Harold Russell
| Harold Russell | |
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Russell in 1946
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| Born |
Harold John Russell January 14, 1914 North Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Died | January 29, 2002 (aged 88) Needham, Massachusetts |
| Spouse(s) | Rita Russell-Nixon (1944-1978) Betty Marshalsea (1981-2002) |
| Children | Adele, Gerald |
Harold John Avery Russell (January 14, 1914 – January 29, 2002) was a Canadian-American World War II veteran who became one of only two non-professional actors to win an Academy Award for acting (the other being Haing S. Ngor). Russell also has the distinction of being the only performer to sell his award Oscar at auction.
Harold Russell was born in North Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada and moved to Massachusetts with his family in 1921, after his father's death in 1920.
In 1941, he was so profoundly affected by the December 7 attack on Pearl Harbor that he enlisted in the United States Army on the following day.
While he was an Army instructor, and training with the U.S. 13th Airborne Division at Camp Mackall, North Carolina, on June 6, 1944, a defective fuse detonated an explosive he was handling while making a training film. As a result, he lost both hands and was given two hooks to serve as hands. After his recovery, and while attending Boston University as a full-time student, Russell was featured in an Army film called Diary of a Sergeant about rehabilitating war veterans.
When film director William Wyler saw the film on Russell, he cast him in The Best Years of Our Lives with Fredric March and Dana Andrews. Russell played the role of Homer Parrish, a Navy sailor who lost both hands during the war.
For his role as Parrish, Russell won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1947. Earlier in the ceremony, he was awarded an honorary Oscar for "bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans." The special award had been created because the Board of Governors very much wanted to salute Russell, a non-professional actor, but assumed he had little chance for a competitive win. It was the only time in Oscar history that the Academy has awarded two Oscars for the same performance.
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