Mary Lambert Bio
Mary Josephine Lambert (born October 13, 1951) is an American director whose career spans feature films, television episodes, and music videos. She is widely recognized for directing some of the most iconic music videos of the 1980s, particularly those for Madonna and Janet Jackson, which helped shape the visual language of pop music during that era. Lambert is equally known to horror audiences for directing the Stephen King adaptation Pet Sematary (1989) and its sequel Pet Sematary Two (1992).
Born in Helena, Arkansas, Lambert built a versatile career that moved fluidly between mainstream Hollywood productions, independent film, and the fast-paced world of music video direction. Her work helped define how an entire generation experienced popular music and horror cinema on screen.
Early Life and Background
Mary Josephine Lambert was born on October 13, 1951, in Helena, Arkansas, a small city in the Mississippi Delta region of the United States. She is the daughter of Martha Kelly and Jordan Bennett Lambert III, a rice and cotton farmer. Lambert grew up alongside her younger sister, Blanche Lincoln, who later became a United States Senator representing Arkansas.
Raised in the American South during the mid-twentieth century, Lambert was exposed early to storytelling traditions rooted in regional folklore, music, and community life. These surroundings would later inform her ability to translate atmosphere and place into visual form, whether she was working on a music video set in Los Angeles or a horror film shot in rural Maine.
Lambert pursued formal training in the arts at the Rhode Island School of Design, a prestigious institution known for shaping creative talent across multiple disciplines. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, an academic foundation that gave her a strong grounding in visual composition, design, and the craft of filmmaking.
Path to Directing
Following her education at the Rhode Island School of Design, Lambert moved into the fast-growing music video industry, which was expanding rapidly in the early 1980s alongside the rise of MTV. She built an early reputation directing videos for artists across multiple genres, including Chris Isaak and Lone Justice. Her work on Chris Isaak’s debut video, “Dancin’,” earned two nominations at the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards for Most Experimental Video and Best Direction, while her direction of Lone Justice’s “Ways to Be Wicked” brought her a third nomination in the same year. Lambert was the only woman nominated at that ceremony and accounted for half of the nominations in the Most Experimental Video category.
These early successes positioned her as one of the most in-demand video directors of the decade. Her growing portfolio caught the attention of major recording artists and labels, and she soon became a trusted collaborator for performers looking to develop bold visual identities.
Lambert’s transition into feature filmmaking was marked by her involvement with Prince’s Under the Cherry Moon, on which she was originally attached as director before being reassigned to an advisory role early in production. Although she departed that project, the experience reinforced her determination to develop her own feature work and ultimately led her to the experimental film Siesta in 1987 and the horror adaptation Pet Sematary in 1989.
Mary Lambert Career
Early Career (1984–1988)
Lambert’s career began in earnest in 1984, when she directed the music video for Madonna’s “Borderline,” filmed on location in Los Angeles between January 30 and February 2, 1984. The video, which contrasted colorful barrio scenes with black-and-white photography studio footage, premiered on MTV in March 1984 and played a defining role in establishing Madonna’s early image. “Borderline” was later included in the video compilations The Immaculate Collection (1990) and Celebration: The Video Collection (2009).
She went on to direct a remarkable series of Madonna videos, including “Like a Virgin” (1984), filmed in Venice, Italy, and New York and earning three MTV Video Music Award nominations for Best Cinematography, Best Choreography, and Best Art Direction. In 1985, Lambert directed “Material Girl,” which paid homage to Marilyn Monroe’s performance in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and earned nominations for Best Female Video and Best Cinematography. Her work on “La Isla Bonita” (1987) explored Latin and religious themes, while her direction of “Like a Prayer” (1989) sparked widespread debate for its use of burning crosses and stigmata imagery, ultimately winning the MTV Video Music Award for Viewers’ Choice and earning a nomination for Video of the Year.
Breakthrough (1987–1992)
Lambert’s breakthrough as a feature filmmaker came with Siesta (1987), a stylized and controversial experimental work starring Ellen Barkin and Jodie Foster. The film was nominated for the IFP Spirit Award for Best First Feature, though it ultimately lost to Dirty Dancing.
Her most significant commercial success arrived with Pet Sematary (1989), a supernatural horror film based on Stephen King’s 1983 novel, with King himself writing the screenplay. Starring Dale Midkiff, Denise Crosby, Fred Gwynne, and Miko Hughes, the film premiered on April 21, 1989, and grossed $57.5 million against an $11.5 million budget. Development had begun in 1984 when the rights were initially sold to George A. Romero for $10,000, though scheduling conflicts delayed the project until Paramount greenlit it during the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike. King personally chose Lambert as director, citing her passion for the source material, and insisted the film be shot on location in Maine, including Ellsworth, Bangor, and Mount Hope Cemetery. Lambert famously fought to cast Miko Hughes as Gage Creed and Fred Gwynne as Jud Crandall, despite studio resistance, and invited the Ramones to write and perform the closing-credits track “Pet Sematary.”
The popularity of Pet Sematary led to a sequel, Pet Sematary Two, which Lambert also directed in 1992. She continued directing music videos throughout this period, including Janet Jackson’s “Control” and “Nasty.” “Control,” filmed at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, depicted Jackson asserting independence from her family and won a Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video in 1988, beating out Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Jody Watley. “Nasty” won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography by Paula Abdul.
Notable Works and Milestones
Lambert directed additional music videos for an extraordinary roster of artists, including Eurythmics (“Would I Lie to You,” which earned five MTV Video Music Award nominations), Mick Jagger (“Say You Will” and “Throwaway”), the Go-Go’s, Mötley Crüe, Queensrÿche, Sting (“We’ll Be Together,” which won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography), Debbie Harry, and Tom Tom Club. Beyond film and music, she directed the 1993 interactive video game Double Switch for Digital Pictures. Later horror credits include Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005) and the Syfy film Mega Python vs. Gatoroid (2011).
Mary Lambert Award Nominations
Across her career in music video and feature filmmaking, Mary Lambert earned numerous nominations at the MTV Video Music Awards, the IFP Spirit Awards, and other industry ceremonies. Her nominations span categories including Best Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Choreography, Best Art Direction, Best Female Video, Best Group Video, Best Editing, Best Stage Performance, Best Overall Performance, and Video of the Year, reflecting the breadth of her creative contributions to music and film.
Mary Lambert Awards Won
Lambert has been recognized with several major industry wins throughout her directing career. Her music video work earned her the MTV Video Music Award for Viewers’ Choice for Madonna’s “Like a Prayer,” the MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography for Janet Jackson’s “Nasty” (awarded to choreographer Paula Abdul), and the MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography for Sting’s “We’ll Be Together.” She also earned a Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video for Janet Jackson’s “Control.”
Mary Lambert Family
Mary Lambert is the daughter of Martha Kelly and Jordan Bennett Lambert III, a rice and cotton farmer based in Helena, Arkansas. Her younger sister is Blanche Lincoln, the former United States Senator from Arkansas.
Personal Life
Mary Lambert married Jerome Gary in 1991, and the couple has a son named Jordan. She has long balanced her professional life between Hollywood productions and personal commitments, maintaining ties to her Arkansas roots while building a career in film and music video direction across the country and around the world.