Samuel Fuller
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.
Fotos
Películas (99)
The Road to Jericho
2026
Films to Die For
2025 · (archive footage) (uncredited)
A Fuller Life
2013 · Self, Book
Scene Missing
2012 · Self
Nuits transparentes
2011
Carmel
2009
Filmmakers in Action
2006 · Self (archive footage)
The Big Red One: The Reconstruction
2005 · War Correspondent (uncredited), Writer, Director
The Real Glory: Reconstructing 'The Big Red One'
2005 · Himself (archive footage)
Necro not(to b)e
2003 · Sé stesso
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
2002 · Self
The End of Violence
1997 · Louis
The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera
1996 · Self
Somebody to Love
1994 · Sam Silverman
Girls in Prison
1994 · Writer
Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made
1994 · Self
Un Américain en Normandie
1994 · Himself
Anything for John
1993 · Self
Golem: The Petrified Garden
1993 · Sam
Golem, the Spirit of Exile
1992 · Elimelek
La Vie de Bohème
1992 · Gassot
Where Is Musette?
1992 · Self
Shock Corridor
1992 · himself
The Madonna and the Dragon
1990 · Chef de bureau Newsweek, Director, Screenplay
The Day of Reckoning
1990 · Director, Screenplay
Motion and Emotion: The Films of Wim Wenders
1990 · Self
Sons
1990 · Father
Street of No Return
1989 · Police Commissioner, Director, Screenplay, Dialogue
Tell me Sam - Encounters with Sam Fuller
1989 · Himself
Falkenau, the Impossible
1988 · Samuel Fuller
Mer de Chine: Le pays pour mémoire
1988 · Le capitaine américain
Helsinki Napoli All Night Long
1987 · Boss
A Return to Salem's Lot
1987 · Van Meer
Midnight Sun Film Festival
1987
The Bleeding Star
1987 · The Man in the Bar
Let's Get Harry
1986 · Story
Hooray For Holyrood
1986 · Self
A Travelling is a Moral Affair
1986 · Himself
Report from Hollywood
1985
Thieves After Dark
1984 · Zoltan, Writer, Director
Sam Fuller & the Big Red One
1984 · Self
Slapstick of Another Kind
1982 · Colonel Sharp
The State of Things
1982 · Joe
White Dog
1982 · Charlie Felton, Screenplay, Director
Hammett
1982 · Old Man in Pool Hall
Sam Fuller: Writings with a Camera
1981 · Himself
The Big Red One
1980 · War Correspondent (uncredited), Director, Writer
1941
1979 · Interceptor Commander
Cinématon
1978 · N°602
The Meanest Men in the West
1978 · Director, Screenplay
The American Friend
1977 · The American
Scott Joplin
1977 · Impresario
The Klansman
1974 · Screenplay
The Deadly Trackers
1973 · Story
The Young Nurses
1973 · Doc Haskell
Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street
1972 · Writer, Director
The Last Movie
1971 · Sam
Shark
1969 · Director, Screenplay
Targets
1968 · Screenplay
Cinéastes de notre temps : Samuel Fuller
1967 · Interviewee
The Cape Town Affair
1967 · Writer
Made in U.S.A
1967 · Thanks
Brigitte and Brigitte
1966 · Self
Pierrot le Fou
1965 · Samuel Fuller (uncredited)
The Naked Kiss
1964 · Director, Writer, Producer
Shock Corridor
1963 · Director, Screenplay, Producer
Merrill's Marauders
1962 · Director, Screenplay
Underworld U.S.A.
1961 · Director, Writer, Producer
The Crimson Kimono
1959 · Director, Writer, Producer
Verboten!
1959 · Writer, Director
Dogface
1959 · Director, Writer, Producer
Forty Guns
1957 · Director, Screenplay, Producer
Run of the Arrow
1957 · Writer, Director, Producer
China Gate
1957 · Director, Screenplay, Producer
House of Bamboo
1955 · Japanese policeman (uncredited), Director, Additional Dialogue
The Command
1954 · Writer
Hell and High Water
1954 · Screenplay, Director
Pickup on South Street
1953 · Director, Screenplay
Park Row
1952 · Director, Producer, Writer
Scandal Sheet
1952 · Novel
Fixed Bayonets!
1951 · Director, Screenplay
The Tanks Are Coming
1951 · Story
The Steel Helmet
1951 · Writer, Director, Producer
The Baron of Arizona
1950 · Writer, Director
I Shot Jesse James
1949 · Director, Writer
Shockproof
1949 · Writer
Gangs of the Waterfront
1945 · Story
V-E +1
1945 · Director
Margin for Error
1943 · Screenplay
Power of the Press
1943 · Story
Confirm or Deny
1941 · Story
Bowery Boy
1940 · Original Story
Gangs of Chicago
1940 · Screenplay
She Married a Cop
1939 · Writer
Federal Man-Hunt
1938 · Story
Adventure in Sahara
1938 · Story
Gangs of New York
1938 · Screenplay, Story
It Happened in Hollywood
1937 · Screenplay
Hats Off
1936 · Story, Screenplay
