DIRECTOR · BORN 1928 · DIED 1999
Stanley Kubrick
- Born
- 26 July 1928, New York City, New York, USA
- Died
- 7 March 1999
- Known for
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Full Metal Jacket (1987), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Stanley Kubrick - Ein Leben für den Film (2001)
96 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
Stanley Kubrick's Wife and Children: 27 Family Facts
- #003
Kubrick's reclusive lifestyle drew fans and curious visitors to his door, but since few people recognized his face, Kubrick himself would open the door to these visitors and turn them away by saying, "Stanley Kubrick isn't home." This behavior shows the importance he placed on his private life and his desire to avoid the attention that fame brought. Such anecdotes also became part of the legend surrounding Kubrick and further reinforced his mysterious persona.
- #004
Kubrick was known for his obsession with detail and his vast store of knowledge, traits that made him one of the most meticulous directors in cinema history. For his unrealized film project about Napoléon Bonaparte, he assigned one of his assistants to collect every book he could find about the French emperor, and the assistant returned with more than 100 books. Kubrick read all of them and astonished those around him with his ability to retain the information in his memory. While working on a battle scene, his effort to reflect the atmosphere of the moment exactly by studying a historical painting lays bare the importance he gave to visual realism.
- #005
Kubrick's photography career began when, at just 16, he photographed a newspaper seller in New York the day after President Franklin D. Roosevelt's death. He sold the photograph to Look magazine, which published it; this success led to his being hired as an apprentice photographer at the magazine while still in high school. The experience helped Kubrick develop his visual storytelling ability and laid the foundation for his interest in cinema.
- #007
Kubrick's high school report card was quite poor; his grade average was only 67%, and as a result he was not accepted by any university. This did not discourage him, however; he sat in on classes at Columbia University without enrolling. The experience showed his hunger for learning and that he could improve himself outside the traditional education system. The knowledge Kubrick acquired during this period formed the basis of his later intellectual depth.
- #012
A heavy smoker in his youth, Kubrick largely quit smoking in the 1970s, in his forties, though he was known to smoke occasionally under stress during intense shooting periods. By contrast, he is said to have consumed almost no alcohol. These habits show that he adopted a disciplined and controlled lifestyle, but could give in to his weaknesses under the pressure of work.
- #013
One of Kubrick's eccentric behaviors was to call people several times a day when an idea came to him, even at midnight. He was himself a night owl and rarely slept more than a few hours, so his late-night calls were part of his creative process. Although this behavior was exhausting for those around him, it was a sign of Kubrick's passion and dedication to his work.
- #014
In his youth, Kubrick often skipped school because of his devotion to cinema and would watch double features at the cinema all day. These escapes fed his passion for cinema and allowed him to learn the language of visual storytelling by watching films of different genres. These experiences built a rich visual memory that he would later use when creating his own films.
- #016
One of Kubrick's favorite films was David Lynch's Eraserhead (1977). The film is known for Lynch's dark and surreal storytelling; Kubrick's admiration for it shows his interest in unconventional and experimental cinema. This choice reveals how broad and bold his artistic taste was.
- #018
Kubrick's daughter Vivian Kubrick explained that the family surname is pronounced "Que-brick," not "koo-brick." This difference in pronunciation offers an interesting detail about the family's origins and the etymology of the name. The correct pronunciation of Kubrick's name is regarded as important information for those interested in his legacy.
- #020
Until the 1970s, Kubrick wore a suit and tie every day while directing; this was part of his professional and serious image. After that date, however, he switched to casual work clothes. His wife Christiane said that Kubrick disliked choosing what to wear and that his wardrobe was full of identical shirts and trousers. This detail shows that he adopted a practical and simple lifestyle and did not want to spend his time on unimportant decisions.
- #031
When Stanley Kubrick bought Simon Cowell's childhood home, he converted the entire ground floor of the house into a private cinema. This cinema reflects his passion for watching films and the way he evaluated his own work. The presence of a private screening room in Kubrick's home is an indication of his commitment to cinema and the importance he placed on a comfortable viewing experience.
- #034
Stanley Kubrick rarely gave interviews, but he appeared in the documentary his daughter Vivian Kubrick shot during the making of The Shining (1980). According to Vivian, Kubrick planned to give a few official TV interviews after Eyes Wide Shut (1999) was released, but he died before he could carry out these plans. This once again demonstrates Kubrick's tendency to stay away from the media and the importance he placed on his private life.
- #036
In 1963, the magazine Cinema, published in the USA, asked Stanley Kubrick to compile a list of his favorite films. Kubrick's list included the following films: I Vitelloni (1953), Wild Strawberries (1957), Citizen Kane (1941), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), City Lights (1931), Henry V (1944), La Notte (1961) and The Bank Dick (1940). This list shows how broad Kubrick's cinematic taste was and his admiration for films from different periods and different countries.
