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Ken Russell, the outrageous talent who defied the critics, has died, aged 84.

During his career, he became known for his controversial films including 1969's Women In Love, which featured Oliver Reed and Alan Bates wrestling nude.

He also directed the infamous religious drama The Devils (1971) and The Who's rock opera Tommy (1975). And as the great and good of the film industry unite to pay tribute to his canon of work, those who saw a different side of him, as a great teacher and motivator, have also been remembering him.

Ken Russell in 1962

Russell inspired a whole generation of young Welsh film-makers through his collaboration with the Newport Film School, where he took up the role of visiting professor in 2003.

Humphry Trevelyan, former head of the Newport Film School, who also worked with Russell at the University of Southampton, said his approach to teaching was as refreshing as his devotion to the arts in general.

He recalls: "He was very down to earth with the students - he didn't have any of the airs or graces one might expect from someone so well-known.

"He could be impatient at times but he was always looking for something beyond the ordinary and always trying to stimulate the students to think beyond that which was traditional and formulaic."

Russell hosted film master classes but many students also had the privilege of his feedback on scripts they were developing as part of their coursework on the MA and BA courses at Newport.

Mr Trevelyan said: "It was noticeable that the students who were more in tune with his kind of filmmaking and imagination were always very pleased to get the chance to talk to him as they felt he was supporting them in their more adventurous ideas that sometimes their own tutors might try and steer them away from.

"His message to students was always, 'do things on your own terms'."

In fact, that message could act as a moniker for Russell's own approach to filmmaking through his life, where he often enjoyed attracting criticism for his non-traditional approach.

Ken Russell in the ±«Óãtv series Waking The Dead (2003)

The love of the dramatic which imbued his takes on classics and his fondness for sensual imagery often saw him branded over-indulgent by critics.

But this was not something that bothered Russell, who believed the sensationalism stimulated interest in his subjects.

In all, Ken Russell made three feature films and 33 drama-documentaries at the ±«Óãtv.

His first successful film for the big screen was Women in Love, which won him an Oscar nomination for Best Director, for the first and only time in his career.

The graphic nude scenes of his next offering, a film about Tchaikovsky caused outrage and was widely panned by the critics.

Russell later returned to more small budget, but no less flamboyant fare, including Crimes of Passion, Gothic, Salome's Last Dance and the cult horror-comedy The Lair Of The White Worm, starring Hugh Grant.

The director also made an adaptation of DH Lawrence's The Rainbow followed by the gritty film, Whore, and even tried his hand at music videos, making Nikita for Sir Elton John.

Ken Russell directing 300 children in the 1966 TV film Isadora: The Biggest Dancer In The World

Many of Russell's later films were dismissed as too eclectic and by the 1990s he found it almost impossible to get funding for his work.

Mr Trevelyan said Russell's understanding of the role actors play and how they should be directed was what stood him apart and was a talent he was happy to share with his students at Newport.

He said: "A couple of times he came to help out with a directing workshop and would take the students though how to rehearse the actors they had chosen for their own filming.

"It was very straightforward but invaluable teaching, making the students think about what actors do when they are not communicating verbally and what motivates them throughout the scene.

"The students were always completely bowled over when they were given this help and related really well to it.

"Russell was somebody who brought a lot of influences to film from the various arts, music, literature and theatre, which is what made his films so unusual and almost non-filmic.

"He always said that his generation saw it as their duty to shock and I don't think he ever forgot that duty."