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Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17 1951 in Springfield, Massachusetts) is an American actor.

Biography

Early life

Russell was born in Springfield, Massachusetts to Louise Crain and Bing Russell, who was a character actor best known as Deputy Clem Foster on Bonanza.

Career

Russell started his film career at the age of ten in an uncredited part in Elvis Presley's It Happened at the World's Fair. At the age of twelve he landed a big part for a juvenile actor: the lead role as the orphan Jaimie in the TV western The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1963–1964). Based on a book by Robert Lewis Taylor, this series also starred Dan O'Herlihy, Charles Bronson, and the young Osmond Brothers.

The young Russell was soon signed to a ten-year contract with the Walt Disney Company, reportedly by Walt Disney himself. He starred in many Disney films, such as Follow Me, Boys! (1966), The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968) with newcomer Goldie Hawn, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), and The Strongest Man in the World (1975).

Russell also had a baseball career (Russell's father had been a baseball player). In the early 1970s, Russell played second base for the minor league affiliate of the California Angels (now the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim). He led his league in hitting with a .563 batting average. During a play, he was hit in the shoulder by another player running to second base. The collision tore the rotator cuff in one of Russell's shoulders. The injury forced his retirement from baseball in 1973, and he returned to acting.

Russell was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special (1979) for the made-for-television film Elvis. This would be his first pairing with John Carpenter, the director of Halloween. Over the next decade, Russell would team with Carpenter several times, and help create some of his best-known roles, usually as anti-heroes, including the infamous Snake Plissken of Escape from New York. Among their collaborations was the 1982 remake of The Thing. In 1986 the two made Big Trouble in Little China, a dark kung-fu comedy in which Russell played a truck driver caught in an ancient Chinese war. The movie, while a flop (much like The Thing), gained a cult audience, and even inspired a few other films, as well as the video game Mortal Kombat.

He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (1984) for his performance opposite Meryl Streep in Silkwood.

His portrayal in the film, Miracle, received critical acclaim from audiences.

Personal life

Russell married actress Season Hubley, whom he had met on the set of Elvis in 1979 and they had a son, Boston. In 1983, in the middle of his divorce from Hubley, Russell re-connected with Goldie Hawn on the set of the film Swing Shift and they have been in a relationship ever since. The couple also filmed the comedy Overboard together in 1987. They had a son, Wyatt, in 1986 and Hawn's daughter Kate Hudson considers Russell to be her dad.[1]

Russell is a prominent member of the United States Libertarian Party. He claims that he was often an outcast in Hollywood because of his Libertarian beliefs, and so moved to live in an area outside Aspen, Colorado, where he started to try his hand at writing (he co-wrote the screenplay for Escape from L.A.). In February 2003, Russell and Hawn moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, so that their son could play hockey.

Trivia

• He appeared in the music video and sang in the choir on the song "Voices That Care."
• He is an FAA licensed Private Pilot holding single/multi- engine and instrument ratings.
• Former Atlanta Braves first baseman, Matt Franco, is his nephew.
• Is a member of the National Rifle Association (NRA)
• He played "Jungleboy" on Gilligan's Island

Filmography

• It Happened at the World's Fair (1963)
• Follow Me, Boys! (1966)
• Mosby's Marauders (1967)
• Guns in the Heather (1968)
• The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968)
• The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit (1968)
• The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969)
• The Barefoot Executive (1971)
• Fools' Parade (1971)
• Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972)
• Charley and the Angel (1973)
• Superdad (1973)
• The Strongest Man in the World (1975)
• The Captive: The Longest Drive 2 (1976)
• Used Cars (1980)
• Escape from New York (1981)
• The Fox and the Hound (1981) (voice)
• The Thing (1982)
• Silkwood (1983)
• Swing Shift (1984)
• The Mean Season (1985)
• Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
• The Best of Times (1986)
• Overboard (1987)
• Tequila Sunrise (1988)
• Tango & Cash (1989)
• Backdraft (1991)
• Unlawful Entry (1992)
• Captain Ron (1992)
• Tombstone (1993)
• Stargate (1994)
• Forrest Gump (1994) - (voice of Elvis)
• Executive Decision (1996)
• Escape from LA (1996)
• Breakdown (1997)
• Soldier (1998)
• 3000 Miles To Graceland (2001)
• Vanilla Sky (2001)
• Interstate 60 (2002)
• Dark Blue (2003)
• Miracle (2004)
• Sky High (2005)
• Dreamer (2005)
• Poseidon (2006)
• Grind House (2007)
• Busy Towns: Buffalo and the Newt (2009) Tiger,Monkey,Kangaroo

External links

• The Escape From New York & L.A. Page - A Tribute to Snake Plissken

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