
Acting
David Hockney
Born — Died
1937-07-09 — 2026-06-11
Place of birth
Bradford, Yorkshire, England, UK
Known for
Acting
Credits
54 titles
David Hockney was an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer. He was an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, and he is considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century.
Known for
5.6The South Bank Show is a television arts magazine show produced by ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new series began on Sky Arts from 27 May 2012. Presented by Melvyn Bragg, the show aims to bring both high art and popular culture to a mass audience.
The South Bank Show
1978
7.2Omnibus was an arts-based BBC television documentary series, broadcast mainly on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The programme was the successor to the long-running arts-based series 'Monitor'. It ran from 1967 until 2003, usually being transmitted on Sunday evenings. During its 35-year history, the programme won 12 Bafta awards. Among the series' best remembered documentaries are Cracked Actor, a profile of David Bowie, and Rene Magritte, a graduate film by David Wheatley, 'Madonna: Behind the American dream', a film produced by Nadia Hagger, and a profile of the British film director Ridley Scott. For a season in 1982, the series was in a magazine format presented by Barry Norman. The series was replaced by 'Imagine' hosted by Alan Yentob.
Omnibus
1967
7.3Harris Glenn Milstead, aka Divine (1945-1988) was the ultimate outsider turned underground hero. Spitting in the face of the status quos of body image, gender identity, sexuality, and preconceived notions of beauty, Divine succeeded in becoming an internationally recognized icon, recording artist, and character actor of stage and screen. Glenn went from the often-mocked, schoolyard fat kid to underdog royalty, standing up for millions of gay men and women, drag queens and punk rockers, and countless other socially ostracized misfits and freaks. With a completely committed in-your-face style, he blurred the line between performer and personality, and revolutionized pop culture.
I Am Divine
2014
7.0The vivid and inspiring story of British film icon Michael Caine's personal journey through 1960s swinging London.
My Generation
2017
6.2After a difficult break-up, Hockney is left unable to paint, much to the concern of his friends.
A Bigger Splash
1973
Behind the Scenes was a 10-part television miniseries aimed towards 8- to 12-year-olds about various aspects of the arts, that was broadcast on PBS in 1992. The series was executive produced by Alice Stewart Trillin and Jane Garmey, produced and directed by Ellen Hovde and Muffie Meyer, and hosted by Penn & Teller. It was developed to illuminate the creative process underlying the working of artists. The series was funded by The National Endowment for the Arts, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the Bingham Trust and McDonald's.
Behind the Scenes
1992
Film credits
2020s · 7 titles
NRAt the Lightroom in London, pianist Yuja Wang offers an extraordinary recital at the heart of the immersive exhibition devoted to David Hockney. In this concert, the British painter's brightly coloured canvases enter into communion with the musical works performed, ranging from Bach to Samuel Barber. An unusual unison of the visual and audio arts.
Yuja Wang x David Hockney London Lightroom
2025
NRFilmed in his London studio, David Hockney sits down with Melvyn Bragg to discuss his remarkable life and career, illustrated by a wide range of his vibrant and joyous artworks.
David Hockney: In London
2023
NRAn intimate portrait of David Hockney, featuring interviews with the artist - one of Britain's most beloved painters - in London and Normandy, and exclusive new footage of a master at work.
David Hockney: A Celebration
2023
NRThe celebrated British artist discusses his life and work with Melvyn Bragg in his Normandy studio, revealing his influences, inspirations and plans to keep on painting.
David Hockney: In Normandy
2023
NRUsing over 50 years of archive footage, this film looks back at the life and career of David Hockney.
David Hockney: 50 Years on Film
2023
NRDavid Hockney is one of the world's most successful and influential artists of our time. At 11, he wanted to be an artist. At 87, he's still creating new works. Happiest when making 'joyful' art, and always innovating with his iPad, his art has sold for millions. Ahead of his biggest show ever opening in Paris, the Bradford-born star talks to Katie Razzall about growing old, a recent visit from the King, and his two big loves - smoking and painting.
David Hockney: A Life in Art
2025
NRUsing large-scale projection in a remarkable new space, David Hockney takes us on a personal journey through sixty years of his art. Lightroom’s vast walls and revolutionary sound system enable us to experience the world through Hockney’s eyes. His life-long fascination with the possibilities of new media is given vibrant expression in a show that invites us to look more closely, more truly and more joyously.
