What was Kurt Russell’s first role?
There’s something truly iconic about Kurt Russell. He has the gnarled brilliance of a true veteran. As he starred in Quentin Tarantino’s homage to Hollywood, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood as an equally whisky-soaked stunt coordinator, he provided the perfect tableau of a man who had been born into, grown up in and then found comfort with the business.
It wasn’t a stretch for Russell. The son of the legendary Bing Rusell, an esteemed actor and Hollywood gent, Bing was most famous for his role in 1959’s Bonanza and then played Robert in The Magnificent Seven, Kurt Russell would spend much of his early years on the sets of the cinema’s Californian centre. He would soon grow up within the industry and establish himself as an actor, just like his father.
Most will know Russell from his range of roles in the 1980s, which pitched him as the ultimate anti-hero, becoming synonymous with horror for his portrayal of Snake Plissken in John Carpenter’s pioneering The Thing. In the following decade, Rusell elevated his position and gave the likes of Clint Eastwood and Kevin Costner a positive counterpoint as they all starred in 1992’s Tombstone.
As the decade rolled on, he found more cult acclaim as Stuntman Mike in Death Proof and worked with Quentin Tarantino again in 2015 for The Hateful Eight. However, Russell’s career would start long before these dalliances, taking on his first picture at the tender age of ten.
What movie did Kurt Russell make with Elvis Presley?
Kurt Russell’s first movie would be starring alongside none other than ‘The King’, Elvis Presley, in It Happened At The World’s Fair. The film, directed by Norman Taurog, sees Presley’s character, a pilot named Mike, navigate romance and adventure at the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair.
Russell’s role was brief but memorable. He played a boy who kicked Elvis Presley’s character in the shins. It’s an unforgettable moment in the picture and likely one of Russell’s favourite dinner party bits. However, it is also a piece of neat foreshadowing, as Russell would go on to play the singer in the TV biopic Elvis.
His first role would certainly not be his most memorable, however. The actor would continue to work across Hollywood as a child and rarely stop into adulthood, traversing the cinematic landscape from child star to action hero to character actor without ever breaking a sweat.
Were Walt Disney’s last words ‘Kurt Russell’?
His career was so established that, for some time, it was asserted that Walt Disney’s mammoth titan would utter the words “Kurt Russell” as his final earthly declaration. Sadly, as incredible a story as it would be, it is an urban myth, and Disney didn’t say his name in the final moments of his life. However, the actor was in his thoughts.
Disney was always plotting his next venture and had written down Russell’s name in a handwritten memo. “These were obviously projects that [Walt] thought would be good to do,” noted Disney archivist Dave Smith. Speaking to Barbara Walters in 2013, Russell addressed the note: “I assume, as [does] everybody else, that he was talking about some movie that he was thinking about having me in…I don’t know what to make of it other than that.”
Russell would eventually work with the Disney company as part of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
