Paul Morrissey

{{Infobox person

| name = Paul Morrissey

| image = Paul Morrissey photobooth self portrait 1967.jpg

| caption = Morrissey in 1967

| birth_name = Paul Joseph Morrissey

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1938|02|23}}

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2024|10|28|1938|2|23}}

| death_place = New York City, U.S.

| known_for = Warhol superstar

| occupation = Filmmaker

| alma_mater = Fordham University

| years_active = 1961–2010

}}

Paul Joseph Morrissey (February 23, 1938 – October 28, 2024) was an American film director, known for his early association with Andy Warhol.{{Cite news|last=Grimes|first=William|date=December 26, 1995|title=A Warhol Director On What Is Sordid, Then and on MTV (Published 1995)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/26/movies/a-warhol-director-on-what-is-sordid-then-and-on-mtv.html|access-date=December 2, 2020|issn=0362-4331}} His most famous films include Flesh (1968), Trash (1970), Heat (1972), Flesh for Frankenstein (1973), and Blood for Dracula (1974), all starring Joe Dallesandro, 1971's Women in Revolt and the 1980s New York trilogy Forty Deuce (1982), Mixed Blood (1984), and Spike of Bensonhurst (1988).{{Cite web |last=King-Clements |first=Eloise |date=February 22, 2024 |title=Brontez Purnell on Paul Morrissey, the OG Edgelord |url=https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/brontez-purnell-on-paul-morrissey-the-og-edgelord |access-date=May 18, 2024 |website=Interview Magazine |language=en-US}}

From 1965 to 1973, Morrissey ran the publicity and filmmaking activity for Warhol at The Factory (first at 231 E. 47th St. and then at 33 Union Square West in New York City).{{cite web | url=https://denniscooperblog.com/paul-morrissey-day/ | title=Paul Morrissey Day – DC's | date=April 3, 2021 }} Additionally, between 1966 and 1967, he managed the Velvet Underground and Nico and co-conceived and named Warhol's traveling multi-media Happening the Exploding Plastic Inevitable.Bockris, Victor and Gerard Malanga. Up-Tight: The Velvet Underground Story. Omnibus Press. 1983. pp 30{{cite web | url=https://warholstars.org/velvet_underground_cafe_bizarre.html | title=Velvet Underground, Expanded Cinema and Cafe Bizarre }} In 1969, alongside Warhol and publisher John Wilcock, Morrissey launched the print magazine Interview hiring its longtime editor Bob Colacello in autumn 1970.{{cite web | url=https://warholstars.org/warhol/warhol1/warhol1c/warhol1cl/interview.html | title=Andy Warhol's Interview magazine }}

In 1971, Warhol and Morrissey purchased Eothen in Montauk, New York, a 12-hectare oceanfront estate on the Long Island shore for $225,000.{{cite web | url=https://www.anothermanmag.com/life-culture/10203/the-humble-fishing-town-that-became-a-hideaway-for-warhols-gang | title=The Humble Fishing Town that Became a Hideaway for Warhol's Gang | date=February 27, 2018 }} Morrissey would sell the estate in 2006 to J. Crew CEO Millard Drexler.{{cite web | url=https://www.corcoran.com/nyc/press-mention/display/4847 | title="Bonuses bump up eastern Long Island sales" - by: Rachel Deahl, the Real Deal | the Corcoran Group }}

In 1998, Morrissey was given the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award at the Chicago Underground Film Festival.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=August 7, 1998 |title=UNDERGROUND FILM FEST A MIX OF THE TASTELESS AND THE ARTFUL |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1998/08/07/underground-film-fest-a-mix-of-the-tasteless-and-the-artful/ |access-date=May 18, 2024 |website=Chicago Tribune |language=en-US}}

