Samuel Fuller

Known for DirectingBorn 1912-08-12Died 1997-10-30Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

Samuel Michael Fuller (August 12, 1912 – October 30, 1997) was an American screenwriter, novelist and film director known for low-budget genre movies with controversial themes. He was born Samuel Michael Fuller in Worcester, Massachusetts, the son of Benjamin Rabinovitch, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, and Rebecca Baum, a Jewish immigrant from Poland. After immigrating to America, the family's surname was changed from Rabinovitch to "Fuller" possibly by inspiration of a Doctor who arrived in America on the Mayflower. At the age of 12, he began working in journalism as a newspaper copyboy. He became a crime reporter in New York City at age 17, working for the New York Evening Graphic. He broke the story of Jeanne Eagels' death. He wrote pulp novels and screenplays from the mid-1930s onwards. Fuller also became a screenplay ghostwriter but would never tell interviewers which screenplays that he ghost-wrote explaining "that's what a ghost writer is for". During World War II, Fuller joined the United States Army infantry. He was assigned to the 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, and saw heavy fighting. He was involved in landings in Africa, Sicily, and Normandy and also saw action in Belgium and Czechoslovakia. In 1945 he was present at the liberation of the German concentration camp at Falkenau and shot 16 mm footage which was used later in the documentary Falkenau: The Impossible. For his service, he was awarded the Bronze Star, the Silver Star, and the Purple Heart. Fuller used his wartime experiences as material in his films, especially in The Big Red One (1980), a nickname of the 1st Infantry Division. After his controversial film "White Dog" was shelved by Paramount pictures, Fuller moved to France, and never directed another American film. Fuller eventually returned to America. He died of natural causes in his California home. In November 1997, the Directors Guild held a three hour memorial in his honor, hosted by Curtis Hanson, his long time friend and co-writer on White Dog. He was survived by his wife Christa and daughter Samantha.Read more

Movies & web series

Where Is Musette?

The Big Red One: The Reconstruction

David Lansky

Rebel Highway

Motion and Emotion: The Films of Wim Wenders

The Tanks Are Coming

La Vie de Bohème

Anything for John

Filmmakers in Action

The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera

Falkenau, the Impossible

Carmel

The Real Glory: Reconstructing 'The Big Red One'

Pierrot le Fou

Gangs of the Waterfront

Pickup on South Street

The Day of Reckoning

Federal Man-Hunt

The American Friend

Report from Hollywood

Sam Fuller & the Big Red One

Targets

A Fuller Life

Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street

Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made

The Naked Kiss

Shock Corridor

Underworld U.S.A.

Chillers

The Madonna and the Dragon

The Steel Helmet

The Big Red One

Sodankylä Forever

Scandal Sheet

White Dog

Scene Missing

Verboten!

Sons

The State of Things

The Crimson Kimono

The Baron of Arizona

Park Row

She Married a Cop

Forty Guns

The Virginian

Fixed Bayonets!

Hammett

Scott Joplin