Russ Banham

Russ Banham (born September 20, 1954), an American writer and reporter formerly with The Journal of Commerce and later a freelance journalist writing for The Wall Street Journal, Inc., Forbes, The Economist, Euromoney, Financial Times, Chief Executive and several other business publications. Banham is the author of 23 books, including The Ford Century, an international bestseller translated into 13 languages. His new book is Higher: 100 Years of Boeing, a history of the aerospace giant. Banham also is a playwright and professional theatre director.

He graduated from St. John's University in New York City, where he studied Speech and Theatre. He later earned a Master of Arts in Drama Theory and Criticism from the University of Montana. On a prestigious Jacob K. Javits Fellowship at the university, he also earned a Master of Fine Arts in Directing and Playwriting, while teaching classes in drama for three years.

Banham early on had hoped to become a playwright or theatre director. Instead, he fell into acting after college, making his Broadway debut in The Merchant, which starred Zero Mostel as Shylock, and was directed by two-time Tony award-winning director John Dexter. Mostel died upstage right after the first public performance of the play in Philadelphia. Banham also appeared in several Off- and Off-off-Broadway plays, and co-starred in the ninth biggest movie of 1979, Meatballs, directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Bill Murray in his first film role. That year he was cast as Brad Hopkins in producer Norman Lear's short-lived television situation comedy, Joe's World, opposite Christopher Knight from The Brady Bunch. The series ran for 12 episodes on NBC before it was cancelled.

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