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John Russell

John Russell

Birthday: 1921-01-03 | Place of Birth: Los Angeles, California, USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. John Lawrence Russell was an American actor, and World War II veteran, most noted for playing Marshal Dan Troop in the successful ABC western television series Lawman from 1958 to 1962, and his lead role as international adventurer Tim Kelly in the syndicated TV series Soldiers of Fortune from 1955 to 1957. Russell signed a contract with 20th Century Fox in 1945 and made his first film appearance as a guard in A Royal Scandal. He played several supporting parts while at Fox, acting the role of a junior law partner in the Clifton Webb comedy Sitting Pretty, as well as a navy pilot in Slattery's Hurricane. Later, however, he signed with Republic Pictures where he was cast in a starring role. In 1955, Russell landed the lead role in a television drama series called Soldiers of Fortune. In 1958, Russell was cast in his best-known role: the stolid, taciturn Marshal Dan Troop, the lead character in Lawman, an ABC/Warners hit western series that ran for four years. Co-starring alongside Peter Brown, who played Deputy Johnny McKay, and Peggie Castle as Birdcage Saloon owner Lily Merrill, Russell portrayed a US frontier peace officer mentoring his younger compatriot. At the same time that Lawman premiered, Russell played an outlaw, along with Edd Byrnes and Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., in the 1958 season premiere episode of Sugarfoot, another ABC/WB hit western, with Will Hutchins in the title role. Russell also appeared in other motion pictures for Warner Bros., notably as a Sioux chieftain in Yellowstone Kelly, as well as a rich corrupt cattle-rancher, Nathan Burdette, in the highly successful Howard Hawks western Rio Bravo, starring John Wayne. Throughout the remainder of his movie career, he played secondary roles in more than 20 films, including several A.C. Lyles westerns and three films directed by his friend Clint Eastwood, most notably as Marshal Stockburn, the chief villain in Eastwood's 1985 film, Pale Rider. Russell also appeared in the second season of the Filmation children's science-fiction series Jason of Star Command. He played Commander Stone, a blue-skinned alien from Alpha Centauri. He replaced James Doohan, who had played the commander in the previous season, but left to start working on Star Trek: The Motion Picture Description above from the Wikipedia article John Russell (actor), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.​

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

1988
Under the Gun

as    Simon Stone

1985
Pale Rider

as    Stockburn

1971
Blood Legacy

as    Frank Mantee

1970
Cannon for Cordoba

as    General Pershing

1968
Buckskin

as    Patch

1968
If He Hollers, Let Him Go!

as    Sheriff

1967
Hostile Guns

as    Aaron Pleasant

1965
Apache Uprising

as    Vance Buckner

1959
Yellowstone Kelly

as    Gall, Sioux Chief

1959
Rio Bravo

as    Nathan Burdette

1958
Lawman

as    Marshal Dan Troop

1958
Fort Massacre

as    Travis

1957
Hell Bound

as    Jordan

1957
The Dalton Girls

as    W.T. "Illinois" Grey

1955
The Last Command

as    Lt. Dickinson

1954
Jubilee Trail

as    Oliver Hale

1953
The Sun Shines Bright

as    Ashby Corwin

1953
Fair Wind to Java

as    Flint

1952
Hoodlum Empire

as    Joe Gray

1951
Fighting Coast Guard

as    Barney Walker

1951
The Fat Man

as    Gene Gordon

1951
Man in the Saddle

as    Hugh Clagg

1951
The Barefoot Mailman

as    Theron

1950
Saddle Tramp

as    Rocky

1949
The Story of Molly X

as    Cash Brady

1949
Undertow

as    Danny Morgan

1949
The Gal Who Took the West

as    Grant O'Hara

1949
Slattery's Hurricane

as    Lt. F.A. 'Hobbie' Hobson