On This Day

Birthday of Kurt Russell

March 17th 1951

08:17 17 March 2024

American actor Kurt Russell was born on this day in 1951. Russell made his film debut in 'It Happened at the World's Fair' with an uncredited part as a young boy who kicks Elvis Presley in the leg. In 1966 he signed a ten year contract with the Walt Disney Company and became one of their most recognisable young stars, appearing in such films as 'Follow Me, Boys!' (1966), 'The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes' (1969) and 'The Barefoot Executive' (1971). In the early 1970s Russell also had a career in baseball before injury forced him to retire and he returned to acting.

He continued acting for Disney, appearing in popular family movies such as ‘The Strongest Man in the World’ (1975). His big break as an adult actor came with his Emmy award winning portrayal of Elvis Presley in the TV movie ‘Elvis’ (1979) directed by John Carpenter. It was the first of a series of collaborations between Russell and Carpenter who would go on to work together on movies including ‘Escape from New York’ (1981), ‘The Thing’ (1982) and ‘Big Trouble in Little China’ (1986).

Other notable film credits a Golden Globe nominated performance for Best Supporting Actor in ‘Silkwood’ (1983), ‘Overboard’ (1987), ‘Tequila Sunrise’ (1988), ‘Tango & Cash’ (1989), ‘Backdraft’ (1991), ‘Tombstone’ (1993), ‘Stargate’ (1994), ‘Executive Decision’ (1996), ‘Breakdown’ (1997), ‘Poseidon’ (2006), ‘Bone Tomahawk’ (2015), ‘Deepwater Horizon’ (2016), ‘The Christmas Chronicles’ (2018) and 'Fast & Furious 9' (2021).

Russell has also worked successfully with Quentin Tarantino on the movies ‘Death Proof’ (2007), ‘The Hateful Eight’ (2015) and ‘Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood’ (2019). From child star to Hollywood veteran, Kurt Russell has remained one of the worlds most successful movie stars for more than 40 years. Happy Birthday Kurt.