Today’s star of the week is one of my favourite actors and was suggested by Craig on Facebook.
It’s Kurt Russell.
Anyone who grew up in the 1980s will know Kurt Russell from movies like Escape from New York, The Thing, Big Trouble In Little China, Tango & Cash and countless others, but he was also a big child star in the 60s and 70’s.
He started acting at around 10 years old appearing in early 1960s tv shows like Lost in Space and The Fugitive, but his first film role (although uncredited) was starring alongside none other than the king himself, Elvis Presley, in It Happened at The World’s Fair (1963).
In 1966 he signed a ten year contract with Disney, going on to appear in a string of movies and tv shows, becoming the studio’s “top star of the 70s”.
Ironically Russell wound up playing Elvis in John Carpenter’s TV movie Elvis (1979), a role he says made people take him seriously and changed the course of his career. He also played an Elvis impersonator in 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001) and provided the voice of “the king” in Forrest Gump (1994).
Russell has been in a relationship with actress Goldie Hawn since 1983. They originally met on the set of The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1966) but didn’t become involved until reconnecting on the set of Swing Shift (1984) (release date).
They have two kids together, one being actor Wyatt Russell (Goon: Last of the Enforcers, Table 19) and Kurt is also step father to Goldie’s two kids from her previous relationship, one of which is actress Kate Hudson (Almost Famous, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) who considers him her father.
Kurt is a licensed pilot and was the first to call in the strange “Phoenix Lights” UFO sighting while flying his private plane there in 1997 (google it, it’s pretty interesting). 🤔👽
Russell can next be seen reprising his role as Santa Claus alongside Goldie Hawn in the upcoming sequel to The Christmas Chronicles (2018).
Craig’s top Kurt Russell movies are:
Escape From New York (1981)
The Thing (1982)
Big Trouble In Little China (1986)
The Hateful Eight (2015)
Death proof (2007)
Overboard (1987)
Bone Tomahawk (2015)
What are yours? 🤔