Paul
Morrissey
Born in New York City in 1938, Paul Morrissey studied literature at Fordham
University. In the early 1960’s, following a stint in the Army and
jobs in insurance and as a social worker, he began directing short independent
films.
In 1965, he was introduced to Andy Warhol, who asked him to contribute
ideas and bring new direction to the film experiments he had been recently
begun presenting--others had been suggesting, and in a very limited sense,
directing these early experiments, but they remained in a static, relatively
primitive state. From then on, Morrissey not only directed all of the
films but signed a management contract with Warhol putting him in charge
of all operations at the Warhol studio with the exception of the sales
of artwork.
It was Morrissey’s idea that Warhol’s celebrity name be used
to promote a rock n’ roll group; to that end, he discovered the
Velvet Underground, added Nico to the band and signed them all to a management
contract. While administering the very successful early years of the group,
he continued to add story ideas, casting, cinematography and direction
to all of the film experiments that Warhol presented from “My Hustler”
(1965) and “Chelsea Girls” (1966) through “Imitation
of Christ” (1967) and “Bike Boy” (1967); Morrissey acted
as the films’ distributor as well.
After “Lonesome Cowboys” (1967), which was written, produced
and directed by Morrissey from start to finish, he assumed total control
of all subsequent films presented by Andy Warhol--from the arthouse/cult
classics “Flesh” (1968), “Trash” (1970) and “Heat”
(1972) to his more mainstream successes with the Carlo Ponti/Jean-Pierre
Rassam productions “Flesh for Frankenstein” (1974) and “Blood
for Dracula” (1974).
Morrissey parted company with Warhol in 1975 when the artist chose to
concentrate on his painting and business activities. Morrissey went on
to pursue financing for his later films, one of the very few American
film directors to remain independent of any Hollywood film companies,
independent or otherwise.
He was always responsible for his films in their entirety, working consistently
with mostly young unknown actors, writing and directing with no outside
interference of any kind. Once financing from “independent”
sources no longer allowed him the freedom from interference that he previously
enjoyed, he stopped making films.
MIXED
BLOOD (1985) Director
and Writer
MADAME
WANG’S (1981) Director, Writer, Cinematography
BLOOD FOR DRACULA (1974) Director and Writer
FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN (1974) Director and
Write
HEAT (1972) Director, Writer, Cinematography,
Producer
WOMEN IN REVOLT (1972) Director, Writer, Cinematography, Editor,
Producer
TRASH (1970) Director, Writer, Cinematography,
Editor, Producer
FLESH (1968) Director, Writer, Cinematography, Producer