Biography
Norman Kingsley Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007) was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, activist, filmmaker and actor. In a career spanning over six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least one in each of the seven decades after World War II—more than any other post-war American writer. His novel The Naked and the Dead was published in 1948 and brought him early renown. His 1968 nonfiction novel Armies of the Night won the Pulitzer Prize for non-fict...
Known For
Complete Filmography
How to Come Alive with Norman Mailer
2023
as Self (archive footage)
From Brooklyn beginnings to literary pantheon, Norman Mailer's unorthodox trajectory spans marriages, offspring, and accolades. An unprecedented glimp...
The Capote Tapes
2021
as Self (voice) (archive footage)
A portrait of the brilliant American writer Truman Capote (1924-84) and the New York high society of his time.
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael
2019
as Self
Pauline Kael (1919–2001) was undoubtedly one of the greatest names in film criticism. A Californian native, she wrote her first review in 1953 and joi...
The 50 Year Argument
2014
as Himself
Follows the waves of literary, political, and cultural history as charted by the The New York Review of Books, America’s leading journal of ideas for ...
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
2013
as Self
An epic portrait of the New York avant-garde art scene of the 60s.
Norman Mailer: The American
2012
as Self (archive footage)
A provocateur, a rebel, a performer, and a true American, Norman Mailer never stopped giving people something to talk about. This documentary goes be...
Henry Kissinger: Secrets of a Superpower
2008
as Self
Though Henry Kissinger is often giving short statements to the media, he refuses detailed interviews about his own life. Now he has agreed to answer q...
365 Day Project
2007
This exhibition focuses on Jonas Mekas’ 365 Day Project, a succession of films and videos in calendar form. Every day as of January 1st, 2007 and for ...
Marilyn Monroe: Still Life
2006
as Self - Writer & Filmmaker
Survey Marilyn Monroe’s life through photographs, from Hollywood stills to candid pictures snapped on the streets of New York.
The Outsider
2005
as Self
Nicholas Jarecki follows director James Toback on the 12-day shoot of his thriller, When Will I Be Loved -- a movie made without a script or distribut...
Inside Deep Throat
2005
as Self
In 1972, a seemingly typical shoestring budget pornographic film was made in a Florida hotel: "Deep Throat," starring Linda Lovelace. This film would ...
The Education of Gore Vidal
2003
as Self (archive footage)
A contrarian and wickedly funny man, this PBS American Masters special explores Gore Vidal's extraordinary life and work, joining him at his cliff-sid...
The Battle for 'I Am Curious-Yellow'
2003
as Self (archive footage)
A documentary about the film, I am Curious-Yellow (1967), and how it made it into the USA and changed film in USA forever by breaking the USA Obscenit...
Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story
2002
Writer, Executive Producer
True story about the cat and mouse game between the FBI trying to find a Soviet mole in their ranks and Robert Hanssen, one of the top FBI agents and ...
New York in the Fifties
2001
as Self
New York in the Fifties is the story of a unique time and place, when New York was the hotbed of new artistic expressions, free love, drinking, hot ja...
L'étrange festival
2001
as Himself
Documentary produced and broadcast in the show "Court Circuit" on Arte.
American Tragedy
2000
Writer
Johnnie Cochran defends O.J. Simpson who is on trial for his wife's murder.
Oh My America
2000
as Himself
Norman Mailer profiles life in America since the Second World War. Farewell to the Fifties. Mailer fought for his country in the Second World War- an ...
Mailer on Mailer
2000
as Himself
Norman Mailer frankly discusses American culture, politics, literature, and his own tumultuous life.
Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale
2000
In 1955, Tobias Schneebaum disappeared into the depths of the Peruvian Amazon. He had no guide, no map, and only the vaguest of instructions: Keep the...
Cremaster 2
1999
as Harry Houdini
CREMASTER 2 is rendered as a gothic Western that introduces conflict into the system. On the biological level it corresponds to the phase of fetal dev...
When We Were Kings
1996
as Self
It's 1974. Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the heavyweight champion of the world....
Baby Trouble Hole
1996
as Interviewed
Malga Kubiak stars in her exploration of sex and self. One woman's love to her own body interlaced with maggots; mixes x-rated porn. Voyeuristically t...
