Willam Russell (1884-1929) was a popular American actor of the silent screen. He became a star in Western comedies and appeared in over two hundred silent-era motion pictures between 1910 and 1929. He also directed five of them in 1916 and produced two through his own production company in 1918 and 1925. Russell died already at age 44 in 1929.
British postcard in the Pictures' Portrait Gallery, no. 96. Photo: The Fox Film Co.
French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 92.
French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 247. Photo: Hoover Art Co, Los Angeles.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 857/1, 1925-1926. Apex Film.
William Russell was born William Francis Lerche, in the Bronx, New York, in 1884. He was the son of Charles Russell, at various times a clergyman and professor at Fordham University, and Clara Russell, a well-known stage actress. At the age of eight, Russell already started acting on stage. The boy appeared in vaudeville sketches and plays in New York City. His stage career stopped when he was 16 and became an invalid.
Thanks to rigorous physical therapy, he became well after six years and became an amateur boxing champion. Russell studied law at Fordham University. He started a law practice in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but it wasn't particularly successful. He tried a variety of other jobs including bookmaker and boxing instructor before deciding to give the stage a shot. He acted with Ethel Barrymore in 'Cousin Kate' on Broadway and appeared with many of the top stars of the day, including Chauncey Olcott and Cathrine Countiss. He toured the country in various stock productions.
In 1910 he started to act in New York at the Biograph Company. His debut was the short film The Roman Slave (D.W. Griffith, 1910). He stayed nine months at Biograph, although he was used mostly in small parts. He switched to the Thanhouser company, which put him in quite a few of its productions. His brother Albert Russell also appeared in several of his films. His star status grew, and he performed in the short films David Copperfield (Theodore Marston, 1911) and The Star of Bethlehem (Lawrence Marston, 1912), the latter with Florence LaBadie and James Cruze. With LaBadie and Cruze, Russell switched to Mutual in 1913, where he acted in several films. In 1915 he moved to the American Film Company, whose films were distributed by Pathé Exchange.
At American, he was in the serial, The Diamond from the Sky (Jacques Jaccard, William Desmond Taylor, 1915-1916), which in later years was his best remembered role. One of his co-stars was Charlotte Burton. They married in 1917 but divorced four years later. Under the aegis of American, Russell started his own company William Russell Productions, for which he made such films as Hobbs in a Hurry (1918), Hearts or Diamonds (1918), Up Romance Road (1918), Brass Buttons (1919), When a Man Rides Alone (1919), and Where the West Begins (1919); all directed by Henry King. Often these were Western comedies, with Eileen Percy, Winifred Westover, or Charlotte Burton.
In 1919 Russell moved to California, to start working for Fox Film, where he debuted in The Lincoln Highwayman (Emmett J. Flynn, 1919). By then Russell was a star, and his films were draped around his star persona. The posters for his films confirm this. His thick, dark eyelashes were very distinctive, as was his rich, wavy hair. His former co-star Eileen Percy had moved with him to Fox, and they acted together in Leave It to Me (Emmett J. Flynn, 1920).
Spanish card by La Novela Semanal Cinematográfica, no. 98.
French postcard by Editions Filma, no. 126. Photo: Fox Film.
British postcard in the Cinema Stars series by Lilywhite Ltd., no. C.M.405 B. Photo: Fox Picture Stars.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 140. Photo: Hoover Art Co., L.A.
William Russell co-acted with actress Helen Ferguson in Show with Fire (Emmett J. Flynn, 1920). The two married in 1925, after a six-year romance. At Fox, Russell made seven to eight films a year between 1919 and 1923, with directors such as Flynn and Scott Dunlap. He expanded his Western hero reputation with other genres such as modern dramas and comedies.
In 1923, Russell had the male lead, Matt Burke, the rough sailor, in the First National production Anna Christie, directed by John Griffith Wray and Thomas Ince, and with Blanche Sweet in the title role. The film, faithful to Eugene O'Neill's play, was a fine film with a great part for Sweet. Unjustly, the film has come to stay in the shadow of its later 1930 sound version with Greta Garbo. Presumed lost, the film was found in Russia and is now available with English Intertitles. Eugenie Besserer plays the old alcoholic, played by Marie Dressler in the sound version.
Russell freelanced with various Californian companies such as Vitagraph, Universal and Fox. It also meant he was often an antagonist of the female or male lead, e.g. in The Blue Eagle (John Ford, 1926). He was still the male lead in the dramas Before Midnight (John G. Adolfi, Henry Ginsberg, 1925), and Big Pal (John G. Adolfi, 1925), produced by his own company.
In 1927 Russell started to act in a series of films at Warner Brothers, first in The Desired Woman (Michael Curtiz, 1927), in which he was the co-star of Irene Rich. By now, he was often cast as a tough gangster opposite the leads, as in Brass Knuckles (Lloyd Bacon, 1927), though he also was a sergeant in the frozen North woods in Danger Patrol (Duke Worne, 1928).
Russell was in a part-talkie, The Midnight Taxi (John G. Adolfi, 1928). His first and practically only full dialogue film was Girls Gone Wild (Lewis Seiler, 1929) with Sue Carol. William Russell died in Beverly Hills, California, in 1929, from pneumonia. He is entombed in the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Love, at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale. His brother, director Albert Russell, died two weeks later from pneumonia.
British postcard by Cinema Chat. Photo: Fox.
Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1087. Photo: A.B. Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm.
Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1088. Photo: A.B. Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm.
Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1089. Photo: A.B. Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm.
Sources: Thanhouser, Wikipedia (English) and IMDb.
British postcard in the Pictures' Portrait Gallery, no. 96. Photo: The Fox Film Co.
French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 92.
French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 247. Photo: Hoover Art Co, Los Angeles.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 857/1, 1925-1926. Apex Film.
Biograph, Thanhouser, Mutual
William Russell was born William Francis Lerche, in the Bronx, New York, in 1884. He was the son of Charles Russell, at various times a clergyman and professor at Fordham University, and Clara Russell, a well-known stage actress. At the age of eight, Russell already started acting on stage. The boy appeared in vaudeville sketches and plays in New York City. His stage career stopped when he was 16 and became an invalid.
Thanks to rigorous physical therapy, he became well after six years and became an amateur boxing champion. Russell studied law at Fordham University. He started a law practice in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but it wasn't particularly successful. He tried a variety of other jobs including bookmaker and boxing instructor before deciding to give the stage a shot. He acted with Ethel Barrymore in 'Cousin Kate' on Broadway and appeared with many of the top stars of the day, including Chauncey Olcott and Cathrine Countiss. He toured the country in various stock productions.
In 1910 he started to act in New York at the Biograph Company. His debut was the short film The Roman Slave (D.W. Griffith, 1910). He stayed nine months at Biograph, although he was used mostly in small parts. He switched to the Thanhouser company, which put him in quite a few of its productions. His brother Albert Russell also appeared in several of his films. His star status grew, and he performed in the short films David Copperfield (Theodore Marston, 1911) and The Star of Bethlehem (Lawrence Marston, 1912), the latter with Florence LaBadie and James Cruze. With LaBadie and Cruze, Russell switched to Mutual in 1913, where he acted in several films. In 1915 he moved to the American Film Company, whose films were distributed by Pathé Exchange.
At American, he was in the serial, The Diamond from the Sky (Jacques Jaccard, William Desmond Taylor, 1915-1916), which in later years was his best remembered role. One of his co-stars was Charlotte Burton. They married in 1917 but divorced four years later. Under the aegis of American, Russell started his own company William Russell Productions, for which he made such films as Hobbs in a Hurry (1918), Hearts or Diamonds (1918), Up Romance Road (1918), Brass Buttons (1919), When a Man Rides Alone (1919), and Where the West Begins (1919); all directed by Henry King. Often these were Western comedies, with Eileen Percy, Winifred Westover, or Charlotte Burton.
In 1919 Russell moved to California, to start working for Fox Film, where he debuted in The Lincoln Highwayman (Emmett J. Flynn, 1919). By then Russell was a star, and his films were draped around his star persona. The posters for his films confirm this. His thick, dark eyelashes were very distinctive, as was his rich, wavy hair. His former co-star Eileen Percy had moved with him to Fox, and they acted together in Leave It to Me (Emmett J. Flynn, 1920).
Spanish card by La Novela Semanal Cinematográfica, no. 98.
French postcard by Editions Filma, no. 126. Photo: Fox Film.
British postcard in the Cinema Stars series by Lilywhite Ltd., no. C.M.405 B. Photo: Fox Picture Stars.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 140. Photo: Hoover Art Co., L.A.
Vitagraph, Universal, Fox
William Russell co-acted with actress Helen Ferguson in Show with Fire (Emmett J. Flynn, 1920). The two married in 1925, after a six-year romance. At Fox, Russell made seven to eight films a year between 1919 and 1923, with directors such as Flynn and Scott Dunlap. He expanded his Western hero reputation with other genres such as modern dramas and comedies.
In 1923, Russell had the male lead, Matt Burke, the rough sailor, in the First National production Anna Christie, directed by John Griffith Wray and Thomas Ince, and with Blanche Sweet in the title role. The film, faithful to Eugene O'Neill's play, was a fine film with a great part for Sweet. Unjustly, the film has come to stay in the shadow of its later 1930 sound version with Greta Garbo. Presumed lost, the film was found in Russia and is now available with English Intertitles. Eugenie Besserer plays the old alcoholic, played by Marie Dressler in the sound version.
Russell freelanced with various Californian companies such as Vitagraph, Universal and Fox. It also meant he was often an antagonist of the female or male lead, e.g. in The Blue Eagle (John Ford, 1926). He was still the male lead in the dramas Before Midnight (John G. Adolfi, Henry Ginsberg, 1925), and Big Pal (John G. Adolfi, 1925), produced by his own company.
In 1927 Russell started to act in a series of films at Warner Brothers, first in The Desired Woman (Michael Curtiz, 1927), in which he was the co-star of Irene Rich. By now, he was often cast as a tough gangster opposite the leads, as in Brass Knuckles (Lloyd Bacon, 1927), though he also was a sergeant in the frozen North woods in Danger Patrol (Duke Worne, 1928).
Russell was in a part-talkie, The Midnight Taxi (John G. Adolfi, 1928). His first and practically only full dialogue film was Girls Gone Wild (Lewis Seiler, 1929) with Sue Carol. William Russell died in Beverly Hills, California, in 1929, from pneumonia. He is entombed in the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Love, at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale. His brother, director Albert Russell, died two weeks later from pneumonia.
British postcard by Cinema Chat. Photo: Fox.
Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1087. Photo: A.B. Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm.
Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1088. Photo: A.B. Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm.
Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1089. Photo: A.B. Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm.
Sources: Thanhouser, Wikipedia (English) and IMDb.
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