October 21, 2004
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HAROLD RUSSELL
Harold Russell received two Academy Awards for his sensitive portrayal of a wounded veteran in ``The Best Years of Our Lives'' after losing his hands in World War II.
Russell joined the U.S. Army on Dec. 8, 1941, the day after the attack
on Pearl Harbor, as an instructor in the parachute corps.
He was working as an explosives expert in 1944 when a defective fuse
exploded a charge of TNT he was holding as he instructed a demolition
squad at Camp Mackall, N.C. Both hands were amputated.
Russell, who had hooks to replace his hands, was featured in an Army
documentary, ``Diary of a Sergeant,'' on the rehabilitation of an amputee.
Though Russell didn't say a word in the film, William Wyler saw it and wanted Russell to play Homer Parrish in ``The Best Years of Our Lives.'' He decided to change a character from a spastic to a double amputee.
The 1946 film won seven Academy Awards. It depicted how WWII veterans coped with the aftermath of the war and their return to changed families and
community.
Russell received two Oscars for the film: one as best supporting actor, and a second, special Oscar for ``bringing aid and comfort to disabled veterans through the medium of motion pictures.''
He was paid $10,000 for his role in the movie and received no residuals.
Russell worked as an advocate for the disabled, helping establish the veteran's advocacy group AMVETS, though his dream of an international veterans organization was never realized, and creating a consulting business that helped the handicapped get jobs.
He said it was his life's work to show disabled people that life could still be great. ``It is not what you have lost but what you have left that counts,'' he
wrote in his 1949 autobiography, ``Victory in My Hands.''
In August 1992, Russell sold his supporting-actor Oscar, saying he needed the money to pay his wife's medical bills and other expenses.
He died of a heart attack in January 2002.
-http://slick.org/deathwatch/mailarchive/msg00649.html
Comments (5)
This remains one of the best American war movies ever, and Harold Russell's Homer Parrish is brilliant. The amazing thing about the screenplay is how it refuses to make the physical disabilities appear any worse than the psychological scars.
The poster is so funny. You'd think it was a musical comedy.
it was a great film...
The thing that bothers me about Kerry like I said is that he tries to play both sides, making it look like he is against abortion, and for gun rights, but then votes totally opposite.
Don't know if you've seen this yet but it's interesting with a somewhat hilarious twist:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/diet.fitness/10/21/diet.sperm.ap/index.html
Hmm, I haven't seen "Badlands". I'll have to check that one out.
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