- Born
- Died
- Birth nameSamuel Michael Fuller
- Nickname
- Sammy
- Height5′ 6″ (1.68 m)
- At age 17, Samuel Fuller was the youngest reporter ever to be in charge of the events section of the New York Journal. After having participated in the European battle theater in World War II, he directed some minor action productions for which he mostly wrote the scripts himself and which he also produced (e.g. The Baron of Arizona (1950)). His masterpiece was Pickup on South Street (1953) for 20th Century Fox, but at the end of the 1950s, he regained his independence from the production company and filmed many other movies of note, including the controversial White Dog (1982).- IMDb Mini Biography By: Volker Boehm
- Sam Fuller had six siblings: three brothers (Ving, Ray and Tom) and three sisters (Evelyn, Tina and Rose). His most famous sibling was his older brother, the nationally syndicated comic strip artist and cartoonist, Ving Fuller. In the 1920s Ving was a staff cartoonist at the New York Evening Graphic, where Sam was a crime reporter (and sometimes cartoonist). Ving went on to create numerous comic strips and gag cartoons, the most well-known of which is "Doc Syke" (later called "Little Doc"), which was syndicated in newspapers from 1945-50. The two brothers had a close, loving relationship, as depicted by Sam Fuller in "A Third Face," his 2002 autobiography written with Christa Lang and Jerome Henry Rudes. Sam admired his brother's talent, writing, "Unlike me, he was a talented, committed cartoonist." Ving Fuller contributed the front page editorial cartoons seen in Sam Fuller's 1952 tribute to the American newspaper, Park Row (1952).- IMDb Mini Biography By: A. Nonymous
- SpousesChrista Lang(July 25, 1967 - October 30, 1997) (his death, 1 child)Martha Downes Fuller(? - 1959) (divorced)
- RelativesSamira Fuller(Grandchild)
- Rarely employed major stars and often preferred casting obscure or inexperienced actors
- His films often focus on the psychological effects of violence on both victims and perpetrators
- Known for smoking large cigars
- His films often revolve around the seedy parts of society
- War films which took heavily from his own experiences
- As a reporter in New York in the 1930s, he reported on many suicide cases and always asked if he could keep the note if the deceased had left one. He was famous for his extensive collection of suicide notes.
- Martin Scorsese once said of Fuller, "It's been said that if you don't like The Rolling Stones, then you just don't like rock and roll. By the same token, I think that if you don't like the films of Sam Fuller, then you just don't like cinema. Or at least you don't understand it.".
- As a young crime reporter with the "New York Evening Graphic", the veteran crime reporter who "showed him the ropes" when he first started out was Rhea Gore, the wife of Walter Huston and the mother of John Huston. Fuller's first big "scoop" was when he became the first journalist to report the death of Jeanne Eagels.
- Served as a rifleman in the US Army's 1st Infantry Division during World War II. He saw action in North Africa, Sicily, Omaha Beach on D-Day, and then on through Europe to Czechoslovakia. He was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart. He later used many of his war experiences in The Big Red One (1980).
- Close friend of Richard Brooks since the days when they were both reporters in New York.
- Film is a battleground. Love, hate, violence, action, death . . . In a word, emotion.
- Am I a cult director? Yeah, I love all that. I want to join the cult of the $100- to $200-million grossers and still make an artistic picture.
- Ninety-five per cent of films are born of frustration, of self-despair, of ambition for survival, for money, for fattening bank accounts. Five per cent, maybe less, are made because a man has an idea, an idea which he must express.
- [Vincent van Gogh] was a great inspiration for me, a guy for whom life was work and work was life. I wanted to be like him, except I didn't want to go nuts and cut off my ear.
- I hate violence. That has never prevented me from using it in my films.
- A Return to Salem's Lot (1987) - $38,000
- Confirm or Deny (1941) - $25,000
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