| # | Fact |
|---|
| 1 | Has starred in two movies that had a character with a last name "Fuchs": Used Cars (1980) and The Thing (1982). |
| 2 | Was born just 3 days after his ex-wife, Season Hubley. |
| 3 | The lead role in They Live (1988) was originally written with him in mind. However, John Carpenter, having cast him in three films previously - Escape from New York (1981), The Thing (1982) and Big Trouble in Little China (1986) - decided to give someone else a go and cast Roddy Piper. |
| 4 | Dino De Laurentiis wanted him to star in Flash Gordon (1980). He turned it down, because he felt that the role of Flash lacked character. |
| 5 | He was considered for the lead role in The Rocketeer (1991) that went to Billy Campbell. |
| 6 | At one stage, he was considered to star in I Am Legend (2007). |
| 7 | Russell is an avid gun enthusiast, a hunter and a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. |
| 8 | He was considered to play Batman/Bruce in Batman (1989) and Batman Forever (1995). He was also considered for Jim Gordon in Batman Begins (2005). |
| 9 | He was considered for the role of Alan Parish in Jumanji (1995) that went to Robin Williams. |
| 10 | He was considered for the lead role in The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981) that went to Klinton Spilsbury. |
| 11 | He auditioned for Friedrich Von Trapp in The Sound of Music (1965). |
| 12 | He was originally cast as Crash Davis in Bull Durham (1988) and even helped Ron Shelton develop the script. But the role went to Kevin Costner. After the film was made, Russell was so impressed, he actually wrote fan letters to Costner and Shelton. |
| 13 | Russell is a Libertarian. |
| 14 | He was offered the role of Alan Grant in Jurassic Park (1993), but his asking price was too high. |
| 15 | He turned down the role of Connor McLeod in Highlander (1986) in order to star in Big Trouble in Little China (1986). |
| 16 | John Carpenter wanted to cast him in The Fog (1980). |
| 17 | In February 2003, Russell and Hawn moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, so that their son could play hockey. |
| 18 | John Woo wanted him to star in Hard Target (1993), but he was unavailable. |
| 19 | Russell, like his father, had a baseball career. In the early 1970s, Russell was a switch-hitting second baseman for the California Angels minor league affiliates, the Bend Rainbows (1971) and Walla Walla Islanders (1972) in the short season Class A-Short Season Northwest League, then moved up to Class AA in 1973 with the El Paso Sun Kings of the Texas League. While in the field turning the pivot of a double play early in the season, the incoming runner at second base collided with him and tore the rotator cuff in Russell's right (throwing) shoulder. He did not return to El Paso, but was a designated hitter for the independent Portland Mavericks back in the Northwest League late in their short season. The team was owned by his father, and he had been doing promotional work for them in the interim. The injury forced his retirement from baseball in 1973 and led to his return to acting. |
| 20 | He turned down Richard Gere's role in Internal Affairs (1990). |
| 21 | He was originally cast in Rutger Hauer's role in Ladyhawke (1985), while Hauer was cast in a different role. Russell dropped out and Hauer was recast. |
| 22 | He is an FAA licensed private pilot holding single/multi-engine and instrument ratings and is an Honorary Board Member of the humanitarian aviation organization Wings of Hope. |
| 23 | He auditioned for Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). |
| 24 | He was considered for the role of Agent Sands in Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) that went to Johnny Depp. |
| 25 | He turned down David Morrissey's role in Basic Instinct 2 (2006). |
| 26 | In Elvis (1979), he played Elvis Presley while his real life father Bing Russell played Elvis' father Vernon Presley. |
| 27 | Was considered for the role of "Travis Bickle" in Taxi Driver (1976). |
| 28 | Uncle of filmmakers Chapman Way, Maclain Way and musician Brocker Way. |
| 29 | He has English, German, Scottish, and Irish ancestry. |
