Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthdate
1926-05-05
Day of Death
2003-04-08
Place of Birth
Brattleboro, Vermont, USA
Bing Russell
Biography
Neil Oliver "Bing" Russell (May 5, 1926 – April 8, 2003) was an American actor and Class A minor-league baseball club owner. He was the father of Hollywood actor Kurt Russell. Although best known as the deputy on Bonanza (1959) and Robert in The Magnificent Seven (1960), Russell's was also well known on a national level as the owner of the Portland Mavericks Baseball Club. Helming the only independent team in the class A Northwest League, Russell was an innovator. Before Bull Durham (1988), there were the Mavericks. Russell kept a 30 man roster because he believed that some of the players deserved to have one last season. His motto was simply one three lettered word - not WIN - although the Mavericks did just that - no, the word was FUN. He 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 tryouts, which were always open to anyone that showed up. From as far away as Capetown, and France, players would head to Portland for a chance with Russell's Mavericks.
Filmography (51)
The Battered Bastards of Baseball
2014
Dick Tracy
1990
Tango & Cash
1989
Sunset
1988
Overboard
1987
Elvis
1979
The Loneliest Runner
1976
The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe
1976
The Apple Dumpling Gang
1975
Death Sentence
1974
The Sex Symbol
1974
A Cry in the Wilderness
1974
Runaway!
1973
Satan's School for Girls
1973
