Samuel Fuller
Known for
Samuel Fuller was an American director born in Worcester, Massachusetts, celebrated for blunt, hard-hitting genre films informed directly by his own experience as a combat infantryman and tabloid crime reporter. Pickup on South Street, a Cold War-inflected noir about a pickpocket who unwittingly steals stolen microfilm, established his tough, provocative visual style, while Shock Corridor and The Naked Kiss used pulpy, exploitation-adjacent premises to smuggle in unusually direct social commentary on mental illness, racism, and abuse. The Big Red One, made decades later and drawn directly from his own World War II combat experience, distilled his lifelong preoccupation with the brutal reality of warfare into his most personal and acclaimed film. Fuller's blunt, tabloid-honed instinct for provocative, headline-grabbing subject matter made him a defining influence on later directors including Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.
Samuel Fuller
45 Directed
4 Series
Samuel Fuller was an American director born in Worcester, Massachusetts, celebrated for blunt, hard-hitting genre films informed directly by his own experience as a combat infantryman and tabloid crime reporter. Pickup on South Street, a Cold War-inflected noir about a pickpocket who unwittingly steals stolen microfilm, established his tough, provocative visual style, while Shock Corridor and The Naked Kiss used pulpy, exploitation-adjacent premises to smuggle in unusually direct social commentary on mental illness, racism, and abuse. The Big Red One, made decades later and drawn directly from his own World War II combat experience, distilled his lifelong preoccupation with the brutal reality of warfare into his most personal and acclaimed film. Fuller's blunt, tabloid-honed instinct for provocative, headline-grabbing subject matter made him a defining influence on later directors including Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.
Movies
Director
The Big Red One
1980
Director
House of Bamboo
1955
Director
Pickup on South Street
1953
Director
The Naked Kiss
1964
Director
Hell and High Water
1954
Director
White Dog
1982
Director
Merrill's Marauders
1962
Director
Shock Corridor
1963
Director
The Crimson Kimono
1959
Director
The Steel Helmet
1951
Director
Underworld U.S.A.
1961
Director
Shark
1969
Director
Forty Guns
1957
Director
China Gate
1957
Director
Verboten!
1959
Director
Fixed Bayonets!
1951
Director
The Baron of Arizona
1950
Director
Run of the Arrow
1957
Director
I Shot Jesse James
1949
Director
Thieves After Dark
1984
Director
The Big Red One: The Reconstruction
2005
Director
Street of No Return
1989
Director
Park Row
1952
Latest Trailers
Watch Trailer
The End of Violence
Full Filmography
The Big Red One: The Reconstruction
Director
2005
Film
Girls in Prison
Writer
1994
Film
Rebel Highway
Writer · 1 episode
1994–
TV
The Day of Reckoning
Director
1990
Film
Chillers
Director · 1 episode
1990–
TV
Street of No Return
Director
1989
Film
Let's Get Harry
Story
1986
Film
Thieves After Dark
Director
1984
Film
White Dog
Director
1982
Film
Photos
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Samuel Fuller still alive?
Samuel Fuller passed away on October 30, 1997 at age 85.
What are the most famous roles of Samuel Fuller?
Samuel Fuller is best known for directing The Big Red One, Pickup on South Street, White Dog.
How many movies has Samuel Fuller directed?
Over a 61-year career (since 1936), Samuel Fuller has directed or written 45 films and worked on 4 TV shows.
What was Samuel Fuller's first movie?
The career of Samuel Fuller began with Hats Off (1936).
What is Samuel Fuller's most recent movie or series?
Samuel Fuller's most recent release is The Big Red One: The Reconstruction, which premiered on May 3, 2005.
What TV shows has Samuel Fuller created or directed?
On television, Samuel Fuller has appeared in Scene of the Crime, The Virginian, The Dick Powell Show, Chillers.
Samuel Fuller
1912-08-12 · Worcester, 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.