| 30 | He was almost cast in Django Unchained (2012) until the part was cut. |
| 31 | Became a father for the 2nd time at age 35 when his partner Goldie Hawn gave birth to their son Wyatt Hawn Russell, aka Wyatt Russell, on July 10, 1986. |
| 32 | Became a father for the 1st time at age 28 when his [now ex] wife Season Hubley gave birth to their son Boston Oliver Grant Russell, aka Boston Russell, on February 16, 1980. |
| 33 | Played three years of minor league baseball (1971-73) with a combined batting average of .292, but only hit two home runs during his professional career. |
| 34 | One of his heroes since boyhood was John Wayne. He was able to use his dead-on John Wayne impression (to twisted effect) in Grindhouse (2007). |
| 35 | Was Sylvester Stallone's original choice for Church in The Expendables (2010), but he turned it down. |
| 36 | Born at 10:42 AM (EST). |
| 37 | He and Goldie Hawn own a vacation home on Muskoka Lake, Ontario. |
| 38 | Quit smoking cigars in 2006. |
| 39 | Snake Plissken, the anti-hero of Escape from New York (1981) and Escape from L.A. (1996) is his favorite character of all he's played. |
| 40 | Was originally cast to play the cursed heroic knight Navarre in Ladyhawke (1985), while Rutger Hauer, who played the part of Navarre in the film, was the original choice to play the evil captain, even though Hauer had no interest in the part and was actually more interested in the part of the hero Navarre. When Russell dropped out of the project, Hauer took the role. |
| 41 | He was considered for Chris Cooper's role in Jarhead (2005). |
| 42 | He acted as father to Kate Hudson by walking her down the aisle and giving her away at her wedding to rock star Chris Robinson. |
| 43 | For his role on Tombstone (1993), he was trained by renowned Hollywood Gun Coach Thell Reed, who has also trained such actors as: Val Kilmer, Bill Paxton, Sam Elliott, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Foster and Girard Swan. |
| 44 | Received The Disney Legends Award 1998 for living up to the Disney principals of: The Disney Legends award has three distinct elements that characterize the contributions made by each talented recipient. The Spiral ... stands for imagination, the power of an idea. The Hand ... holds the gifts of skill, discipline and craftsmanship. The Wand and the Star ... represent magic: the spark that is ignited when imagination and skill combine to create a new dream. |
| 45 | A member of the conservative Wednesday Morning Club in Hollywood, Russell introduced guest speaker Newt Gingrich in 1999. |
| 46 | Has two younger sisters. |
| 47 | Has starred in films with two of his former brother-in-laws: Larry J. Franco in John Carpenter's The Thing (1982), and Whip Hubley in Executive Decision (1996). |
| 48 | Kate Hudson, daughter of his longtime companion Goldie Hawn, named her son Ryder Russell Robinson. The middle name is an homage to Kurt, whom Hudson always considered to be her father. |
| 49 | He claims that he often felt an outcast in Hollywood because of his Libertarian beliefs, and so moved to live in an area outside Aspen, Colorado, where he started to try his hand at writing. |
| 50 | Is good friends with director John Carpenter. The two have collaborated on five different films: Elvis (1979), Escape from New York (1981), The Thing (1982), Big Trouble in Little China (1986) and Escape from L.A. (1996). |
| 51 | He and his Tombstone (1993) co-star, Val Kilmer, have both played Elvis Presley. Val Kilmer played him in True Romance (1993), while Russell played him in a television movie, and provided his voice in Forrest Gump (1994). In Tombstone (1993), he plays Wyatt Earp. In 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001), he works with Kevin Costner, who played the role a mere six months later in the film Wyatt Earp (1994). |
| 52 | He was considered for the role of Jonathan Kent in Man of Steel (2013) that went to Kevin Costner. |
| 53 | When he and director John Carpenter were discussing the character of MacReady in The Thing (1982), they thought about making MacReady a former Vietnam chopper pilot who felt displaced by his service in the war and, as a result, was much more isolated than the other characters. This ultimately did not make it into the film. |