Hello Actors Studio
1988
as Self
After Lee Strasberg’s death in 1982, the most prestigious talents from the Actors Studio assumed the leadership of this exceptional organization. For ...
King Lear
1988
as Self (uncredited)
A descendant of Shakespeare tries to restore his plays in a world rebuilding itself after the Chernobyl catastrophe obliterates most of human civiliza...
King Lear
1988
Writer
A descendant of Shakespeare tries to restore his plays in a world rebuilding itself after the Chernobyl catastrophe obliterates most of human civiliza...
Tough Guys Don't Dance
1987
Director, Writer
Tim Madden awakens one morning to discover a fresh tattoo on his arm, his car covered in blood, his girlfriend in bed with the town sheriff, and a wom...
Empire City
1985
as Self
A film essay contrasting the modern metropolis with its "golden age" from 1830-1930, with the participation of some of New York's leading political an...
The Executioner's Song
1982
Writer, Original Film Writer
In this fact-based made-for TV film, Gary Gilmore, an Indiana man who just finished serving a lengthy stay in prison, tries to start anew by moving to...
Ragtime
1981
as Stanford White
A young black pianist becomes embroiled in the lives of an upper-class white family set among the racial tensions, infidelity, violence, and other nos...
Marilyn: The Untold Story
1980
Book
The story of the life and times of the legendary Hollywood blonde bombshell, Marilyn Monroe, from her meteoric rise to stardom to her marriages and un...
Town Bloody Hall
1979
as Himself
Norman Mailer and a panel of feminists — Jacqueline Ceballos, Germaine Greer, Jill Johnston, and Diana Trilling — debate the issue of Women's Liberati...
Town Bloody Hall
1979
Book
Norman Mailer and a panel of feminists — Jacqueline Ceballos, Germaine Greer, Jill Johnston, and Diana Trilling — debate the issue of Women's Liberati...
Year of the Woman
1973
Utitlising humour, fantasy, animation, poetry and theatrics, Hochman and her crew challenge the male establishment for ignoring the first meeting of t...
Maidstone
1971
as Norman T. Kingsley
Over a booze-fueled, increasingly hectic five-day shoot in East Hampton, Norman Mailer and his cast and crew spontaneously unloaded onto film the luri...
Maidstone
1971
Writer, Director, Producer
Over a booze-fueled, increasingly hectic five-day shoot in East Hampton, Norman Mailer and his cast and crew spontaneously unloaded onto film the luri...
Norman Mailer vs. Fun City
1970
Dick Fontaine documents Norman Mailer’s 1969 bid for the Mayor’s office in New York City. Accompanied by his running mate, Jimmy Breslin, Mailer char...
Double Pisces, Scorpio Rising
1970
One of the human trio is Dick Fontaine, the director, a thin, long-haired youth who has put together this highly personal exercise on something or oth...
Beyond the Law
1968
as Lt. Francis Xavier Pope
Takes place over the course of one feverish night in a Manhattan police precinct and neighboring bar.
Beyond the Law
1968
Director, Writer, Editor
Takes place over the course of one feverish night in a Manhattan police precinct and neighboring bar.
Wild 90
1968
as Prince
Norman Mailer’s first feature filmmaking effort stars the director and his two longtime collaborators Buzz Farbar and Mickey Knox as a trio of gangste...
Wild 90
1968
Director, Producer, Editor
Norman Mailer’s first feature filmmaking effort stars the director and his two longtime collaborators Buzz Farbar and Mickey Knox as a trio of gangste...
Will the Real Norman Mailer Please Stand Up?
1968
as Self
Portrait of Norman Mailer at the time of the Pentagon demonstrations in 1967, documenting Mailer's involvement and arrest, together with two TV appear...
An American Dream
1966
Novel
Stephen Rojack is a decorated war vet who has now found success as an outspoken television personality. During a vicious argument with his wife, Debor...
The Naked and the Dead
1958
Novel
Fighting men in World War II learn the value of courage and quickness at the risk of losing their lives.
Untitled (Millicent's Dream)
1947
Director, Editor
Novelist Norman Mailer’s assured first foray into surrealist cinema, starring Millicent Brower.