David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (Not Smaller & Further Away)
2023
2010s · 15 titles
7.3Harris Glenn Milstead, aka Divine (1945-1988) was the ultimate outsider turned underground hero. Spitting in the face of the status quos of body image, gender identity, sexuality, and preconceived notions of beauty, Divine succeeded in becoming an internationally recognized icon, recording artist, and character actor of stage and screen. Glenn went from the often-mocked, schoolyard fat kid to underdog royalty, standing up for millions of gay men and women, drag queens and punk rockers, and countless other socially ostracized misfits and freaks. With a completely committed in-your-face style, he blurred the line between performer and personality, and revolutionized pop culture.
I Am Divine
2014
7.0The vivid and inspiring story of British film icon Michael Caine's personal journey through 1960s swinging London.
My Generation
2017
7.3Tim Jenison, a Texas based inventor, attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all art: How did Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer manage to paint so photo-realistically 150 years before the invention of photography? Spanning a decade, Jenison's adventure takes him to Holland, on a pilgrimage to the North coast of Yorkshire to meet artista David Hockney, and eventually even to Buckingham Palace. The epic research project Jenison embarques on is as extraordinary as what he discovers.
Tim's Vermeer
2013
NRHe is a major figure in the pop art movement; one of the most popular and influential artists of his generation. The motifs and colors of his canvasses have been widely reproduced, and are now part of the 20th century art pantheon, changing the way we view the world. Hockney is typically seen as an artist who loves life, a good time, glamour and sex. The highly personal and emotional side of his work is often overlooked, much like the intensity and individuality he has shown in each of his successive periods and styles. Through images, anecdotes, and detailed pictorial analysis, this documentary highlights how the renowned painter defies classification and remains mysterious in many ways: an intense, profound, and infinitely passionate artist.
David Hockney: Time Reclaimed
2017
6.3Documentary about British artist Andrew Logan as he attempts to put on the 2009 edition of his Alternative Miss World. The film also presents a history of the contest (which has run eccentrically since 1972) which was set up firstly as an excuse to have a good party, but has grown into a celebration of alternative lifestyles and sexualities. The documentary mixes archive footage, animated inserts, with talking head interviews and a fly-on-the-wall look at the organisation of the 2009 event
The British Guide to Showing Off
2011
6.4A documentary about Academy Award-winning costume designer Cecil Beaton. A respected photographer, artist, and set designer, Beaton was best known for designing on award-winning films such as 'Gigi' (1958) and 'My Fair Lady' (1964). The film features archive footage and interviews with a number of models, artists, and filmmakers who worked closely with Beaton during his illustrious career.
Love, Cecil
2017
7.7Eleven-year-old Beanie's bland life is changed for ever when he is sent on a mission. Armed only with laser lip-gloss and a pair of blend-in pants he has to save his parents from Evil Stella and return the Golden Nit to its rightful place at the heart of the sun, thereby saving the universe.
The Itch of the Golden Nit
2011
7.0A documentary about the work and personality of artist David Hockney.
Hockney
2014
NRThe film gives an insight into the minds of leading creative figures of our time and their thoughts on the relationship between technology and creativity and the impact the arts and technology have had on one another in recent years, and how technology has influenced their life.
Artistry/Technology
2015
3.2Documentary celebrating the LGBTQ contribution to the arts in Britain in the 50 years since decriminalisation. It features interviews with leading figures from right across the arts in Britain, including Stephen Fry, David Hockney, Sir Antony Sher, Alan Cumming, Sandi Toksvig, Jeanette Winterson, Will Young and Alan Hollinghurst, and it explores the distinctive perspectives and voices that LGBT artists have brought to British cultural life.
Queer as Art
2017
7.5Widely considered Britain’s most popular artist, David Hockney is a global sensation with exhibitions in London, New York, Paris and beyond, attracting millions of visitors worldwide. Now entering his 9th decade, Hockney shows absolutely no evidence of slowing down or losing his trademark boldness. Featuring intimate and in-depth interviews with Hockney, this revealing film focuses on two blockbuster exhibitions held in 2012 and 2016 at the Royal Academy of Art in London. Director Phil Grabsky secured privileged access to craft this cinematic celebration of a 21st century master of creativity.
David Hockney at the Royal Academy of Arts
2017
NRThe 16-minute colour film observes Hockney smoking five cigarettes and thinking about painting in his Los Angeles studio, surrounded by a series of portrait paintings that featured in his 2016 exhibition at the RA (82 Portraits and 1 Still-life)
Portraits
2016
NRDavid Hockney undertakes a commission to design and install a stained-glass window in Westminster Abbey to commemorate the sixty-fifth year of Queen Elizabeth II's reign.
Hockney, The Queen and the Royal Peculiar
2018
7.0Documentary about the painter Lucian Freud.
