David Maysles

David Maysles, the documentary film maker, credited with his brother, Albert, is known as being one of the founders of the documentary genre known as cinema verite.

The Maysles brothers were among the handful of film makers to first use the technological advance of the small camera - light enough to fit on a cameraman's shoulder - to capture the drama of daily experience. Their films, a form they described as the cinematic equivalent of the nonfiction novel and called ''direct cinema,'' constituted a major departure from the more traditional documentary technique of running narration and static face-to-face interviews.

The brothers' best-known documentaries were ''Salesman,'' which chronicled the adventures of four Bible salesmen (1969); ''Gimme Shelter,'' a record of the latter part of The Rolling Stones' 1969 American tour (1970), and ''Grey Gardens'' about Edith and Edie Bouvier Beale, the reclusive aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Onassis (1975).

David Maysles, the younger brother, passed away on January 3, 1987, in New York. His brother Albert continues to make documentaries to this day and recently was awarded with the inaugural Sheffield Doc/Fest Lifetime Achievement Award on June 10, 2011.

David Maysles was quoted as saying: "The most exciting thing in life is to watch the meeting of two strangers, to see how they communicate."



Filmography

David Maysles - filmography

5 most recent films

Grey Gardens - 3.5 stars
Gimme Shelter - 3.5 stars

5 highest-rated films

Grey Gardens - 3.5 stars
Gimme Shelter - 3.5 stars

5 lowest-rated films

Gimme Shelter - 3.5 stars
Grey Gardens - 3.5 stars

Most frequent co-stars

Norman Vincent Peale - 2 times - show films
Edith Bouvier Beale - 2 times - show films
Brooks Hyers - 2 times - show films
Marty Balin - 1 times - show films
Sonny Barger - 1 times - show films

Most frequent directors

Albert Maysles - 3 times - show films
Alb - 2 times - show films
Ellen Hovde - 2 times - show films