger’s own works “Eaux d’Artifice” and “Rabbit’s Moon.” After moving back to the states in 1953, he produced the 38-minute “Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome” and the 29-minute “Scorpio Rising,” starring Bruce Byron.

In 1959, Anger published the gossip book “Hollywood Babylon,” which detailed alleged scandals of Hollywood stars from Marilyn Monroe to Judy Garland to Charlie Chaplin. The book has been widely discredited and was banned in the U.S. shortly after its publication. He released a sequel to the book in 1984 after announcing his retirement from filmmaking, a result of his inability to produce a sequel to his 1972 film “Lucifer Rising.” (He would return to the medium at the turn of the century, directing over a dozen short films from 2000 to 2013.)

Karina Longworth’s 2019 season of her “You Must Remember This Podcast” was devoted to examining the stories told in “Hollywood Babylon” and researching other sources to get more accurate accounts.

Anger said in a 2010 interview with The Guardian that he had finished writing a third installment to “Hollywood Babylon,” but was holding off on publishing it due to fear of repercussions. “The main reason I didn’t bring it out was that I had a whole section on Tom Cruise and the Scientologists,” he said. “I’m not a friend of the Scientologists.”

An outspoken Satanist, Anger was a controversial figure who became close friends with other countercultural figures at the, including the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, and Marianne Faithfull, who starred in “Lucifer Rising.”

Anger captured his life’s work in a surrealist anthology film titled “Magick Lantern Cycle, which stitches together nine of his short films including “Fireworks” and “Invocation of My Demon Brother.”

In the statement announcing his death, Sprüth and Magers wrote, “Anger considered cinematographic projection a psychosocial ritual capable of unleashing physical and emotional energies. The artist saw film as nothing less than a spiritual medium, a conveyer of spectacular alchemy that transforms the viewer.”

He has been called "one of America's first openly gay filmmakers", with several films released before the legalization of homosexual acts between consenting adults in the United States. Anger also focused on occult themes in many of his films, being fascinated by the English gnostic mage and poet Aleister Crowley, and is an adherent of Thelema, the religion Crowley founded.

Born to a middle-class Presbyterian family in Santa Monica, California, Anger later claimed to have been a child actor who appeared in the film A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935); the accuracy of this claim is disputed.

Director

Airships (2013)

Airships

Director

Short

2013

 

42 One Dream Rush (2010)

42 One Dream Rush

Director

Short

2010

 

Missoni (2010)

Missoni

Director

Short

2010

 

Magick Lantern Cycle (2009)

Magick Lantern Cycle

Director

Video

2009

 

Brush of Baphomet (2009)

Brush of Baphomet

Director

Short

2009

 

My Surfing Lucifer (2009)

My Surfing Lucifer

Director

Short

2009

 

Foreplay (2008)

Foreplay

Director

Short

2008

 

Elliot's Suicide (2007)

Elliot's Suicide

Director

Short

2007

 

Mouse Heaven (2004)

Mouse Heaven

Director

Short

2004

 

Anger Sees Red (2004)

Anger Sees Red

Director (as Dr. Kenneth Anger)

Short

2004

 

Fireworks (1947)

The Man We Want to Hang

Director

Short

2002

 

Hollywood Babylon (2000)

Hollywood Babylon

Director

Short

2000

 

Ich will! (2000)

Ich will!

Director

Short

2000

 

Don't Smoke That Cigarette (1999)

Don't Smoke That Cigarette

Director

1999

 

Senators in Bondage

Director

Short

1976

 

Lucifer Rising (1972)

Lucifer Rising

Director

Short

1972

 

Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969)

Invocation of My Demon Brother

Director

Short

1969

 

Kustom Kar Kommandos (1965)

Kustom Kar Kommandos

Director

Short

1965

 

Scorpio Rising (1963)

Scorpio Rising

Director

Short

1963

 

Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954)

Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome

Director (as Anger)

Short

1954

 

Eaux d'artifice (1953)

Eaux d'artifice

Director (as Anger)

Short

1953

 

Rabbit's Moon (1950)

Rabbit's Moon

Director (as Anger)

Short

1950

 

Yvonne Marquis in Puce Moment (1949)

Puce Moment

Director (as Anger)

Short

1949

 

Escape Episode

Director

Short

1947

 

Fireworks (1947)

Fireworks

Director

Short

1947

 

Drastic Demise

Director

Short

1945

 

The Nest

Director

Short

1943

 

Tinsel Tree

Director

Short

1942

 

Prisoner of Mars

Director

Short

1942

 

Who Has Been Rocking My Dreamboat

Director

Short

1941

 

Writer

Magick Lantern Cycle (2009)

Magick Lantern Cycle

written by

Video

2009

 

Brush of Baphomet (2009)

Brush of Baphomet

writer

Short

2009

 

Foreplay (2008)

Foreplay

Writer

Short

2008

 

Elliot's Suicide (2007)

Elliot's Suicide

Writer

Short

2007

 

Mouse Heaven (2004)

Mouse Heaven

Writer

Short

2004

 

Anger Sees Red (2004)

Anger Sees Red

Writer

Short

2004

 

Ich will! (2000)

Ich will!

Writer

Short

2000

 

Hollywood Babylon (1992)

Hollywood Babylon

based on books by

TV Series

1993

1 episode

 

Hollywood Babylon II

book

Video

1992

 

Senators in Bondage

Writer

Short

1976

 

Hollywood Babylon (1971)

Hollywood Babylon

book "Hollywood Babylon" (uncredited)

1971

 

Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969)

Invocation of My Demon Brother

Writer (uncredited)

Short

1969

 

Kustom Kar Kommandos (1965)

Kustom Kar Kommandos

Writer (uncredited)

Short

1965

 

Scorpio Rising (1963)

Scorpio Rising

Writer (uncredited)

Short

1963

 

Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954)

Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome

Writer (uncredited)

Short

1954

 

Rabbit's Moon (1950)

Rabbit's Moon

Writer (uncredited)

Short

1950

 

Yvonne Marquis in Puce Moment (1949)

Puce Moment

Writer (uncredited)

Short

1949

 

Fireworks (1947)

Fireworks

Writer (uncredited)

Short

1947

 

Drastic Demise

Writer

Short

1945

 

The Nest

writer

Short

1943

 

Tinsel Tree

Writer

Short

1942

 

Prisoner of Mars

Writer

Short

1942

 

Who Has Been Rocking My Dreamboat

Writer

Short

1941