Lucian Freud: Painted Life
2012
NRAndrew Marr interviews David Hockney about his exhibition A Bigger Picture at the Royal Academy, made up of works depicting the landscape of his native Yorkshire.
David Hockney: The Art of Seeing
2012
2000s · 7 titles
6.9Metropolitan Museum of Art curator Henry Geldzahler reflects on the 1960s pop art scene in New York.
Who Gets to Call It Art?
2006
6.7We are taken though the principal milestones of Hopper's biography, including his debut start in Hollywood, the meeting with James Dean and the influence he played upon him, his insubordination on sets and conflicts with the Hollywood directors which led to his black-listing, the years in New, the making of 'Easy Rider' (with an interesting connection of the ultimate road movie with the French new wave directors), 'Apocalypse Now', 'Blue Velvet', 'Colors', his fight with dependency on drugs and alcohol. We come to know Hopper as a complex artist, a valuable photographer who had always a camera on him and whose portraits or American life shots figure among the best in the genre, but also a rebel painter (who may still be rediscovered and become famous in posterity) and exquisite art collector.
Dennis Hopper: Create (or Die)
2003
NRThe film charts David Hockney's return to the theme of the double portrait, using interviews with his family and closest friends to explore the personal and private nature of his art. It creates an intimate psychological portrait of the artist as he paints the relationships in his own life.
David Hockney: Double Portrait
2003
8.0Twenty-five years ago the renowned art critic Robert Hughes made The Shock of the New, a landmark television series that examined the key cultural movement of the 20th Century. Now he's back to look at more recent work and to question whether modern art can still be shocking in its originality and understanding. In an age of media saturation it's perhaps even harder to tell what is good art and what is bad; but Hughes cuts through the marketing and the hype to reveal the art that is vital and will last; the art which defines the times in which we live. In a film which features interviews with David Hockney, Paula Rego, Jeff Koons and Sean Scully, Robert Hughes makes the case that painting, drawing, and the search for beauty matter more than ever before.
The NEW Shock of the New
2004
7.2Artist David Hockney discusses his theory that artists were secretly using optical devices such as mirrors and lenses in creating their work as early as the 15th century.
David Hockney: Secret Knowledge
2001
7.0Filmed over three years, the documentary is an unprecedented record of a major artist at work. It captures David Hockney's return to England after 25 years in California. As he approaches the age of 70, he decides to re-invent his painting from scratch, working through the seasons and in all weathers out in the Yorkshire countryside - ending up with the largest picture ever made outdoors. It is at once the story of a homecoming and an intimate portrait of what inspires and motivates today's greatest living British-born artist as time runs out. Winner of Best Essay award at the International Festival for Films on Art in Montreal and nominated Best Arts Documentary by the Grierson and International Emmy Awards. Premiered on BBC1, the documentary appears in a special extended 60' version.
David Hockney: A Bigger Picture
2009
NRHockney talks about his 40 year love affair with photography.
Hockney on Photography and Other Matters
2009
1990s · 3 titles
7.2Iconic American artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol is the subject of this documentary, which looks at both his life and his influence on pop culture. The film provides details about Warhol's upbringing in Pittsburgh and follows his move to New York City, where he found massive success turning pop imagery into art and eventually founded "The Factory," his famed studio and party venue. Among the many notables interviewed are Dennis Hopper, David Hockney, and Roy Lichtenstein.
Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol
1990
7.0Before "L.A. Confidential", there was "Shotgun Freeway" -- the groundbreaking 1995 documentary about Los Angeles coming to grips with it's own history. Against a backdrop of never-before-seen archival footage, Shotgun Freeway presents a diverse group of "Angelinos" who guide the film through their own past as well as the city's. We get crime scribe James Ellroy reliving his youth as a burglar, Actor/writer Buck Henry's tour of Hollywood fakery, Jazzman Buddy Collette's trip down Central Avenue, Historian Mike Davis' tour of LA's eventual Armageddon, and writer Joan Didion's take on LA's own ephemerality. From the Beaches to the Valley, "Shotgun Freeway" will show you a Los Angeles you never knew existed.
Shotgun Freeway: Drives Through Lost L.A.
1995
8.0Once dubbed the 'king of cool', a look at the man behind the silky voice as Tony Bennett - civil rights activist, jazz enthusiast, painter and New Yorker - takes a tour around his native city and the world of American music with reporter Reggie Nadelson.
