Stanley Kubrick (July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. A prominent figure of the New Hollywood era, Kubrick is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers. His films spanned a number of genres and gained recognition for their attention to detail, innovative cinematography, extensive set design, and dark humor.
Born in New York City, Kubrick worked as a photographer for Look magazine in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He made his first major Hollywood film, The Killing, in 1956. This was followed by two collaborations with Kirk Douglas: the anti-war film Paths of Glory (1957) and the historical epic Spartacus (1960). In 1961, Kubrick settled in England. In 1978, he made his home at Childwickbury Manor with his wife Christiane, and it became his workplace where he centralized the writing, research, editing, and management of his productions. This permitted him almost complete artistic control over his films, with the rare advantage of financial support from major Hollywood studios. His first productions in England were two films with Peter Sellers: the comedy-drama Lolita (1962) and the Cold War satire Dr. Strangelove (1964).
A perfectionist who assumed direct control over most aspects of his filmmaking, Kubrick cultivated expertise in writing, editing, color grading, promotion, and exhibition. He was famous for the painstaking care taken in researching his films and staging scenes. He frequently asked for several dozen retakes of the same shot, often confusing and frustrating his actors. Many of Kubrick's films broke new cinematic ground and are now considered landmarks. The scientific realism and innovative special effects in his science fiction epic 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) were a first in cinema history; the film earned him his only Academy Award (for Best Visual Effects) and is regarded as one of the greatest films ever made.
While many of Kubrick's films were controversial and initially received mixed reviews upon release—particularly the brutal A Clockwork Orange (1971), which Kubrick withdrew from circulation in the UK following a media frenzy—most were nominated for Academy Awards, Golden Globes, or BAFTA Awards, and underwent critical re-evaluations. With the horror film The Shining (1980), he became one of the first directors to make use of a Steadicam for stabilized and fluid tracking shots, a technology vital to his Vietnam War film Full Metal Jacket (1987). A few days after hosting a screening for his family and the stars of his final film, Eyes Wide Shut (1999), he died at the age of 70.
Stanley Kubrick was born in the Lying-In Hospital in New York City's Manhattan borough on July 26, 1928. He was the first of two children of Jacob Leonard Kubrick, known as Jack or Jacques, and his wife Sadie Gertrude Kubrick (née Perveler), known as Gert. His sister Barbara was born in 1934. At Stanley's birth, the Kubricks lived in the Bronx. His parents married in a Jewish ceremony, but Kubrick was not raised religious. His father was a homeopathic doctor and, by the standards of the West Bronx, the family was fairly wealthy.
Soon after his sister's birth, Kubrick began attending Public School 3 in the Bronx and moved to Public School 90 in June 1938. His IQ was above average but his attendance was poor. He displayed an interest in literature from a young age and began reading Greek and Roman myths and the fables of the Brothers Grimm. When Kubrick was 12, his father Jack taught him chess. The game remained a lifelong interest of Kubrick's, appearing in many of his films. Kubrick, who later became a member of the United States Chess Federation, explained that chess helped him develop "patience and discipline". When Kubrick was 13, his father bought him a Graflex camera, triggering a fascination with still photography. He befriended a neighbor, Marvin Traub, who shared his passion for photography. Traub had his own darkroom where he and the young Kubrick would spend many hours perusing photographs and watching the chemicals "magically make images on photographic paper". The two roamed the streets looking for interesting subjects to photograph and spent time in local cinemas. Freelance photographer Weegee (Arthur Fellig) had a considerable influence on Kubrick's development as a photographer; Kubrick later hired Fellig as the special stills photographer for Dr. Strangelove (1964). As a teenager, Kubrick was also interested in jazz and briefly attempted a career as a drummer.
Kubrick attended William Howard Taft High School from 1941 to 1945. He joined the school's photography club, photographing school events in their magazine. He was a mediocre student. Introverted and shy, Kubrick often skipped school to watch films. He graduated in 1945 but his poor grades, combined with the demand for college admissions from soldiers returning from World War II, eliminated any hope of higher education. Later in life Kubrick maintained that schools were ineffective in stimulating critical thinking and student interest. His father was disappointed in his son's failure to achieve the excellence in school of which he knew Stanley was capable. Jack also encouraged Stanley to read from the family library at home, while permitting Stanley to take up photography as a serious hobby.
While in high school, Kubrick was chosen as an official school photographer. In the mid-1940s, since he was unable to gain admission to day session classes at colleges, he briefly attended evening classes at the City College of New York, which had open admissions. Eventually, he sold a photographic series to Look magazine, which was printed on June 26, 1945. Kubrick supplemented his income by playing chess "for quarters" in Washington Square Park and Manhattan chess clubs.
In 1946, he became an apprentice photographer for Look and later a full-time staff photographer. Kubrick quickly became known for his story-telling in photographs. In 1948, he was sent to Portugal to document a travel piece, and later that year covered the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Sarasota, Florida.
A boxing enthusiast, Kubrick eventually began photographing boxing matches for the magazine. His earliest, "Prizefighter", was published on January 18, 1949, and captured a boxing match and the events leading up to it, featuring American middleweight Walter Cartier. On April 2, 1949, he published photo essay "Chicago-City of Extremes" in Look, which displayed his early talent for creating atmosphere with imagery. Kubrick was also assigned to photograph numerous jazz musicians.
Kubrick married his high-school sweetheart Toba Metz on May 28, 1948. They lived at 36 West 16th Street, just north of Greenwich Village. During this time, Kubrick began frequenting film screenings. He was inspired by the complex, fluid camerawork of French director Max Ophüls, whose films influenced Kubrick's visual style, and by director Elia Kazan, whom he described as America's "best director" at that time, with his ability of "performing miracles" with his actors. Friends began to notice Kubrick had become obsessed with the art of filmmaking—one friend, David Vaughan, observed that Kubrick would scrutinize the film at the cinema when it went silent, and would go back to reading his paper when people started talking. He spent many hours reading books on film theory and writing notes. He was particularly inspired by Sergei Eisenstein and Arthur Rothstein, the photographic technical director of Look magazine.
Kubrick shared a love of film with his school friend Alexander Singer. Through Singer, who worked in the offices of the newsreel production company The March of Time, Kubrick learned it could cost $40,000 to make a proper short film, a sum he could not afford. He produced a few short documentaries with encouragement from Singer.
Kubrick decided to make a short film documentary about boxer Walter Cartier, whom he had photographed and written about for Look magazine a year earlier. He rented a camera and produced a 16-minute black-and-white documentary, Day of the Fight. Kubrick found the money independently to finance it. He had considered asking Montgomery Clift to narrate it, but settled on CBS news veteran Douglas Edwards. According to Paul Duncan the film was "remarkably accomplished for a first film", and used a backward tracking shot to film a scene in which Cartier and his brother walk towards the camera, a device which later became one of Kubrick's characteristic camera movements. Vincent Cartier, Walter's brother and manager, later reflected, "Stanley was a very stoic, impassive but imaginative type person with strong, imaginative thoughts. He commanded respect in a quiet, shy way. Whatever he wanted, you complied, he just captivated you. Anybody who worked with Stanley did just what Stanley wanted". After a score was added by Singer's friend Gerald Fried, Kubrick had spent $3900 in making it, and sold it to RKO-Pathé for $4000, which was the most the company had ever paid for a short film at the time. Kubrick described his first effort at filmmaking as having been valuable, later declaring that the "best education in film is to make one".