Best Biography movies of 1980s

Actors : Nickolas Grace, Stratford Johns, Glenda Jackson, Douglas Hodge,
Directors : Ken Russell,

Set in France Oscar Wilde (so it appears) visits a local theatre and is surprised by their retelling of his own work ""Salome'" the story line then digresses in to a VERY twisted portrayal ...

Actors : Peter Gallagher, Ray Sharkey, Paul Land, Tovah Feldshuh,
Directors : Taylor Hackford,

Based on the life of rock promoter/producer Bob Marcucci, who discovered, among others, Frankie Avalon and Fabian.

Actors : Paul Boensch III, Elvis Presley, David Scott, Johnny Harra,

The life and career of Elvis Presley are chronicled in home movies, concert footage, and dramatizations. Subjects include early performances, army service, Ed Sullivan Show appearance, marriage, 1968 comeback, health decline and death.

Actors : Themis Bazaka, Nikos Kalogeropoulos, Michalis Maniatis, Sotiria Leonardou,
Directors : Costas Ferris,

The story of a group of Rembetes, singers and musicians of the Greek equivalent to the blues, in the early decades of the 20th century, seen through the eyes of a young female singer.

Actors : Klaus Maria Brandauer, Hans Christian Blech, Gudrun Landgrebe, Armin Mueller-Stahl,
Directors : István Szabó,

Set during the fading glory of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the film tells of the rise and fall of Alfred Redl (Brandauer), an ambitious young officer who proceeds up the ladder to become ...

Actors : Han-wen Chen, Neng Chang, Chih-Chen Chen, Chia-bao Chang,
Directors : Hsiao-Hsien Hou,

The semi-autobiographical film on director Hou Hsiao-Hsien's childhood and adolescence, when he was growing up in Taiwan, living through the deaths of his father, mother and grandmother.

Actors : Alan Bates, Alan Badel, George De La Pena, Leslie Browne,
Directors : Herbert Ross,

Set in the early 1910s at a time of passionate artistic experimentalism, and based on biographical fact, this is the story of Vaslav Nijinsky, the young and brilliant but headstrong premier...

Actors : Daniel Olbrychski, Adelheid Arndt, Otto Sander, Barbara Sukowa,
Directors : Margarethe von Trotta,

After years of political agitation, Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, and Leo Jogiches form a revolutionary German party, the Spartacists.

Actors : Jill Clayburgh, Joe Pesci, Dianne Wiest, Nicol Williamson,
Directors : Jack Hofsiss,

A true story about Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Gordon's Valium addiction and her desperate attempts to kick the habit.

Actors : Jean-Pierre Bacri, Miou-Miou, Isabelle Huppert, Guy Marchand,
Directors : Diane Kurys,

In 1942 in occupied France, a Jewish refugee marries a soldier to escape deportation to Germany. Meanwhile a wealthy art student loses her first husband to a stray Resistance bullet; at the...

Actors : John Wildman, Margaret Langrick, Richard Donat, Jane Mortifee,
Directors : Sandy Wilson,

Adding an intriguing Canadian twist to a universally appealing story of teenage trials, My American Cousin begins as bored 12-year-old Sandy (Margaret Langrick) is preparing for another ...

Actors : Nikolaus Dutsch, Mickey Rourke, Andréa Ferréol, Helena Bonham Carter,
Directors : Liliana Cavani,

Docudrama about the life of St-Francis of Assisi

Actors : Orson Welles, Strother Martin, Petar Bozovic, Oja Kodar,
Directors : Krsto Papic,

Life and times of Nikola Tesla, famous scientist whose inventions were stolen, but whose greatest contribution to mankind remain a mystery to this day.

Actors : Alisa Freyndlikh, Anatoliy Romashin, Velta Line, Aleksey Petrenko,
Directors : Elem Klimov,

Details the life of the Russian monk Rasputin. The film shows his rise to power and how it corrupted him. His sexual perversions and madness ultimatly leads to his gruesome assasination.

Actors : Orson Welles, Ray Laska, Bob Ruggiero, Philip L. Clarke,
Directors : Robert Guenette,

Hosted by Orson Welles, this documentary utilizes a grab bag of dramatized scenes, stock footage, TV news clips and interviews to ask: Did 16th century French astrologer and physician ...

Actors : Cynthia Dale, David Naughton, Christopher Plummer, Nicolas Cage,
Directors : Charles Jarrott,

Based on the life of Ned Hanlan, the late-19th century Canadian sculler and world champion. Hanlan was one of the first scullers to successfully utilize the "sliding seat."

Actors : Nikolai Kinski, Klaus Kinski, Dalila Di Lazzaro, Debora Caprioglio,
Directors : Klaus Kinski,

Klaus Kinski believed that he lived through the same experiences as the legendary "devil violinist" Niccolò Paganini, who set all of nineteenth-century Europe into a frenzy and through ...

Actors : Stellan Skarsgård, Károly Eperjes, Miklós B. Székely, Katharina Thalbach,
Directors : Kjell Grede,

Swedish national Raoul Wallenberg, newcomer to politics and international machinations, travels to German-occupied Budapest during WWII in order to effectively intervene in the fate of ...

Actors : Ewa Dalkowska, Teresa Budzisz-Krzyzanowska, Wojciech Pszoniak, Marzena Trybala,
Directors : Andrzej Wajda,

Account of the last days of life of the legendary Polish pedagogue Janusz Korczak and his heroic dedication to protecting Jewish orphans during the war. Jewish doctor Henryk Goldszmit, ...

Actors : Dragan Nikolic, Franco Nero, Sanja Vejnovic, Rade Serbedzija,
Directors : Vatroslav Mimica,

In late 14th century medieval Serbia becomes the target of Ottoman invaders. One of their renegade gangs burns the castle and takes young wife of Banovic Strahinja, respected Serbian noble....