BING RUSSELL BIOGRAPHY
Neil "Bing" Russell was born on 5 May 1926 in Battleboro, Vermount and was the only son of Warren "Bud" and Ruth V. Russell. He was initially raised in Massachusetts and then lived in Rangeley, Maine, attending school there until graduating from high school in 1944.
In 1947, he graduated from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, majoring in Business Administration. He later attended Springfield College in Massachusetts, where he graduated in 1951, receiving two degrees - one in Education and the other in Physical Education.
During World War Two, Russell joined the Navy and in 1944 met his wife, Louise Crane, a Newport resident. They married in 1946 and had four children - three daughters (Jill, Jamie and Jody) and one son (Kurt
Russell during his lifetime had long and varied association with baseball and in 1948 he played professional minor league baseball in Carrollton, Georgia. After a career ending injury forced him out of the game he loved, he became a high school basketball coach back in Rangeley.
The acting bug bit in the early 1950s and Russell moved his entire family to California in 1954 in order to pursue his new career, eventually settling in Thousand Oaks in 1961. Appearing mainly in westerns, he eventually ended up in over 100 films and television shows during his forty year acting career.
His first film was uncredited appearance in Crashout (1955). Other films included Rio Bravo (1959), The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975), and Tango and Cash (1989). His final film was Dick Tracy (1990) in which he played a Club Ritz patron.
Television shows that he was a guest star on included Gunsmoke, Maverick, Wanted: Dead or Alive, The Rifleman, The Untouchables, The Big Valley, Emergency and Little House on the Prairie. However, his most notable television role was that of the semi-regular character Deputy Clem Foster on Bonanza.
The character of Clem Foster first appeared in the season 4 episode The Thunder Man in 1963. Even though Russell had previously appeared as other characters in earlier episodes and even during his time as a semi-regular, most people remember him as the trustworthy Virginia City deputy. Russell's final episode as Clem was in The Bucket Dog which aired during the final season of Bonanza.
During his acting career, Russell also appeared in many TV movies including Runaway (1973) and Elvis (1979). In Elvis (1979) he played Vernon Presley, the father of Elvis, who was played by his own real-life son actor Kurt Russell. Bing acted with his son on several occassions.
While he was acting, Russell also kept up his interest in baseball. His achievements in the field of baseball included pioneering the Thousand Oaks Little League and owning the only independent team in the Class A Northwest League - the Portland Mavericks. At one point he also owned another professional baseball team in El Paso, Texas. In 1974 he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as Minor League Executive of the Year.
During his lifetime he dabbled in screenwriting - An Eye for an Eye (1966); coached Little League Baseball; and was an early participant in the Conejo Players theatrical group. He was also an avid golfer, competing and winning in many tournaments in Maine during his later years. In his later years he also closely followed the career of his grandson, baseballer Matt Franco.
Two mentors that he had in life were his father and Yankee Hall of Famer Lefty Gomez. His favourite number was eight and he didn't own a credit card - he preferred to carry wads of hundred dollar notes. Russell also had the ability to either starve himself to 180 pounds or eat his way back to 220 pounds. He was six feet, two inches tall and had blue eyes.
Bing Russell died at Thousand Oaks, on 8 April, 2003, aged 76 from cancer. He left behind his wife Louise, his mother Ruth, his sister Joan Philbrick, his four children and eleven grandchildren.
Throughout his life, Neil "Bing" Russell had only one motto...a three lettered word - FUN.
Managing Baseball:
Russell created a park that kept all corporate sponsorship outside the gates, hired the first female general manager in professional baseball, and the following year hired the first Asian American GM/Manager. That same season his team set a record for the highest attendance in Minor league history, and went on to win the pennant. Ex-major leaguers and never-weres who couldn't stop playing the game flocked to his June try-outs, which were always open to anyone that showed up.
Filmography for Bing Russell: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bing_Russell
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he was fairly prolific. To this day, many still don't know that Kurt had an actor father! Good post Nicki, thanks 
Originally Posted by Guest
