Gene D. Phillips S.J. | |
---|---|
Born | March 3, 1935 |
Died | Monday, August 29, 2016 |
Occupation(s) | priest, professor, and author |
Organization | Society of Jesus |
Known for | books on filmmakers, literature and film |
Gene D. Phillips, S.J. (March 3, 1935 – August 29, 2016) was an American author, educator, and Catholic priest.[1][2][3]
Phillips was raised near Springfield, Ohio. He received his A.B. and M.A. (1957) degrees from Loyola University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in English Literature from Fordham University in 1970.[4] Phillips was a member of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), and was ordained a priest in 1965.[2] His decision to become a Jesuit at age 17 was strongly affected by his viewing of the film The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) as a boy.[1] Since 1970 Phillips had taught at Loyola University of Chicago. He had written or edited more than 20 books on filmmakers and film (see bibliography); several of these have been reviewed by major newspapers.[5][6][7]
Phillips had served on juries at the Cannes, Berlin, and Chicago International Film Festivals. He had been a member of the editorial board for the journal Literature/Film Quarterly since its founding in 1973;[2] this journal claims to be "the longest standing international journal devoted to the study of adaptation" (i.e. the adaptation of literature to film).[8] Phillips had been a prolific author of biographical books on filmmakers, and had published extended interviews with many filmmakers including Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Fritz Lang,[9] and Joseph Losey. He was also a friend, champion and consultant for director Ken Russell, and author of the book Ken Russell (Twayne Publishers, 1979). Phillips was a consultant for The Devils (Russell, 1971) and famously defended the film against charges of blasphemy saying, in the documentary Hell On Earth - The Desecration and Resurrection of The Devils (Mark Kermode, 2002), that the film depicts blasphemy, although it is not itself blasphemous.