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." 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.
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.)
In 2006, Kurt Russell revealed that he did all the directing for Tombstone and not George P. Cosmatos, as credited. 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. --
Brandon (
talk) 03:21, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
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.
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