Early life and career

Born in Manhattan, New York, on February 23, 1938, to Irish Catholic parents Joseph and Eleanor Morrissey, Paul Joseph Morrissey grew up in Yonkers, New York.{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/28/movies/paul-morrissey-dead.html|title = Paul Morrissey, Andy Warhol's Cinematic Collaborator, Dies at 86|last = Grimes|first = William|date = October 28, 2024|accessdate = October 28, 2024|newspaper = The New York Times|url-access = limited}}Yacowar, Maurice. The Films of Paul Morrissey. Cambridge University Press, 1993. pp 13 The fourth of five children, Morrissey attended Fordham Prep and Fordham University, both Catholic schools. Upon graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, going through basic training at Fort Benning and Fort Dix, achieving the rank of First Lieutenant. While in the reserves following active duty, he moved to the East Village in late 1960 and opened the Exit Gallery, a small cinematheque at 36 E. 4th St., where he programmed a mix of underground films and documentaries, including Icarus (1960), Brian De Palma's first film.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5RfCEnrMhwC | title=The Films of Paul Morrissey | isbn=978-0-521-38993-8 | last1=Yacowar | first1=Maurice | date=May 28, 1993 | publisher=Cambridge University Press }} Simultaneously, Morrissey began making his own short, silent 16mm comedies, including Mary Martin Does It (1962), Taylor Mead Dances (1963), and Like Sleep (1964).{{cite web | url=https://brooklynrail.org/2005/12/film/the-wild-wild-east | title=The Wild, Wild East | date=December 10, 2005 }}

File:Village Voice ad for the Film-makers' Cinematheque. June 17, 1965. p. 15.png

Introduced by poet and filmmaker Gerard Malanga, he first met Andy Warhol in June 1965 at the Astor Place Playhouse, where Morrissey was having a retrospective of his work. Taken by Morrissey's resourcefulness and filmmaking expertise, Warhol invited him to the Factory to assist him with his next project, Space, filmed at the E. 47th St. Factory in July 1965 and featuring Edie Sedgwick, Danny Fields, Donald Lyons (a friend of Morrissey's from his Fordham University days), and folk singer Eric Andersen. Several more Warhol-Morrissey collaborations followed, including My Hustler (1965), The Velvet Underground and Nico: A Symphony of Sound (1966), More Milk, Yvette (1966), Chelsea Girls (1966), Imitation of Christ (1967), Tub Girls (1967), Bike Boy (1967), I, a Man (1967), San Diego Surf (1968), and Lonesome Cowboys (1968).{{Cite web |title=Paul Morrissey meets Andy Warhol |url=https://warholstars.org/chron/paul65n14.html |access-date=May 18, 2024 |website=warholstars.org}}{{cite web | url=https://warholstars.org/warhol/warhol1/andy/warhol/can/paul12.html | title=Warholstars Condensed 12 }}

File:Warhol and Morrissey filming Lonesome Cowboys in Arizona. January 1968..png

While filming a scene in John Wilcock's Manhattan apartment for Warhol's 25-hour movie Four Stars, Morrissey first met Joe Dallesandro, who had friends who lived in the same building.{{cite web | url=https://warholstars.org/warhol/warhol1/andy/warhol/can/joe13.html | title=Warholstars Condensed 13 }} Morrissey immediately cast him in a scene in Loves of Ondine (1967), Dallesandro's first appearance in a Factory film.{{Cite web |last=Sandstrom |first=Emily |date=February 5, 2024 |title=Joe Dallesandro Tells Bruce LaBruce About Life as a Warhol Superstar |url=https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/joe-dallesandro-tells-bruce-labruce-about-life-as-a-warhol-superstar |access-date=May 18, 2024 |website=Interview Magazine |language=en-US}}

After Valerie Solanas's attempt on Warhol's life in June 1968, Morrissey directed his first solo feature, Flesh. Produced for $4,000 by Warhol and starring Dallesandro, Maurice Braddell, Geri Miller, Geraldine Smith, Patti D'Arbanville, Louis Waldon, Jackie Curtis, and Candy Darling, the film was a box-office hit in West Germany, with over 3 million tickets sold.{{Cite web |title=Flesh |url=https://warholstars.org/flesh.html |access-date=May 18, 2024 |website=warholstars.org}}{{cite web | url=https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/the-bitchy-humor-feels-fresh-in-conversation-with-paul-morrissey-archivist-michael-chaiken | title="The Bitchy Humor Feels Fresh": Interview Presents, "The Gospel According to Paul Morrissey" | date=April 2024 }}

