Stan Paregien, Editor
Jorge Russek
(Deceased)
Jorge Russek, actor, was born in 1932 in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.He made two guest appearances on the TV series The High Chaparral. And Jorge Russek made some 88 films, mostly in Spanish. His Western credits include El Texano (1963), Vuelve el Texano (1965), Hour of the Gun (1967) with James Garner, The Wild Bunch (1969) with William Holden, The Wrath of God (1972) with Robert Mitchum, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), The Return of a Man Called Horse (1976), Los Temibles (1977), Eagle's Wing (1979), and Zorror, The Gay Blade (1981).
Jorge Russek died from a heart attack on July 30, 1998.
CLICK HERE to see Jorge Russek's complete filmography.
Don Russell
(Deceased)
Don Russell was born in 1899. He was a former newspaper city editor of the Chicago Daily News from 1923-46 and of the Chicago Tribune from 1946 to 1950. He worked on the editorial staff of the New Standard Encyclopedia 1950 to 1953, joined the editorial staff of the American Peoples Encyclopedia from 1953 to 1956, and then returned to NSE during 1956-57. He was a noted author and historian of the Old West. He was a founder and past president of the International Westerners and was regarded as an expert on Buffalo Bill Cody.
He was the author of biographical works, historical, and children's fiction and nonfiction. His books included 103 Fights and Scrimmages: The Story of General Reuben F. Bernard (1936), The Lives and Legends of Buffalo Bill (1960; University of Oklahoma Press, 1982), Sioux Buffalo Hunters (1962), Custer's Last (1968), Custer's List (1969), The Wild West (1970), Adam Bradford, Cowboy (1970), Cowboy on the Trail (1970), Cowboy Soldier (1970), Cowboy Marshal (1970), Elmhurst: Trails from Yesterday (1977).
In addition, Don Russell served as the editor of Campaigning with Crook, by Capt. Charles King (1965); Five Years a Dragoon, by Percival G. Lowe (1965); with N.A. Mower The Plains, by Francois de Montaignes (1972); Five Years in the Army, by Rev. John E. Cox (1973); Trails of the Iron Horse (1975), Bugles, Banners, and War Bonnets, by E.L. Reedstrom (1977); Personal Recollections of the Civil War, by John Gibbon (1978); The Life of William Cody, Known as Buffalo Bill (1978).
Don Russell died in 1986, at the age of 87.
Gail Russell
(Deceased)
Gail Russell, actress, was born on September 21, 1924 in Chicago, IL.Russell attended high school in Santa Monica, California. And that is where she was spotted by a Paramount talent scout and signed to a contract immediately upon graduation. She was given considerable coaching and subsequently appeared in important roles in a number of prestigious Paramount films.
However, Gail Russell suffered from an intense and almost crippling stage fright which she began to combat with alcohol.
She co-starred with John Wayne in the classic Western "The Angel and the Bad Man" (1947) and she also appeared with Wayne in the sea classic, "The Wake of the Red Witch" (1948).
She was married to actor Guy Madison from 1949 to 1954, when she divorced him. In 1949 her career was headed south, while his was headed toward stardom as "Wild Bill Hickok".
After THE LAWLESS in 1950, Paramount decided not to renew her contract because of her drinking problems. She had been convicted of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. The studio didn't want its name mired with someone who couldn't control their drinking. The film roles were coming in slowly now.
She was out of the news until 1953, when John Wayne's wife named her in her divorce suit. Both Wayne and Russell denied this, but the flurry of scandal sent Russell into a sanitorium. In 1954 she and Guy Madison were divorced.
She was in and out of sanatoria. Then she was faced a drunk driving charge (one in 1955 was said to be the sixth in two years) and there was no studio to cover up the fact that she was drunk.
John Wayne put her into a film being made by his company, "Seven Men From Now", (1956) a Western with Randolph Scott. She looked much older. Universal used her now rather dramatic appearance in a full-blooded role, in "The Tattered Dress" (1957), where she lied under oath and shot her lover (Jack Carson) on the courthouse steps.
As these films went the rounds she was fined again for drunken driving and given a suspended jail sentence. In an occasional interview she spoke humbly of her alcoholism, saying it was caused because "everything happened so fast."
Gail Russell was found dead in her apartment, surrounded by empty liquor bottles, on Aug. 26, 1961. She was just 37 years old. Her remains are at the Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park (Block E, Section 4887, Lot 2) in North Hollywood, CA.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Gail Russell.
Jane Russell
Jane Russell was born Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell on June 21, 1921 in Bemidji, MN. When her father, an US Army lieutenant, finished his military career the family moved to Van Nuys, California. Shortly after she graduated from high school, her father died and she began to work to help the family's finances.
In 1938 she started dating her high school sweetheart, Bob Waterfield, the star quarterback for the Cleveland Rams football team.
In addition to odd jobs, she did modeling on the side. And she did well at that. And in 1941 oddball millionaire director Howard Hughes signed her to play in "The Outlaw". Hughes definitely used the run-of-the-mill script to show off Jane two main assets. Although the film was made in 1941, it wasn't released until 1943 --and even then only on a limited basis-- because of the way that Hughes was obvious obsessed with her breasts. It was hard for the flick to pass the censorship board. Finally, the film gained general release in 1946. The film was a smash at the box-office.
