Stanley Kubrick was born on July 26^th, 1928 in the Bronx, New York City. As a child Kubrick was interested in chess and photography. In fact, when he was a little older, he would play chess for money at the Marshal and Manhattan clubs and in Washington Square park in Greenwich Village. When he was 17, Kubrick aquired a job with Look magazine as a photographer, where he worked for several years traveling america.

When Kubrick was 23 years old he financed his first film with his own savings. It was a 16 minute documentary short about boxer Walter Cartier, who Kubrick had photographed earlier when with Look magazine. Day of the Fight was purchased by RKO for a series they were making. It played at the Paramount Theature in New York, yielding Stan a small profit. Due to his success with this first attempt at films, Kubrick left Look to pursue filmaking.

RKO financed another documentary short by Kubrick, the Flying Padre, a nine minute short about a priest who flew around his 400 mile New Mexico parish in a Piper Cub.

In 1953 Kubrick made another documentary, The Seafarers, Kubrick’s first color film. Another documentary, it was commissioned by the Atlantic and Gulf Coast District of the Seafarers.

Later in that same year (he was 25 years old), he raised $13,000 dollars from his relatives to make his first feature length film, Fear and Desire.

Two years later, again thanks to the help of friends and relatives, he made his second feature, Killer’s Kiss.

Kubrick made his first studio picture The Killing, a hollywood film based on a novel with a budget of $320,000 and a cast of recognisable hollywood actors. He teamed with budding producer James B. Harris for this film.

Next Kubrick, with the help of Jim Thompson wrote an adaptation of Humphrey Cobb's novel Paths of Glory. Every studio turned the project down until Kirk Douglas agreed to star. The resulting film proved to be Kubrick's first classic, and is often regarded as one of the best films about war ever made.

Kubrick created several scripts over the next couple of years, unfortunately none were ever produced. He tried one in colaberation with Kirk Douglas and another with Marlon Brando, who decided to direct the film himself.

In 1959, Kirk Douglas was producing Spartacus. The original director Anthony Mann was fired after only two weeks of production and Douglas offered Kubrick the job, which he accepted. The film was Kubrick's first hit and garnered

some Academy Award attention.

1961 - 1970

Next, Kubrick/Harris made Lolita, based on Vladimir

Nabokov's controversial novel. The film was shot in

England, and following filming, Kubrick moved to England permanently, where he has made all of his subsequent films.

A fascination with the cold war lead Kubrick to the novel Red Alert which he adapted into a nightmare comedy called Dr.

Strangelove. This time Kubrick had a hit on his hands and the film received much critical acclaim including Oscar nominations for Kubrick as coauthor, director, and producer.

Following the success of Dr. Strangelove, Kubrick hired noted science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke to develop an original scenario about man's encounter with extraterrestrial intelligence. 2001: A Space Odyssey is generally considered not only one of the greatest films ever made but a landmark in cinema history. Kubrick garnered more Oscar nominations for writing and directing, and his only Oscar win ever, for designing and directing the film's special effects.

1971 - 1980

Kubrick then adapted the novel A Clockwork Orange to the screen. Despite its initial X rating in the United States, the controversial film did well and received numerous accolades, including 3 more Oscar nominations for Kubrick as writer, director, and producer.

Around this time, with such a string of extraordinary films to his credit, many magazine and newspaper articles and books were written about Kubrick, some portraying him as an eccentric recluse about whose personal life little was known. Far from Hollywood, Kubrick lived in a large home in a semi-rural setting well outside of London with his third wife, Christiane Harlan, and their three daughters. Harlan, a German painter and former actress, had played the only woman in Paths of Glory. Their large home also contained his offices and post-production facilities.

After two futuristic science-fiction films Kubrick changed direction and created Barry Lyndon an 18th century story based on the 19th century novel by William Makepeace Thackery. While the 11 million dollar costume drama was not a box office success, the accolades continued to pile up. 7 Oscar nominations, more than any other Kubrick film before or since, including Kubrick's usual 3 for writing, directing and producing.

In 1980, 5 years after Barry Lyndon,

Kubrick released his contribution

to the horror genre, The Shining,

based on the novel by Stephen King. This time the film was a financial success but critics were generally not as receptive and there were no Oscar nominations at all.

1981 - 1990

It was another 7 years before Kubrick released his next film, Full Metal Jacket. Despite arriving on the heels of the blockbuster hit Platoon, the film was a box office success and critical favorite but only one received Oscar nomination for writing.

At this time Kubrick gave an interview to Rolling Stone magazine where he refuted many of the persistent rumors of his eccentric behavior.

Kubrick became involved in supervising the transfers of some of his films for the home video market and also creating a new negative of Dr. Strangelove from the highest quality prints available after it was discovered the original negative was lost.

In May of 1990 Kubrick joined with directors Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Francis Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Robert Redford, Sydney Pollack, and George Lucas in forming the Film Foundation, an organization meant to promote the restoration and preservation of films.

1991 - 1997

Kubrick developed another science-fiction project called AI (Artificial Intelligence), but he determined that special effects technology could not handle the requirements of the story, so the project was put on hold.

He then wrote a screenplay called Aryan Papers, based on Louis Begley's novel Wartime Lies, about a Jewish boy and his aunt trying to survive in Nazi occupied Poland during WWII by passing as aryans. The film was announced as being in pre-production and some casting and location scouting had been done.

Reportedly after seeing the special effects in Jurassic Park, Kubrick decided his science-fiction project could be accomplished with new computer digital effects. Aryan Papers was put on hold and Kubrick began preproduction work on AI.

In mid-December of 1995, Warner Bros. released the news that Kubrick was still in pre-production for the very complicated AI, but would first make a film called Eyes Wide Shut starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The film began shooting in late 1996 and is still in production.

On March 8th, 1997, the Director's Guild of America awarded Stanley Kubrick their highest honor, the D.W. Griffith award.

In September of 1997, Kubrick was also awarded the Golden Lion Award at the 54th Venice International Film Festival.

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