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mahatmakanejeeves

(60,917 posts)
Sun Mar 17, 2024, 09:09 AM Mar 2024

On this day, March 17, 1951, television and Disney movie star Kurt Russell was born.

Kurt Russell


Russell at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con

Born: Kurt Vogel Russell; March 17, 1951 (age 73); Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Education: Thousand Oaks High School
Occupation: Actor

Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. He began acting on television at the age of 12 in the western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1963–1964). In the late 1960s, he signed a ten-year contract with The Walt Disney Company, where he starred as Dexter Riley in films such as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972), and The Strongest Man in the World (1975). According to Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies, Russell became the studio's top star of the 1970s.

Russell was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture for his performance in Mike Nichols' Silkwood (1983). In the 1980s, he starred in several films directed by John Carpenter, including anti-hero roles such as army hero-turned-robber Snake Plissken in the futuristic action film Escape from New York (1981), its sequel Escape from L.A. (1996), the horror film The Thing (1982), and the kung-fu comedy action film Big Trouble in Little China (1986). For his portrayal of rock and roll superstar Elvis Presley in Elvis (1979), he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.

Russell starred in various other films, including Used Cars (1980), The Best of Times (1986), Overboard (1987), Tango & Cash (1989), Backdraft (1991), Tombstone (1993), Stargate (1994), Executive Decision (1996), Breakdown (1997), Vanilla Sky (2001), Miracle (2004), Sky High (2005), Death Proof (2007), The Hateful Eight (2015) and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). He also appeared in the Fast & Furious franchise as Mr. Nobody, having starred in Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), and F9 (2021), portrayed Ego in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) installments Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) and What If...? (2021), and subsequently portrayed Santa Claus in The Christmas Chronicles (2018) and The Christmas Chronicles 2 (2020)

Career

Child actor


Russell with Robert Vaughn in a 1964 episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Russell made his film debut with an uncredited part for It Happened at the World's Fair, playing a boy who kicked a pilot (Elvis Presley) in the leg. On April 24, 1963, Russell guest-starred in the ABC series Our Man Higgins, starring Stanley Holloway as an English butler in an American family.

{snip}


Used Cars (1980) - Clip: Fishing For Customers (HD)

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"Hilarious black comedy" – Time Out

"Savagely funny" – The Onion A.V. Club

"Riotous ... inventive ... memorable" – TV Guide

Director and co-writer Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the Back To The Future trilogy) is the engine behind Used Cars — the hilariously raunchy salute to those supersalesmen who'll offer lemons while putting the squeeze on you.

Rudy Russo (Kurt Russell, Escape from New York) has what it takes to be top salesman on Luke Fuchs' (Jack Warden) car lot — he's the most charming man who'll ever lie to you. Caught up in a feud between Luke and his brother/rival Roy L. Fuchs (also played by Warden), Rudy gears up for an all-out war. Employing his gifts of gab and grift — along with increasingly outlandish sales tactics — Rudy shifts the battle for sales supremacy into overdrive, turning the lot into a high-octane free-for-all!

Woefully underappreciated on its initial release, Used Cars has since become a cult favorite hailed for its trunkload of talent in front of and behind the camera, and its rich Corinthian laughter. So tell me: what can I do to get you into Used Cars today?

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8 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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On this day, March 17, 1951, television and Disney movie star Kurt Russell was born. (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Mar 2024 OP
He made a movie with Goldie Hawn called Overboard. Irish_Dem Mar 2024 #1
Overboard (1987) ItsjustMe Mar 2024 #2
Used Cars is one of the funniest films I've ever seen Wicked Blue Mar 2024 #3
Used Cars (1980) ItsjustMe Mar 2024 #5
"Used Cars" is a freebie? I did not know that. mahatmakanejeeves Mar 2024 #6
I am in agreement with you on that. mahatmakanejeeves Mar 2024 #7
Kurt Russell: I'm Not Real Religious ItsjustMe Mar 2024 #4
His father was Bing Russell, who was in the Magnificent Seven, rsdsharp Mar 2024 #8

Irish_Dem

(57,329 posts)
1. He made a movie with Goldie Hawn called Overboard.
Sun Mar 17, 2024, 09:38 AM
Mar 2024

Not politically correct by today's standards probably, but was a really funny movie and
I don't usually like comedies.

rsdsharp

(10,115 posts)
8. His father was Bing Russell, who was in the Magnificent Seven,
Sun Mar 17, 2024, 12:37 PM
Mar 2024

but was probably best known for playing Deputy Clem Foster on Bonanza.

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