- #042
As a student, Kubrick was indifferent and his grades were near the bottom of his class. This reflects his disinterest in the traditional education system and his desire to pursue his own interests. Kubrick's passion for cinema motivated him more than academic success, and it was through this that he became a self-taught artist.
- #045
Kubrick claimed his IQ was below average; however, contrary to this statement, a rumor spread that his IQ was around 200. This contradiction was interpreted as Kubrick's modesty and his tendency to conceal his intelligence. The depth and complexity of Kubrick's films are regarded as an indication of his superior intelligence.
- #050
Kubrick's family descended from Jewish immigrants of Austrian and Romanian origin. His father was born in New York, the child of Elias Kubrick, an Austrian Jewish father, and Rosa Spiegelblatt, a Romanian Jewish mother. His mother was also born in New York, the child of Samuel Perveler, an Austrian Jewish father, and Celia Siegel, a Russian Jewish mother. These origins were influential in shaping Kubrick's identity and worldview.
- #053
From Lolita (1962) onward, Kubrick produced all his films independently from his adopted home in England, from the United Kingdom. This decision gave him full control over the production processes and created a free working environment far from Hollywood's studio pressure. Kubrick's choice of England is also associated with his fear of flying and his attachment to his private life.
- #054
In 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Kubrick used Richard Strauss's 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra' in the recording conducted by Herbert von Karajan. This music became identified with the film's opening scene and became one of the most iconic music-narrative pairings in cinema history. This choice by Kubrick shows his interest in classical music and how well he understood the contribution of film music to narrative.
- #056
According to a biography, Kubrick's wife Christiane persuaded him to go on a long-postponed vacation. During the vacation, Christiane noticed that Kubrick was constantly taking notes, and when she asked what he was writing, she learned that Kubrick was scribbling ideas about a film project. This incident shows that Kubrick's passion for his work and his creative mind never stopped, even on vacation.
- #057
According to the June 29, 1999 edition of The London Standard, in his 24-page will dated July 22, 1974, Kubrick left his wife Christiane Kubrick £66,000 in cash and the Childwickbury Estate in Hertfordshire. He also bequeathed her personal effects worth £21,000. Before his death, Kubrick established at least two private trusts in which his fortune was pooled, named Stanley Kubrick Trust Number One and Children's Trust; the income from these trusts was to be distributed among his children.
- #061
Among Kubrick's favorite films were The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), An American Werewolf in London (1981), Metropolis (1927), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), White Men Can't Jump (1992), Citizen Kane (1941), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991). This list shows Kubrick's interest in different genres and his broad taste, nourished by a variety of cinematic genres such as horror, thriller and drama.
- #066
Kubrick was fascinated by the career of the Nazi filmmaker Veit Harlan, his wife's uncle, and considered making a film about the social circle surrounding Joseph Goebbels. Although he worked on this project for several years, the director never got beyond a rough story outline. This interest shows Kubrick's curiosity about the dark sides of history and the dynamics of power.
- #074
In the early 1960s, Kubrick, an avid BBC Radio listener, heard the radio serial Shadow on the Sun, written by Gavin Blakeney; Shadow on the Sun is a science fiction work in which a virus enters the Earth when a meteorite lands. While looking for a new project, Kubrick became interested in Shadow on the Sun again. In 1988, Kubrick bought the screenplay rights from Blakeney for £1,500. Kubrick then read a screenplay and took notes before moving on to A.I. Artificial Intelligence...
- #078
In 1956, after MGM rejected Kubrick and his producing partner James B. Harris's request to make Paths of Glory (1957), MGM invited Kubrick to look over the studio's other projects. Harris and Kubrick discovered Stefan Zweig's novel The Burning Secret, in which a young baron first befriends a twelve-year-old boy in order to seduce a young Jewish woman, and the son eventually realizes the baron's true intentions. Kubrick was enthusiastic about the novel and hired the novelist Calder Willingham to write a screenplay...
- #079
In March 2013, Tony Frewin, Kubrick's assistant for many years, wrote in an article in The Atlantic: "He [Kubrick] had an unlimited interest in anything to do with the Nazis and very much wanted to make a film about it." The article also covered another unrealized Kubrick Second World War film, based on the life story of the Nazi officer Dietrich Schulz-Koehn, who used the pseudonym "Dr. Jazz" to write reviews about German music scenes during the Nazi era. Kubrick had been given a copy...
- #083
Although Kubrick made many films with politically progressive themes, his own actual political views were quite complex and have long been a subject of debate. Most biographers agree that he was a mostly right-leaning centrist who became more conservative over the years.
- #090
On November 1, 2006, Kubrick's son-in-law Philip Hobbs announced that he would direct a treatment for the film Lunatic at Large. Kubrick had commissioned the project from crime novelist Jim Thompson in the 1950s, but it was lost after Kubrick's death until Hobbs found a manuscript. As of August 2011, the project was in development for a future release, with Scarlett Johansson and Sam Rockwell attached and British screenwriter Stephen Clarke involved.
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