Lewis Russell

Lewis Lord Russell (September 10, 1889 – November 12, 1961) was an American actor of the 1930s, '40s and '50s who starred in a number of vaudeville shows, Broadway dramas and Hollywood films, including the Academy Award winning The Lost Weekend (1945) and the Marx Brothers film, A Night in Casablanca (1946).

Early life and work

Born "George Lewis Lord" in Farmington, Illinois, to British immigrants Samuel and Martha Jane (Wood) Lord, he was the only child of nine born in the United States and, curiously, the only one who developed an English accent. His father was an Illinois coal miner. After running away from home as a teenager, he began his life in the restaurant business, becoming an avid cook and eventually owning two restaurants. He also designed rugs and tapestries and worked as a tailor in New York, creating elaborate costumes for the stage.

Career

As a vaudeville actor, Russell toured the U.S. and played at the Palace Theater in Peoria, Illinois, at a time when the phrase "Will it play in Peoria?" was well-known to vaudevillians who tested out their routines and sketches in front of the demanding and often difficult-to-please Peoria crowds.

Billing himself as an actor from London, Russell broke into the Broadway scene in the mid 1930s and starred as "The Squire" in the Broadway revival production of Emlyn Williams's The Corn is Green (1943) with leading lady Ethel Barrymore at the Martin Beck Theatre in New York. He also toured with actress Glenda Farrell for several years in the New Rochelle Circuit. According to legend, he declined the starring role in The Man who Came to Dinner (1942) with Bette Davis, and created the role of the janitor in My Sister Eileen (1942/1955). He played Pancho Villa and had several starring roles in silent pictures, acting at least once opposite Pola Negri. He also played Jane Wyman’s concerned father, Charles St. James, in The Lost Weekend, Ray Milland’s most popular film.

The playbill for the opening night of Bright Rebel (1938), a drama about the British Romantic-Era poet Lord Byron, features the following biographical note, which not only confirms Russell's adoption of an English identity but also suggests that he starred in many more plays than currently on record: "LEWIS L. RUSSELL (Lord Melbourne) is both an Englishman and an actor by birth. He was born in Leeds, England, shortly after his mother, a well-known English actress, gave one of those 'the show must go on' performances. With as dramatic a beginning as that he could hardly help getting back on the stage and there has been for some fifty years. A few scattered plays among the innumerable he has appeared in are 'The Rosary,' 'Lombardy, Ltd.,' 'The Bad Man,' 'Within the Law,' 'Madame X,' 'Accent on Youth,' and 'Yes My Darling Daughter.'"

Later life

He designed his own home in Pasadena, California, where he kept house, Ernest Hemingway-style, with his two-dozen cats. He died in Reseda, California at the age of 72.

Roles

Broadway

• The Corn Is Green (May 3, 1943 – June 19, 1943) as The Squire
• Cuckoos on the Hearth (September 16, 1941 – January 3, 1942) as Zadoc Grimes
• Return Engagement (November 1, 1940 – November 7, 1940) as Baldy Bemis
• Bright Rebel (December 27, 1938 – January 1939) as Lord Melbourne
• Abe Lincoln in Illinois (October 15, 1938 – December 1939) as Judge Bowling Green
• London Assurance (February 18, 1937 – February 1937) as Max Harkaway
• Dead End (October 28, 1935 – June 12, 1937) as Medical Examiner

Film

• The Naked Hills (1956) as Baxter
• The King's Thief (1955) as Gentleman
• "Adventures of Superman: Five Minutes to Doom" TV episode as W.T. Wayne (1 episode, 1953) / also titled Superman (Australia)
• Sangaree (1953) as Capt. Bronson
• Against All Flags (1952) as Oxford
• Les Misérables (1952) as Waiter
• "China Smith: Shanghai Clipper" (????) TV episode as Lord Radcliffe (1 episode)
• "Front Page Detective: Seven Seas to Danger" TV episode as Dr. Oscar Grandell (1 episode, 1952)
• Corky of Gasoline Alley (1951) as Hull / also titled Corky of Gasoline Alley (UK)
• When the Redskins Rode (1951) as Gov. Dinwiddie
• The Underworld Story (1950) as Calvin
• Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948) as Tom Widgery / also titled Blood on My Hands (UK)
• My Dog Rusty (1948) as Mayor Fulderwilder
• The Prince of Thieves (1948) as Sir Fitz-Alwin
• I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now (1947) as T.J. Milford
• The Trouble with Women (1947) as Dr. Wilmer Dawson
• Jewels of Brandenburg (1947) as Roger Hamilton
• Ladies Man (1947) as David Harmon
• Cross My Heart (1946) as Judge
• Monsieur Beaucaire (1946) as Chief Justice
• If I'm Lucky (1946) as P.H. Gillingwater
• She Wrote the Book (1946) as George Dixon
• A Night in Casablanca (1946), a Marx Bros. film, as Governor Galoux
• One Way to Love (1946) as Roger Winthrop
• She Wouldn't Say Yes (1945) as Colonel Brady
• The Lost Weekend (1945) as Charles St. James
• Hold That Blonde (1945) as Henry Carteret
• You Came Along (1945) as Chairman
• Molly and Me (1945) as Sir Arthur Burroughs
• The Affairs of Susan (1945) as Mr. Cusp

External links

• Lewis Russell at the Internet Movie Database
• Lewis Russell at the Internet Broadway Database
• Lewis L. Russell at the Playbill Vault