File:Flesh (1968) Joe Dallesandro and Louis Waldon (1200 dpi).jpg

The commercial and popular success of Flesh continued into the 1970s with two more films Morrissey directed, produced by Warhol and starring Dallesandro: Trash, featuring Jane Forth and Holly Woodlawn, the first transgender actress ever cast as the girlfriend of a lead character,{{Cite news |last=Lee |first=Linda |date=March 5, 2000 |title=A NIGHT OUT WITH: Holly Woodlawn; Talking 'Trash' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/05/style/a-night-out-with-holly-woodlawn-talking-trash.html |access-date=May 18, 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} and Heat, a satire about Hollywood based on Sunset Boulevard starring Dallesandro and Sylvia Miles.

In 1971, Morrissey executive produced and directed Women in Revolt, a send-up of the Women's liberation movement starring trans Warhol superstars Jackie Curtis, Holly Woodlawn, and Candy Darling.{{cite web | url=https://warholstars.org/women-in-revolt.html | title=Women in Revolt }} A film still of Darling from Women in Revolt appears on the cover of The Smiths' single "Sheila Take a Bow", the second time a Morrissey film appeared on the cover of a Smiths record.{{cite web | url=https://www.radiox.co.uk/artists/the-smiths/who-were-the-smiths-album-cover-stars/ | title=Who are the Smiths' album and single cover stars? | date=September 18, 2019 }}

Reflecting on this period in an interview with Lucy Hughes-Hallett in March 1978, Morrissey said: "To me, moviemaking is dealing with personalities, people who are always the way they are in every film, like John Wayne or Clint Eastwood, that kind of film-star personality, which is not very fashionable now. It doesn't really matter what the camera's doing as long as the people are worth watching."{{cite web | url=https://www.roxycinemanewyork.com/stories/the-gospel-according-to-paul-morrissey/ | title=The Gospel According to Paul Morrissey}}

Post-Factory years

In March 1973, Morrissey went to Rome and directed two back-to-back features, Flesh for Frankenstein (1973) and Blood for Dracula (1974), starring Dallesandro and Udo Kier. Produced by Carlo Ponti and presented by Warhol, their international success propelled Morrissey out of the Factory and into his first and only attempt at directing a studio film, The Hound of the Baskervilles, co-written by Morrissey, Peter Cook, and Dudley Moore. It was a commercial and critical flop.{{cite web | url=https://www.splittoothmedia.com/paul-morrissey-hound-of-the-baskervilles/ | title=Superstars to Movie Stars: Paul Morrissey and 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' (1978) | date=October 12, 2021 }} Morrissey moved to Los Angeles in the late 1970s and returned to independently produced features, starting with Madame Wang's (1981), a satire of the LA punk-rock scene, starring Patrick Schoene and Morrissey's niece Christina Indri.{{cite web | url=https://home-of-films.com/en/festival-film/madame-wangs/ | title=Madame Wang's }}{{cite web | url=https://burningretina.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/madame-wangs/ | title=Madame Wang's | date=January 2013 }}

File:Madame Wang's Paris Olympia 2 screenings May 1981 blue flyer copy.tif

File:Forty Deuce poster 1982.png

File:Mixed Blood (promo sheet) ca. 1985.jpg

Returning to New York City in the early 1980s, Morrissey began a collaboration with playwright and screenwriter Alan Bowne, directing a film version of his 1981 play Forty Deuce (1982) starring Orson Bean and Kevin Bacon.{{cite web | url=https://www.artforum.com/events/forty-deuce-directed-and-adapted-by-paul-morrissey-from-the-play-by-alan-bowne-224569/ | title="Forty Deuce," directed and adapted by Paul Morrissey from the play by Alan Bowne | date=February 9, 1985 }} Morrissey worked again with Bowne on the screenplays for Mixed Blood (1984) and Spike of Bensonhurst (1988), completing a trilogy of films taking a satirical, empathetic look at the political, social and moral decay of New York City and its outer boroughs during the Ed Koch years.{{cite web | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1988/11/11/spike-of-bensonhurst-a-comedy-streaked-with-despair/ | title='Spike of Bensonhurst' A Comedy Streaked with Despair | website=Chicago Tribune | date=November 11, 1988 }}

