Bing Russell
Neil Oliver "Bing" Russell (May 5, 1926 – April 8, 2003) was an American actor and Class A minor-league baseball club owner. He was the father of Hollywood actor Kurt Russell. Although best known as the deputy on Bonanza (1959) and Robert in The Magnificent Seven (1960), Russell's was also well known on a national level as the owner of the Portland Mavericks Baseball Club. Helming the only independent team in the class A Northwest League, Russell was an innovator. Before Bull Durham (1988), there were the Mavericks. Russell kept a 30 man roster because he believed that some of the players deserved to have one last season. His motto was simply one three lettered word - not WIN - although the Mavericks did just that - no, the word was FUN. He created a park that kept all corporate sponsorship outside the gates, hired the first female general manager in professional baseball, and the following year hired the first Asian American GM/Manager. That same season his team set a record for the highest attendance in Minor league history, and went on to win the pennant. Ex-major leaguers and never-weres who couldn't stop playing the game flocked to his June tryouts, which were always open to anyone that showed up. From as far away as Capetown, and France, players would head to Portland for a chance with Russell's Mavericks.
Filmography · 111
Lassie
1954
Bonanza
1959 · Sheriff Clem Foster
The Andy Griffith Show
1960 · Mr. Burton
The Rifleman
1958
The Donna Reed Show
1958
Ironside
1967
Mannix
1967
The Twilight Zone
1959 · Ben Braden
Have Gun, Will Travel
1957
Maverick
1957
The Fugitive
1963 · Sgt. Eggins
The Rockford Files
1974 · Lieutenant
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956 · Sam - Henchman
The Virginian
1962 · Sgt. Eads
Emergency!
1972
I Dream of Jeannie
1965 · Amos Lincoln
Rawhide
1959 · Jack Harris
The Big Valley
1965 · Jack Tolliver
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
1955
Wanted: Dead or Alive
1958 · Clay
Route 66
1960 · Frank Satterfield
Gunsmoke
1955 · Simon Fletcher
Ben Casey
1961
The Magnificent Seven
1960 · Robert
The Munsters
1964
Laramie
1959
The Streets of San Francisco
1972
The Monkees
1966 · Rudy
Surfside 6
1960
Sugarfoot
1957 · Sergeant McKinnock
The Texan
1958
Bronco
1958
Alias Smith and Jones
1971
Navy Log
1955
The Mod Squad
1968
The Guns of Will Sonnett
1967
Branded
1965
Petrocelli
1974
Stoney Burke
1962
Tango & Cash
1989 · Van Driver
Overboard
1987 · Elk Cove: Sheriff Earl
Black Saddle
1959 · Lee Curry
Public Defender
1954 · 2nd Cop
Johnny Ringo
1959 · Dick Walsh
Rio Bravo
1959 · Cowboy Murdered in Sal...
You Are There
1953 · Lendall Pitts
Sam Benedict
1962 · Len George (uncredited...
Stagecoach West
1960
Science Fiction Theatre
1955
Dick Tracy
1990 · Club Ritz Patron
The Wonderful World of Disney
1954 · Arne
The Monroes
1966
How the West Was Won
1962 · Man (uncredited)
Hondo
1967 · Thompson
The Alaskans
1959
The Outcasts
1968
Last Train from Gun Hill
1959 · Skag, Belden Hand
The Living Christ
1951 · Lazarus
The Man Called X
1956
Cheyenne Autumn
1964 · Braden's Telegraph Ope...
Harbor Command
1957
General Electric True
1962
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
1957 · Harry - Griffin Barten...
The Horse Soldiers
1959 · Dunker, Yankee Soldier...
Letter to Loretta
1953 · Convict
Arthur Hailey's The Moneychangers
1976 · Timberwell
Blackbeard's Ghost
1968 · Second Track Meet Offi...
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
1969 · Angelo
Elvis
1979 · Vernon Presley
Tate
1960
Bombers B-52
1957 · Operator (uncredited)
The Million Dollar Duck
1971 · Mr. Smith
The Apple Dumpling Gang
1975 · Herm Dally
Now You See Him, Now You Don't
1972 · Alfred
Attack
1956 · Medic
The Land Unknown
1957 · Radio Operator (uncred...
The Hallelujah Trail
1965 · Horner
The Deadly Mantis
1957 · State Trooper
Sunset
1988 · Studio Guard
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951 · Assistant Director
Dundee and the Culhane
1967
Journey to Shiloh
1968 · Greybeard
The Great Impostor
1960 · Morgan (uncredited)
Madame X
1966 · Sergeant Riley
A Gathering of Eagles
1963 · Captain (uncredited)
Cult of the Cobra
1955
Yuma
1971 · Rol King (as Neil Russ...
A Taste of Evil
1971 · Sheriff
Satan's School for Girls
1973 · Sheriff
Death Sentence
1974 · Trooper
Cattle Empire
1958 · Douglas Hamilton
Flashing Spikes
1962 · Hogan
Good Day for a Hanging
1959 · George Fletcher
Big Leaguer
1953
The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe
1976
The Ride to Hangman's Tree
1967 · Keller (Uncredited)
The Battered Bastards of Baseball
2014 · Himself (Archive Foota...
A Life at Stake
1955 · Bartender (uncredited)
One Man's Way
1964 · Tom Rayburn
The Stripper
1963 · Mr. Mulvaney (uncredit...
The Sex Symbol
1974 · Public Relations Man
Drango
1957 · Lieutenant with Supply...
The Loneliest Runner
1976 · Fred Dawkins
Suicide Battalion
1958 · Lt. Chet Hall
Runaway!
1973 · Fireman
Ride a Violent Mile
1957 · Corporal Norman
A Cry in the Wilderness
1974 · Mr. Griffey
Without Incident
1957
Teenage Thunder
1957 · Used-Car Salesman
Set This Town on Fire
1973 · Chuck
Stakeout!
1962 · Joe