Robert W. Russell

Background

Robert W. Russell was born on July 18, 1912, in Spokane, Washington, United States. He was a son of Virgil W. Russell and Elizabeth Russell (maiden name Connell).

Education

Robert W. Russell received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern California in 1934.

Career

A member of the Office of Strategic Services, Robert W. Russell served as a photographer during World War II.

Among so-called “books” for musicals and stories for motion picture he produced, a 1959 show ‘Take Me Along’ was perhaps the most successful. It was based on the only comedy by the great American playwright Eugene O’Neill, ‘Ah, Wilderness!’

Russell co-wrote, with the legendary George Abbott, the book for the stage production of Flora, ‘The Red Menace’, a 1965 show starring Liza Minnelli. He also created stories for a number of other movies, as well, including the 1961 ‘Come September’, starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day, and the 1966 ‘Walk, Don’t Run’, starring Cary Grant and Samantha Eggar.

In addition, Russell made short nonfiction movies for the industrial, educational, and documentary markets. His World War II documentary ‘Ring of Steel’ is one of the examples.

Achievements

• Robert W. Russell was an accomplished dramatist whose contributions for musicals and motion pictures was marked by many awards and decorations.
  
  The 1959 show ‘Take Me Along’ based on the only comedy by the American playwright Eugene O’Neill was nominated for a Tony Award as best musical of the year, and Russell, as a book author, shared that nomination. It was not the first nomination for a major award that the dramatist had earned for his writing. In 1943, he had received an Oscar nomination for his original story for the movie ‘The More the Merrier’.
  
  A member of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) as a photographer during World War II, Russell won the Bronze Star medal for his work photographing merchant vessels at sea.

Works

• play

  • Flora, the Red Menace

    (The original Broadway cast vinyl recording of a musical b...)

    1965

Membership

Robert W. Russell was a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Connections

Robert W. Russell was married twice. On September 24, 1960, his second wife became Rinaldina Gaudioso, a professor of romance languages at Queens College, the City University of New York.

From the first marriage, the dramatist had two children named Corbin Russell and Juniper Turner.

Father:

Virgil W. Russell

Mother:

Elizabeth Russell

Wife:

Rinaldina Gaudioso

Son:

Corbin Russell

Son:

Juniper Russell