| 54 | Made his film debut in the Elvis Presley film, It Happened at the World's Fair (1963). He later went on to play him in Elvis (1979), and to provide his voice in Forrest Gump (1994). |
| 55 | He was considered for the role of Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon (1987) that went to Mel Gibson. |
| 56 | Said in his audio commentary for Big Trouble in Little China (1986) that the test audiences reacted so well to the film that he thought for sure that he and director friend John Carpenter had a box office hit on their hands. However, the studio put so little effort into advertising the film that it ultimately didn't do as well at the box office but became a cult favorite instead. |
| 57 | Portrayed cult classic heroes in four different movies: Escape from New York (1981), The Thing (1982), Stargate (1994) and Escape from L.A. (1996). |
| 58 | Is good friends with stunt man Dick Warlock, who was his stunt double for over 20 years. |
| 59 | During the filming of 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001) in Vancouver, he visited the nearby set of Stargate SG-1 (1997) and met the cast. Russell starred as Colonel Jack O'Neil in the original Stargate (1994). His role was adopted by Richard Dean Anderson in the spin-off series and the character's name was changed slightly (to Colonel Jack O'Neill). |
| 60 | The presence of Lee Van Cleef on the set of Escape from New York (1981) inspired him to talk in a raspy voice similar to Clint Eastwood's from the Man With No Name trilogy. |
| 61 | Was one of the first actors to do audio commentary on DVDs. |
| 62 | In his audio commentary for The Thing (1982), he joked with director John Carpenter about the scene where he threw a stick of dynamite at the character Palmer (who was turning into the Thing) and how the explosion was more powerful than he had expected. In truth, he could have been seriously injured. |
| 63 | Auditioned for the role of Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). |
| 64 | Is a big fan of Elvis Presley, Patrick Rondat and Tom Robinson. |
| 65 | Ex-brother-in-law of Larry J. Franco. |
| 66 | Graduate of Thousand Oaks High School, Thousand Oaks, California with Michael Richards, Kramer from Seinfeld (1989). Class of 1969, who voted him "Best Looking.". |
| 67 | Was the best man at Ted Nugent's wedding. |
| 68 | Is a card carrying member of the NRA. |
| 69 | Started Cosmic Entertainment with partner Goldie Hawn, her daughter Kate Hudson, and her son Oliver Hudson in 2003. |
| 70 | His character Snake Plissken (of Escape from New York (1981)) is about to become a comic book. Published by theCrossGen imprint Code 6 Comics, the book will be known as The Snake Plissken Chronicles. It is marked for publication beginning in 2003. |
| 71 | Atlanta Braves' first baseman, Matt Franco, is his nephew. |
| 72 | He and partner Goldie Hawn formerly took summer vacations in the Muskoka region in Ontario, Canada. They gave up their cottage after too many unwelcomed visitors would stare at their cottage through binoculars from Lake Rosseau. |
| 73 | Partner of Goldie Hawn (1983 - present) 1 child. |
| 74 | He and longtime companion Goldie Hawn both appeared in The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968). |
| 75 | Performs many of his stunts himself. |
| 76 | He is an FAA licensed Private Pilot holding single/multi- engine and instrument ratings. |
| 77 | He appeared in the music video and sang in the choir on the song "Voices That Care." |
| 78 | Son of Bing Russell a former baseball player, who played the deputy sheriff on Bonanza (1959) for 6 years. |
| 79 | Played pro baseball (2nd base, AA club- California Angels) until a torn shoulder muscle forced retirement in 1973. Was hitting .563 at the time. His friend, Ron Shelton wrote the Crash Davis role in Bull Durham (1988) for him. The studio insisted on Kevin Costner, though. |
| 80 | Rode along with the Chicago Fire Dept.'s Squad 5 in preparation for his role in Backdraft (1991). |
ncG1vNJzZmimlanEsL7Toaeoq6RjvLOzjqSsq6xdp8K0v8Slo2amlal6uLvRrZ9o