March 17 - Kurt Russell

Image courtesy people.com

On this day, in 1951, Kurt Vogel Russell was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. As the only boy in a family of four children, Kurt was predestined to follow in his father's footsteps somehow. His father, Bing Russell, was both an actor and a baseball team owner, so Kurt began acting at the age of 11 and played ball through high school and on into a minor league career (he actually advanced into AA ball), but a torn rotator cuff injury in 1973 ended his game. After graduating form Thousand Oaks High School in 1969, he had also joined the California Air National Guard, spending six years as part of the 146th Tactical Airlift Wing in Van Nuys, California.

Kurt's film debut was an uncredited role as Shin Kicker in an Elvis Presley movie, It Happened at the World's Fair, in 1963. His small screen debut came the same year as the title character in The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, a Western that lasted one season on ABC. Over the next few years, he made guest appearances on several popular Westerns like Gunsmoke, The Virginian, Laredo and several episodes of Daniel Boone, as well as shows like Gilligan's Island and The Fugitive.

Image copyright Disney

In 1966, Kurt joined the Disney family when he was cast as Edward White Jr. in Follow Me Boys, starring Fred MacMurray and Vera Miles. Boys would be the last live action film to be produced by Walt Disney and was released just two weeks before his death. Kurt's involvement with the picture would give him a mysterious entry into the lore of Disneyana. After Walt passed, what is believed to be the last memo he ever wrote was discovered on his desk. It's titled "TV Projects in Production: ready for production or possible for escalation and story" and listed four items underneath: Ron Miller, 2 way down cellar, Kurt Russell, CIA - Mobley. We'll never know for sure why Kurt was included in this list. We do know that Walt was thoroughly impressed with Kurt's talent (he'd mentioned it several times before) and had made sure to get Kurt a contract with the studio. But the delightfully vague memo doesn't give any clues as to what Walt planned to do with his newly contracted talent. And it really doesn't matter as Kurt would go on to become one of Disney's biggest box office draws of the Seventies anyways.

Image copyright Disney

After being featured in 1968's The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band, which starred Buddy Ebsen and Lesley Ann Warren (with Goldie Hawn, Kurt's future life partner, in her big screen debut), Kurt would go on to star in a string of hits for the company. The same year, he appeared with Dean Jones in The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit. In 1969, he played Dexter Riley for the first time in The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes. Computer spawned two sequels, giving Kurt two chances to reprise Dexter in Now You See Him, Now You Don't and The Strongest Man in the World. In 1971, he played opposite Raffles, the chimpanzee, in The Barefoot Executive (which happened to be John Ritter's big screen debut). These were followed by Charley and the Angel, again with Fred MacMurray, and Superdad with Bob Crane.

Image copyright 20th Century Fox (so now Disney)

By the end of his ten year contract with Disney, Kurt was not only a well established, successful movie star but was able to continue that stardom into more adult roles in pictures at other studios. As the Eighties began, he teamed up with director John Carpenter for a string of movies that have earned cult status including Escape From New York, Big Trouble in Little China, a remake of The Thing and Escape from L.A. Outside of that relationship, Kurt earned a Golden Globe nomination playing opposite Meryl Streep and Cher in the 1984 drama Silkwood. He found commercial success in such films as Backdraft, Stargate, and Tango and Cash.

Image copyright Disney

Kurt continued to contribute roles to his Disney portfolio over the years as well. He provided the voice for Adult Copper in The Fox and the Hound. He played the title character in Touchstone Pictures' 1992 comedy Captain Ron. He starred as Wyatt Earp in the Hollywood Pictures' Western Tombstone. Kurt was the coach of the US Olympic Hockey team in Miracle and played a super hero in Sky High. His latest role for the company was as Ego, Peter Quill's father, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. For all of his hijinks on film, Kurt was made an official Disney Legend in 1998.

In the last two decades, Kurt has also managed to land a recurring role in the Fast and the Furious franchise as Mr. Nobody and teamed up with Quentin Tarantino several times. He was last seen over the holiday season on Netflix as Santa Claus in The Christmas Chronicles and has two projects due out later this year: a money laundering crime thriller called Crypto and another Tarantino film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, both of which I'm sure will feature his usual shenanigans.