The Face Of Disney For Over A Decade.
By Taylor Neumann, ReMIND Magazine
Kurt Vogel Russell was born March 17, 1951, in Springfield, Massachusetts. He is the son of actor Bing Russell and dancer Louise Julia Russell. He was a child actor, and his first film role came with an uncredited part in It Happened at the World’s Fair (1963). He then played the title role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1963-64). Throughout the rest of the 1960s he made appearances in popular shows such as The Fugitive, The Virginian, Gunsmoke and Gilligan’s Island.
In 1966, Walt Disney wrote what ended up being his final words down on a piece of paper. Those words? Just a name — “Kurt Russell.” Later that year, Russell signed a 10-year contract with the Walt Disney Company. His first movie for Disney was Follow Me, Boys! (1966).
He continued making films for Disney, including The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit (1968), Guns in the Heather (1969), The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969) and The Barefoot Executive (1971). In 1971, he stepped outside of Disney to costar with James Stewart in Fools’ Parade. But Disney remained the bulk of his film work, and other projects in those years were Now You See Him, Now You Don’t (1972), Charley and the Angel (1973) and Superdad (1973).
While pursuing his acting career, Russell had other outlets, including serving in the California Air National Guard, from 1969 to 1975, after graduating high school, and also a baseball career that was cut short by an injury that led to his retirement from the sport in 1973.
In 1974, Russell appeared in the ABC series The New Land, which due to low ratings only aired half of its recorded episodes. He followed this up with another Disney film, The Strongest Man in the World (1975). Russell did other projects, one of which, the made-for-TV film Elvis (1979), led to an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Special. He starred in Amber Waves (1980), Used Cars (1980) and the hit film Escape From New York (1981). He went back to Disney to provide a voice for their film The Fox and the Hound (1981), but then moved on to The Thing (1982). He received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for 1983’s Silkwood.
Russell starred alongside Goldie Hawn in 1984’s Swing Shift, and the two entered a romantic relationship that continues to this day. Other films from this time period are cult favorite Big Trouble in Little China (1986) and Overboard (1987), another film with Hawn.
Highlights of Russell’s career since the ’80s are the films Backdraft (1991), Tombstone (1993), Stargate (1994), Miracle (2004), Death Proof (2007) and 2015’s Furious 7, where he entered The Fast and the Furious franchise — he appeared in the newest movie, F9, which came out in June. And Russell also teamed with Disney one more time: He appeared as Quill’s father in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017).
Russell has two sons; one, Boston, with his first wife Season Hubley, and one with current partner Goldie Hawn — Wyatt Russell, an actor himself. In addition to these two “official” children, he helped raise Hawn’s kids Kate and Oliver Hudson, who consider him a father. In 2017 he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.