Tony Bennett's New York
1996
1980s · 4 titles
NRDavid Hockney is unquestionably one of the most passionate and versatile experimental artists on the contemporary scene. In the late 1970s the British artist developed a pioneering concept which also changed his perspective on painting – his “joiners”. In this film, the artist himself talks about this photographic approach, a kind of Cubism-inspired photocollage which explores the space-time continuum. Hockney allows the viewer to share in the creative “joiner” process and leads us step by step into the universe of his artistic creativity.
David Hockney: Joiner Photographs
1983
7.7Director Philip Haas and artist David Hockney invite you to join them on a magical journey through China via a marvelous 72-foot long 17th-century Chinese scroll entitled The Kangxi Emperor's Southern Inspection Tour (1691-1698), scroll seven . As Hockney unrolls the beautiful and minutely detailed work of art, he traces the Emperor Kangxi’s second tour of his southern empire in 1689.
A Day on the Grand Canal with the Emperor of China or: Surface Is Illusion But So Is Depth
1988
NRAn assessment of the 20th century's best known artist and his vast achievements through the insights and speculations of over a dozen participants. Filmed on the 100th anniversary of Picasso's birth at MoMA, Musée Picasso, Walker Art Center, Museu Picasso Barcelona. Featuring Henry Moore, Anthony Caro, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rosenblum, Clement Greenberg, Roland Penrose and others.
Pablo Picasso: The Legacy of a Genius
1981
9.0To mark his fiftieth birthday in 1988, London's Tate Gallery staged a major retrospective of his work. Melvyn Bragg joined David Hockney for an exclusive private view of the exhibition and they were filmed discussing pictures from all stages of Hockney's remarkable career.
Hockney at the Tate
1988
1970s · 7 titles
6.2After a difficult break-up, Hockney is left unable to paint, much to the concern of his friends.
A Bigger Splash
1973
NRRenowned English painter, David Hockney, takes us on a visual journey as he shares with us his treasured photo diaries. Consisting of polaroids Hockney has been collecting since 1967, the diaries act as both a tribute and an artist's notebook, often times including images the painter used for his large canvas works. A fine example of Hockney's pictorial inspiration are several photographs of castles he took during a boat trip down the Rhine that were later adapted for a suite of etchings to accompany six Grimm's fairy tales. Seeing his projects long before the work begins, Hockney used his camera to slow time and capture images that would go on to boast his unique style of realism. In David Hockney's Diaries the artist is seen at work on a large canvas of his friends Celia and Ossie Clark and their cat Percy, commissioned by the Tate Gallery.
David Hockney's Diaries
1970
NRWhimsical portrait of photographer and designer Cecil Beaton during a photo session with David Bailey.
Beaton by Bailey
1971
3.7A man decides to edit a documentary on the 1960's at a remote cabin in the Scottish Highlands.
Fire in the Water
1977
NRAt the time the longest arts documentary the BBC had ever shown, this film is about the fascination and meaning of drawing; why we draw, what we draw, what has been drawn and how drawing differs from painting or photography. During the course of it David Hockney makes two drawings of one of his favourite subjects, Celia Birtwell. The caricaturist and illustrator Ralph Steadman is seen at work in his studio, as well as drawing some of the regulars in his local pub. And the American Jim Dine, well-known first in the 60’ as a pop artist, completes this trio of contemporary artists, all of them preoccupied by drawing and talking freely, not only about their own approach, but about the work of other artists they admire. The film also includes unique archive film and photographs of Matisse and Giacometti, as well as quotations from the notebooks and letters of major European artists from Leonardo da Vinci to Degas and Van Gogh.
Seeing Through Drawing
1978
NRFilmed at the time Hockney was painting Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, Portrait of David Hockney is made up of a limited number of shots, observing the periphery details of his flat and studio. Each view is held so as to focus on its particular qualities and composition and, with the accompanying soundtrack of off-screen phone calls, conversations and musings, builds up a picture of Hockney’s daily life.
Portrait of David Hockney
1972
7.0Based upon the theme of Faust, with the characters portrayed serving as representatives of the crises of their time. A triple portrait of three important figures in the art world: British artist David Hockney, Argentine surrealist painter Leonor Fini, and German-French art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler.
Genius
1970
1960s · 5 titles
Includes 'portraits' of Marianne Faithfull, Thelonious Monk and 28 others, some known, some less so.
