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Bing Russell

Bing Russell built the kind of acting career that could make a face familiar long before audiences knew the name. Born in Brattleboro, Vermont, in 1926, he studied drama at Brattleboro High School and later graduated from Dartmouth College with a business degree. Acting, however, had always been his ambition. After making his film debut in Cavalry Patrol and taking several uncredited early roles, Russell became a steady presence across film and television. He is best known as Deputy Clem Foster on Bonanza and as Robert in The Magnificent Seven. Westerns were a recurring part of his screen work, with appearances in Wagon Train, The Rifleman, Rawhide, Gunsmoke, The Virginian and Death Valley Days, but his television range extended well beyond the genre. His credits also included The Twilight Zone, The Fugitive, The Munsters, I Dream of Jeannie, Mannix, The Rockford Files and The Streets of San Francisco. Russell also appeared in the original pilot for The Monkees as Rudy, a record-store owner who managed the group. The manager concept was dropped when the series moved forward, although an edited version of the pilot featuring Russell later aired during the first season. In the 1979 television movie Elvis, he played Vernon Presley opposite his son Kurt Russell as Elvis Presley. Baseball ran alongside acting throughout Russell’s life. He had grown up around the New York Yankees’ spring training camp in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he became an unofficial team mascot and befriended players including Lefty Gomez and Joe DiMaggio. From 1973 to 1977, he owned the independent Portland Mavericks, keeping open tryouts and a 30-player roster for athletes he believed deserved another season. The team later became the subject of the documentary The Battered Bastards of Baseball, which featured archival footage of Russell. Russell, who died in 2003, left behind a career shaped by reliable character work, television versatility and a genuine devotion to baseball.