In later years, Morrissey was publicly critical of Warhol, saying that work attributed to Warhol was created by associates without his involvement, and expressing frustration when his films were associated with Warhol's name.{{cite news|url = https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/paul-morrissey-andy-warhol-collaborator-dies-86-1236046767/|title = Paul Morrissey, Cult Director and Andy Warhol Collaborator, Dies at 86|last = Vlessing|first = Etan|date = October 28, 2024|accessdate = October 30, 2024|work = The Hollywood Reporter}}

File:Spike_of_Bensonhurst_poster_1988.png

Morrissey's last feature, News From Nowhere (2010), made its U.S. debut at Film at Lincoln Center in 2011.{{Cite web |title=An Evening with Paul Morrissey featuring News From Nowhere |url=https://www.filmlinc.org/films/an-evening-with-paul-morrissey-featuring-news-from-nowhere/ |access-date=May 18, 2024 |website=Film at Lincoln Center |language=en}}

Speaking to screenwriter and biographer Gavin Lambert, filmmaker George Cukor said of Morrissey's work:

He makes a marvelous kind of world, and a marvelous kind of mischief, holding nothing back and just watching it happen. "Personal expression" is a much abused expression, but these films are real expression ... Nobody has done anything like it. The selection of people, the casting, is absolutely brilliant and impertinent. The life they see, the gutter they see, or the world they see is so funny and agonizing, and they see it so vividly, with such original humor.Lambert, Gavin. On Cukor. Putnam. 1972. {{ISBN|9780399109256}} pp 153-4

Personal life and death

Bright Lights Film Journal once called Morrissey a "contradiction": a Warhol collaborator who was a "straight right-wing Catholic Republican".{{cite news|url = https://brightlightsfilm.com/how-stupid-the-whole-world-is-an-interview-with-paul-morrissey/|title = "How Stupid the Whole World Is!" An interview with Paul Morrissey|last = Weisberg|first = Sam|date = February 22, 2020|accessdate = October 30, 2024|work = Bright Lights Film Journal}} When film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum asked Morrissey in a 1975 interview why he portrayed drug addicts and street hustlers with such sympathy despite his conservatism, Morrissey responded: "A human being is a sympathetic entity. No matter how terrible a person might be, someone with an artist's point of view will try to render his individuality without condescension or contempt. That's the natural function of a dramatist. The movies I've made have no connection to my personal beliefs".{{Cite web |title=Conversation with Paul Morrissey (Part I) {{!}} Jonathan Rosenbaum |url=https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2021/12/conversation-with-paul-morrissey-part-i/ |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=jonathanrosenbaum.net}}{{cite web | url=https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2021/12/conversation-with-paul-morrissey-part-ii/ | title=Conversation with Paul Morrissey (Part II) | Jonathan Rosenbaum }}

Morrissey died from pneumonia at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, on October 28, 2024, at the age of 86.{{cite web | url=https://www.artforum.com/news/paul-morrissey-dies-19382024-1234721028/ | title=Paul Morrissey (1938–2024)| date=October 30, 2024}}

Filmography

Source:{{cite web |title=Paul Morrissey |url=https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/paul-morrissey/credits/3030255893/ |website=TVGuide.com |access-date=October 30, 2024}}{{cite web |title=Paul Morrissey |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Person/122169-Paul-Morrissey |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=November 2, 2024}}{{Additional citation needed|date=October 2024}}