Paul Morrissey, famed for his work with Andy Warhol and The Velvet Underground, has died aged 86.
The director was suffering from a bout of pneumonia and died in a New York hospital on Monday, confirmed by his archivist Michael Chaiken.
Morrisey was a cult filmmaker and directed works like Flesh, Trash, and Women in Revolt, two of which starred Warhol, who he met in 1965.
He started making low-budget films, exploring the lives of models, artists, drag queens, and LGBTQ+ actors who were known as Warhol’s ‘superstars’.
This made him a key figure in the artist’s Factory studio, collaborating with Warhol on films like Chelsea Girls (1966) and Lonesome Cowboys (1968).
In 1966, he became the manager of The Velvet Underground and Nico as well as directing the film Symphony of Sound about the musicians.
By 1974, his working relationship with Warhol had collapsed, with Morrissey stating he felt his collaborator took too much of the credit for their work.
‘[Warhol] never did a thing in his entire life,’ the director told Bright Lights Film Journal in 2012. ‘He sort of walked through it as a zombie and that paid off in the long run.’
Morrissey is often credited with bringing narrative structure to Warhol’s movies but once told the New York Times that they ‘try not to direct at all’ and the actors ‘should be the centre of the film’.
Fans have paid tribute to the director on X, with Jonathan Lees writing: ‘Paul Morrissey was an underrated provocateur often overshadowed by his most famed financier, Andy Warhol.
‘His films are essential viewing: unabashedly raw, comical and a mix of avant-garde eroticism and improvised chaos.’
Bruce LaBruce added: ‘Flamboyant conservative underground film auteur Paul Morrissey has died at 86. I only met him once at an Xmas party at his fancy Upper East Side apt.
‘When I was introduced to him as “Bruce LaBruce,” he replied gamely, “Bruce LaBruce. Why not?”, turned on his heel & sashayed away!’
He continued to work after his split from Warhol, directing Dudley Moore and Peter Cook in the Hound of the Baskervilles – a Sherlock Holmes spoof.
He also worked with Kevin Bacon in Forty Deuce, which was shown at Cannes Film Festival in 1982.
Morrissey retired in 2010 after his final film News From Nowhere and is survived by his brother Kenneth and his eight nieces and nephews.
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