One of the most important and influential filmmakers of the second half of the 20th century, Stanley Kubrick is synonymous with intelligent, thought-provoking films made with a unique visual craftsmanship that can never be copied or equaled. Spanning nearly fifty years and thirteen films, his career has become the stuff of legend. From his days as a pioneer of truly independent filmmaking to his final status as one of the world's most revered yet enigmatic directors, Kubrick stayed true to his calling, telling provocative stories with amazing, arresting images that will haunt us forever. .
Stanley Kubrick was born on July 26, 1928 in the Bronx, New York City. Despite his poor grades in school, Stanley was considered an intelligent child. Hoping that a change of scenery would produce better academic performance, Kubrick's father, Jack Kubrick, a physician, sent him to California in 1940 to stay with his uncle. Returning to the Bronx in 1941, there seemed to be little change in his attitude of his results. As a teenager, Stanley took to the game of chess, introduced to him by his father and quickly became a skilled player. Chess would become an important device in later years, often as a tool for dealing with defiant and difficult actors, but also as an artistic motif in his films. Stanley's father's decision to give his son a camera for his thirteenth birthday would be an even wiser move. Kubrick became an avid photographer and would often make trips around New York taking photographs which he would develop in a friend's darkroom (Maltin 1). As a student at William Taft High School, Kubrick sold unsolicited photographs to Look Magazine and at the age of seventeen was offered a job at the magazine as a photographer. In the next few years, Kubrick had regular assignments for Look, and would become a voracious movie-goer. .
Together with a friend, Kubrick planned a move into film, and in 1950 sank his savings into making the 16-minute documentary Day of the Fight (1951).