In April of 1943 she and Bob elope to Las Vegas and get married. Bob Waterfield was inducted into the Army (it was war time), and she followed her new Army husband to Georgia. In 1945 she and Waterfield return to California and in 1952 the Waterfields adopt a newly born girl.
She had signed a seven year contract with Hughes and it seemed the only films he would put her in were those that displayed Jane in a very flattering light due to her body. Probably the pinnacle of her career was in 1953's GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES as Dorothy Shaw, with Marilyn Monroe. This film showed Jane's comedic side very well.
Jane Russell wrote her autobiography in 1986.
The cover is from her 1941 film, "The Outlaw"
Jane did continue to make films throughout the 1950's, but the films were mostly forgetable. And she was only in four movies during the 1960's. In the 1970's Jane Russell was a spokesperson for Playtex bras.
Jane Russell is an advocate for kids. During the 1950's, actress Jane Russell began a mission which has resulted in the adoptive placement of nearly 38,000 children through her organization, WAIF. Working on behalf of the 300,000 American children living in foster care and institutions, WAIF operates national advocacy, public and professional education programs. Locally, WAIF sponsors adoption recruitment events for children who are older, handicapped or of a minority race.
Miss Russell championed the passage of the Federal Orphan Adoption Amendment of 1953, which allowed, for the first time, children of American servicemen born overseas to be placed for adoption in the United States The ensuing years have allowed single parents to adopt, for children to be moved across state lines for adoptive placement, and most recently, the implementation of the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act which mandates the reform of the adoption and foster care system in all 50 states.
In late 1957 Jane Russell debuted a solo act at The Sands Hotel in Las Vegas and fulfills later engagements in Mexico, South America, Europe, Canada and the USA. She continued to do particular theatrical roles, periodically, around the country.
Her Western roles included "The Outlaw" (1943), "The Paleface" (1948), "Montana Belle" (1952), "Son of Paleface" (1952), "The Tall Men" (1955), "Waco" (1966) and "Johnny Reno" (1966).
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Jane Russell.
Russell, Jerry L.
Russell founded Order of the Indian Wars in 1979 and is the national chairman. He is a life member of the Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association.
John Russell
John Russell, actor, attended the University of California, where he was a student athlete. He served in U.S. Marines in Second World War, earning a battlefield commission and decorations for valor at Guadalcanal. He was tall (6' 4"), dark and good looking. And someone brought him to the attention of a talent scout after the war. That's when Russell began playing second leads and occasional heavies in major productions.
He palyed the courageous, no-nonsense Marshal Dan Troop on "The Lawman" TV show. Russell was thirty-seven when the series started.
LAWMAN was one of the many Western series which dominated television in the late 1950's thru most of the 1960's. The black & white, half-hour show ran for four seasons, debuting on October 5, 1958 and ending its run on October 2, 1962. The last new episode aired on June 24, 1962.
Some of John Russell's other Western roles included such movies as "Saddle Tramp" (1950), "Man in the Saddle" (1951), "Oklahoma Annie" (1952), "Jubilee Trail" (1954), "The Dalton Girls" (1957), "Fort Massacre" (1958), "Rio Bravo" (1959), "Yellowstone Kelly" (1959), "Fort Utah" (1967), "Buckskin" (1968), "The Outlaw Josey Wales" (1976), "Mission to Glory" (1977), and "Pale Rider" (1985).
CLICK HERE to view the complete filmography of John Russell.
Fran Ryan
(Deceased)
Fran Ryan, actress, was born on Nov. 26, 1916 in Los Angeles, CA. She began acting at the age of 6 at the Henry Duffy Theatre in Oakland, CA. She attended Stanford University for three years and during World War II was a member of the USO entertaining troups. She had done comedy, singing and acting on stage, some in Chicago, prior to her television career. She was primarily a television actress but had done some films. Ms. Ryan also specialized in voice-overs in commercials and animated films.She was destined to be a character actress, and a striking one at that. She was big and stocky with a mane of red hair usually in a bun. She had a gravelly voice as well. like Main's also. She was irritated when people often confused her with actress Marjorie Main.
Fran Ryan appeared in these Western films: The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975), The Long Riders (1980), Christmas Mountain (1980), Eyes of Fire (1983), Pale Rider (1985) and Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge City (1987, TV).
Ryan also made guest appearances on these Western TV shows: Gunsmoke, Bonanza and How the West Was Won.
Fran Ryan died on January 15, 2000 at her home in Burbank, CA at the age 73.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Fran Ryan.
Nancy Ryan
Nancy Ryan is the author of Kathleen's Surrender (Zebra, 1983), Because You're Mine, You Belong to My Heart, Burning Love, and 13 more.
Robert Rybolt
Robert Rybolt served as an Army infantry officer in Vietnam, then spent 10 years as a law enforcement officer in Nebraska and Nevada. He has written over 65 articles on the West for such magazines as Trails West.
This listing is far from complete and may contain errors.
Therefore, all Western entertainers and/or their agents
are requested to submit recommended changes by
contacting Stan Paregien through his e-mail address.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
--- Bible: Galatians 5:22
© 2003 by Stan Paregien, Sr.
