Kurt Russell

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Kurt Russell
Image:Kurt Russell 1.jpg
At the premiere of Grindhouse in Austin, Texas, March 2007.
Photo by Jeff Balke.
Birth name Kurt Vogel Russell
Born March 17 1951 (1951-03-17) (age 58)
Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Spouse(s) Season Hubley (1979–1983)
Domestic partner(s) Goldie Hawn (1983–present)

Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. He became known during the early 1970s, having starred in several Hollywood films, and has continued appearing in a variety of roles since, including Escape from New York, Stargate and most recently Grindhouse.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Russell was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, the son of Louise Julia (née Crone), a dancer, and Bing Russell, a character actor known as Deputy Clem Foster on Bonanza.[1] His parents are from Holland but were born in the United States. Russell considers Rangeley, Maine, to be his hometown.[2] Russell served in the United States National Guard.[citation needed]

[edit] 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. He played "Ugly Child". 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, John Maloney, Charles Bronson, and the young Osmond Brothers. Russell also played the role of Jungle Boy on an episode of Gilligan's Island that aired on February 6, 1965. The young actor was soon signed to a ten-year contract with the Walt Disney Company, where he became, according to Robert Osborne, the "studio's top star of the '70s."[3] Russell 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 (his father also having been a baseball player). In the early 1970s, Russell played second base for the California Angels (now the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) Double-A minor league affiliate the El Paso Sun Kings. During a play, he was hit in the shoulder by a player running to second base; the collision tore the rotator cuff in Russell's right/throwing shoulder. Before his injury he was leading the Texas League in hitting with a .563 batting average but the injury forced his retirement from baseball in 1973 and led to his return to acting.

Russell, like Nick Nolte and others, screentested for the role of Han Solo for Star Wars.

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 1982's John Carpenter's The Thing based upon the short story Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, Jr. which had been interpreted on film before, albeit loosely, in 1951's The Thing from Another World. In 1986 the two made Big Trouble in Little China, a dark kung-fu comedy/action film in which Russell played a truck driver caught in an ancient Chinese war. While the film was a financial failure like The Thing, it was also similar in that it has since gained a cult audience, and even inspired a few other films, as well as the video game Mortal Kombat[citation needed].

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 of Olympic hockey coach Herb Brooks in the film, Miracle, won the praise of critics. "In many ways," wrote Claudia Puig of USA Today, "Miracle belongs to Kurt Russell." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times wrote, "Russell does real acting here." Elvis Mitchell of the The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Russell's cagey and remote performance gives Miracle its few breezes of fresh, albeit methane-scented, air." (Mitchell's use of the word "remote" here is not a criticism of Russell's acting so much as a description of Russell's portrait of an emotionally reserved man.)[citation needed]

In 2006, Kurt Russell revealed that he did all the directing for Tombstone and not George P. Cosmatos, as credited[4]. According to Russell, Cosmatos was recommended by Sylvester Stallone and was, in effect, a ghost director; just as he was for Rambo II. Russell promised Cosmatos he would keep it a secret as long as Cosmatos was alive. Cosmatos died in April 2005. Russell owns the rights to the masters and makes reference to possibly re-editing the film, as he was not involved in that originally.

Russell most recently appeared as villain Stuntman Mike in Quentin Tarantino's segment Death Proof, of the film Grindhouse. After a remake of Escape from New York was announced, Russell was reportedly furious over the casting of Gerard Butler for his signature character, Snake Plissken.[5][6][7] In late October 2007, Gerard withdrew from the "Escape From New York" remake due to creative differences.

[edit] Personal life

Image:Kurt Russell.jpg
Russell in 2005

Russell married actress Season Hubley, whom he had met on the set of Elvis in 1979 and they had a son, Boston, in 1980. 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. Hawn's son and daughter with Bill Hudson, Oliver and Kate Hudson, consider Russell to be their father.[8]

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 views, so he and Hawn moved to an area outside Aspen, Colorado where he has tried 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. He will be playing for the University of Alabama in Huntsville Chargers starting the fall of 2007.

Russell is an FAA licensed Private Pilot holding single/multi-engine and instrument ratings. He is also a member of the National Rifle Association (NRA).[citation needed] Russell is a huge Boston Red Sox fan.[citation needed]

Former Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Franco is his nephew.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.filmreference.com/film/39/Kurt-Russell.html
  2. ^ Escape from LA: Kurt Russell's Secret Life in Maine
  3. ^ Introduction by Robert Osborne to the TCM premiere of The Barefoot Executive, 13 April 2007.
  4. ^ The "Western" Godfather
  5. ^ http://movies.ign.com/articles/775/775013p1.html
  6. ^ http://www.edmontonsun.com/Entertainment/Showbiz/2007/04/04/3915117-sun.html
  7. ^ http://www.pr-inside.com/russell-enraged-with-new-snake-plissken-r75552.htm
  8. ^ http://www.cinemas-online.co.uk/website/interview.phtml?uid=103
  9. ^ Beck, Henry Cabot. "The "Western" Godfather". True West Magazine. October 2006.

[edit] External links

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