Heads
1969
4.5Peter Whitehead’s disjointed Swinging London documentary, subtitled “A Pop Concerto,” comprises a number of different “movements,” each depicting a different theme underscored by music: A early version of Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive” plays behind some arty nightclub scenes, while Chris Farlowe’s rendition of the Rolling Stones’ “Out of Time” accompanies a young woman’s description of London nightlife and the vacuousness of her own existence. In another segment, the Marquess of Kensington (Robert Wace) croons the nostalgic “Changing of the Guard” to shots of Buckingham Palace’s changing of the guard, and recording act Vashti are seen at work in the studio. Sandwiched between are clips of Mick Jagger (discussing revolution), Andrew Loog Oldham (discussing his future) – and Julie Christie, Michael Caine, Lee Marvin, and novelist Edna O’Brien (each discussing sex). The best part is footage of the riot that interrupted the Stones’ 1966 Royal Albert Hall concert.
Tonite Let's All Make Love in London
1967
5.8A documentary short directed by Brian De Palma, The Responsive Eye documents the 1965 exhibition of optical art at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Curated by William C. Seitz, the exhibition was the first major museum show dedicated to Op Art. The film captures both the artworks and the reactions of attendees, offering a snapshot of a pivotal moment in the relationship between contemporary art and public perception.
The Responsive Eye
1965
Four young people pinpoint the attitudes that have contributed to the phenomenon of swinging London.
Go Go Go Said the Bird
1966
6.5'Love's Presentation' may be a time capsule of a rising art-world star, but it also pokes fun at the perspective of a celebrity profile. In its opening sequence, an antsy-looking Hockney squirms as a narrator reads aloud critic Jasia Reichardt’s introduction to his star persona. Scott’s portrait of Hockney is more expansive, spurning the growing popular image of the artist in favor of following him at work; He’s described the film as a “how-to” documentary. Filmed in April '66 in Hockney’s ground-floor apartment and studio, Hockney himself improvised the narration while watching the film. We watch the artist carve delicate lines into the plates, submerge them in an acid bath outside his window, then wipe his hands on the window curtains... A rare, relaxed close-up on Hockney’s creative process.
Love's Presentation
1968
Series credits
5.6The South Bank Show is a television arts magazine show produced by ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new series began on Sky Arts from 27 May 2012. Presented by Melvyn Bragg, the show aims to bring both high art and popular culture to a mass audience.
The South Bank Show
1978
7.2Omnibus was an arts-based BBC television documentary series, broadcast mainly on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The programme was the successor to the long-running arts-based series 'Monitor'. It ran from 1967 until 2003, usually being transmitted on Sunday evenings. During its 35-year history, the programme won 12 Bafta awards. Among the series' best remembered documentaries are Cracked Actor, a profile of David Bowie, and Rene Magritte, a graduate film by David Wheatley, 'Madonna: Behind the American dream', a film produced by Nadia Hagger, and a profile of the British film director Ridley Scott. For a season in 1982, the series was in a magazine format presented by Barry Norman. The series was replaced by 'Imagine' hosted by Alan Yentob.
Omnibus
1967
Behind the Scenes was a 10-part television miniseries aimed towards 8- to 12-year-olds about various aspects of the arts, that was broadcast on PBS in 1992. The series was executive produced by Alice Stewart Trillin and Jane Garmey, produced and directed by Ellen Hovde and Muffie Meyer, and hosted by Penn & Teller. It was developed to illuminate the creative process underlying the working of artists. The series was funded by The National Endowment for the Arts, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the Bingham Trust and McDonald's.
Behind the Scenes
1992
Behind the camera
7.0Before "L.A. Confidential", there was "Shotgun Freeway" -- the groundbreaking 1995 documentary about Los Angeles coming to grips with it's own history. Against a backdrop of never-before-seen archival footage, Shotgun Freeway presents a diverse group of "Angelinos" who guide the film through their own past as well as the city's. We get crime scribe James Ellroy reliving his youth as a burglar, Actor/writer Buck Henry's tour of Hollywood fakery, Jazzman Buddy Collette's trip down Central Avenue, Historian Mike Davis' tour of LA's eventual Armageddon, and writer Joan Didion's take on LA's own ephemerality. From the Beaches to the Valley, "Shotgun Freeway" will show you a Los Angeles you never knew existed.
Shotgun Freeway: Drives Through Lost L.A.
1995
7.7Director Philip Haas and artist David Hockney invite you to join them on a magical journey through China via a marvelous 72-foot long 17th-century Chinese scroll entitled The Kangxi Emperor's Southern Inspection Tour (1691-1698), scroll seven . As Hockney unrolls the beautiful and minutely detailed work of art, he traces the Emperor Kangxi’s second tour of his southern empire in 1689.
A Day on the Grand Canal with the Emperor of China or: Surface Is Illusion But So Is Depth
1988

