| Russ Tamblyn  AKA Russell Tamblyn
Born: 30-Dec-1934
Birthplace: Los Angeles, CA
Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor, Dancer Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers Russ Tamblyn is an actor and dancer, known for his early song-and-dance work in musicals like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Hit the Deck, and West Side Story. He began his professional career as a child actor, and ended in such schlock as Blood Screams and Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfolds.
He was discovered at age 10 by Lloyd Bridges, who cast him in a play he was directing. In his first film, three years later, he played a friend of The Boy with Green Hair, Dean Stockwell. In his first starring role, he played The Kid from Cleveland, a runaway who becomes batboy for the 1948 Cleveland Indians (playing themselves -- Hank Greenberg, Satchel Paige, et al.). He was the boy with an unhealthy fascination with guns in the original Gun Crazy, and Elizabeth Taylor's kid brother in the original Father of the Bride.
He starred in High School Confidential, as the tough-talking new kid in town, rumbling with John Drew Barrymore, "looking to graze on grass", buying heroin from Jackie Coogan, and receiving his aunt Mamie Van Doren's lascivious attention. He also played the six-inch-tall title role in George Pal's tom thumb, and he was Oscar-nominated for the steamy-for-the-50s Peyton Place, playing the boy wrongly accused of skinny-dipping with Lana Turner's daughter. In The Haunting, Tamblyn's character inherits the haunted mansion, and cynically dismisses all talk of ghosts. He also starred in one of the all-time great cheesy Japanese science fiction films from the legendary Toho Studios, titled The War of the Gargantuas in its American release.
By then, Tamblyn knew he would never be Marlon Brando, and he decided to be more of an artist than just another actor. He fired his agent, took up painting, and began accepting only the roles that interested him. Among his best work from that time, he co-wrote and starred in an anti-nuke musical, Human Highway. He played Dr Jacoby on Twin Peaks, and later took the same character to General Hospital.
Between acting jobs, Tamblyn has sometimes worked as a choreographer, beginning when he was an uncredited advisor to Elvis Presley for Jailhouse Rock. He worked with the dancers on the series Fame, and appeared in a few episodes playing "Russ, the choreographer".
Stockwell and Tamblyn have remained lifelong friends, and also worked together on Another Day at the Races and Dennis Hopper's The Last Movie. Stockwell directed Man With Bags, a failed pilot for a Tamblyn sitcom, and Tamblyn guested on Stockwell's Quantum Leap.
Father: Eddie Tamblyn (actor, b. 5-Jan-1907, d. 22-Jun-1957)
Brother: Larry Tamblyn (musician, The Standells)
Wife: Venetia Stevenson (actress, b. 10-Mar-1938, m. 14-Feb-1956, div. 14-Feb-1957)
Girlfriend: Gia Scala (actress, b. 1934, dated 1958, d. 1972 drug overdose)
Wife: Bonnie Murray (artist, teacher)
Daughter: Amber Tamblyn (actress, b. 14-May-1983)
High School: North Hollywood High School, North Hollywood, CA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Golden Globe 1956 (most promising newcomer, with Ray Danton)
TELEVISION
Twin Peaks Dr. Lawrence Jacoby (1990-91)
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Django Unchained (25-Dec-2012)
Drive (20-May-2011)
Inherit the Wind (29-May-1999)
Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfold (1995)
Cabin Boy (7-Jan-1994)
Running Mates (4-Oct-1992)
Wizards of the Demon Sword (1991) · Ulric
Aftershock (Mar-1990)
B.O.R.N. (1988)
Commando Squad (Jun-1987)
Neil Young: Human Highway (Sep-1982)
Win, Place or Steal (Feb-1975)
Dracula vs. Frankenstein (7-Aug-1972) · Rico
The Last Movie (29-Sep-1971)
Satan's Sadists (1-Jun-1969) · Anchor
The Female Bunch (1969)
The War of the Gargantuas (1966)
Son of a Gunfighter (24-Sep-1965) · Johnny Ketchum
The Long Ships (3-Mar-1964)
The Haunting (18-Sep-1963) · Luke Sanderson
Follow the Boys (27-Feb-1963)
How the West Was Won (1-Nov-1962) · Confederate Soldier
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (7-Aug-1962) · The Woodsman
West Side Story (18-Oct-1961) · Riff
Cimarron (16-Feb-1961) · The Cherokee Kid
Tom Thumb (22-Dec-1958) · Tom Thumb
High School Confidential! (30-May-1958)
Peyton Place (13-Dec-1957) · Norman Page
Don't Go Near the Water (14-Nov-1957) · Ens. Tyson
The Young Guns (12-Sep-1956) · Tully
The Fastest Gun Alive (12-Jul-1956) · Eric Doolittle
The Last Hunt (30-Apr-1956) · Jimmy
Hit the Deck (3-Mar-1955)
Many Rivers to Cross (23-Feb-1955) · Shields
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (22-Jul-1954) · Gideon Pontipee
Take the High Ground! (30-Oct-1953) · Paul Jamison
The Winning Team (20-Jun-1952) · Willie Alexander
Retreat, Hell! (19-Feb-1952)
As Young as You Feel (2-Aug-1951)
Father's Little Dividend (12-Apr-1951) · Tommy Banks
Father of the Bride (16-Jun-1950) · Tommy Banks
Captain Carey, USA (21-Feb-1950)
Gun Crazy (20-Jan-1950) · Bart Tare at 14
Samson and Delilah (31-Oct-1949) · Saul
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