Biography
Alongside his brother David, Albert Maysles became one of the chief exponents of the cinema verité school of documentary filmmaking. After starting his documentary career with films about mental health in Russia and student revolt in Poland, the Maysles brothers joined forces with Richard Leacock, Robert Drew and D.A. Pennebaker to make a series of films, most notably "Primary" (1960), which followed the Democratic primaries between John Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in Wisconsin, and revolutionized the way documentaries are made. Turning to music, he directed "What's Happening! The Beatles in the USA" (1964) and later made the controversial Rolling Stones film, "Gimme Shelter" (1970), which documented the band's headlining performance at the violence-plagued Altamont Free Concert and captured the fatal stabbing of a concertgoer. In the following decade, the Maysles courted more controversy with "Grey Gardens" (1976), a disturbing look at co-dependency between a mother and daughter that was later turned into a Broadway musical and an Emmy-winning HBO film. Following the death of brother David in 1987, Maysles earned an Oscar nomination for "LaLee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton" (2001) while making cable films covering everything from abortion and hospice care to Paul McCartney's 9/11 benefit concert in New York City, solidifying his status as one of documentary filmmaking's most celebrated pioneers. He died of natural causes at the age of 88 on March 5, 2015.
