Posted on 01/31/2002 4:13:17 PM PST by TomServo
Harold Russell, who 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, has died. He was 88.
Russell, who rarely acted again but used his celebrity to push for the rights of the disabled, died of a heart attack Tuesday at a nursing home in Needham, Mass., his family said Thursday.
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, producer Sam Goldwyn saw it and wanted Russell to play Homer Parrish in "The Best Years of Our Lives."
The 1946 film won seven Academy Awards, including best picture, best director for William Wyler and best actor for Fredric March. It also starred Myrna Loy. The film depicted how WWII veterans coped with the aftermath of the war and their return to changed families and community.
Russell actually 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."
"It is not what you have lost but what you have left that counts," he wrote in his 1949 autobiography, "Victory in My Hands." It told of his struggle to recover physically and psychologically from his wounds, and to use the hooks that replaced his hands. He became so adept in their use that he liked to joke he could do anything but pick up a dinner check.
Russell spent his life working as an advocate for the disabled, helping establish the veteran's advocacy group AMVETS 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, and he was good-natured about his own handicap.
"He was a humanitarian," his daughter, Adele Russell, said Thursday. "He dedicated his life to the handicapped. ... (He was) a wonderful person to everyone he met. He touched everyone in some shape or form."
Russell made few other movie appearances. His first role after "The Best Years of Our Lives" was 1980's "Inside Moves." He also appeared in the Vietnam War television series "China Beach." His last film role was in 1997's "Dogtown."
In August 1992, Russell sold his supporting-actor Oscar, saying he needed the money to pay his wife's medical bills and other expenses. An anonymous buyer paid $60,500, including a 10 percent commission for the auctioneer, an autograph dealer.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences opposed the sale and offered to loan money to Russell. Then-Academy president Karl Malden said the statuettes "should not become objects of mere commerce."
The academy said it was aware of no previous instance in which an Oscar had been sold by its original recipient at public auction. Several Oscars have been auctioned since, most posthumously.
Russell responded: "I don't know why anybody would be critical. My wife's health is much more important than sentimental reasons." He was paid $10,000 for his role in the movie and received no residuals.
"The movie will be here, even if Oscar isn't," he said.
Russell was born in 1914 in Nova Scotia, Canada, and the family later moved to Cambridge, Mass. He got a business degree from Boston University after the war.
His survivors include his daughter; a son, Gerald Russell; four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
My dad wanted us to understand, that no matter what misfortune may come our way, its up to us to make the best of the situation, pull ourselves up, and go on with life...
I am sorry to see another WW11 veteran slip away from us...they are dying daily....God Bless you Harold, for your patriotism during the war, and your wonderful example for those who are disabled...May you find love and comfort with your Father...
He was an example of what is right about America.
I do know that AMC runs this movie every once in a while, and people should try to watch it, or go rent the movie...
The scene I most remember from that movie, is when Frederic March returns home, but probably like in real life, his wife did not know the exact time of his return...Frederic opens the door to his apartment, and there is a fleeting shot of his wife through the doorway to the kitchen....she is getting dinner ready....she hears the door open, and thinks it is one of her children coming in...she calls, no one answers, so leaves the kitchen to see who it is, and there stands her dear hubby....quite a scene, and somehow I always somehow envisioned their first meeting as somewhat like my mom and dads first meeting was when dad returned from the war...
And the quiet love scenes between Homer and his girl, once she convinces him she still loves in spite of his lost of his two hands, are quite sweet and touching....
Everyone should see this movie at least once...
Yes, it is reported that something like 1100 WWII vets are dying each day in this country.
It is sad to see it happening before our very eyes in an inexorable fashion but one generation gives way to the next as was what happened for the vets of WWI to make room for those of us who were just the right age to serve as proudly in the 40s and 50s as they did in 1917 and 1918.
It just seems some of us who were in our midteens in the mid 40s did not realize it would soon become our time to move on off the world scene and into history.
But so much for the reminiscence of one of the number of the not too far in the future 1100.
For those who haven't seen it, just go buy it.
she convinces him she still loves in spite of his lost of his two hands
I seriously doubt you'd see much of that these days. A tribute to the women of the WWII era.
Remember the shot of her face as he finally puts his arms around her? Brings a tear to these tired old eyes.
I will rectify that the next time it is broadcast!!
God Bless the United States Military and all who serve in her!!
Several months ago, my husband and I were clearing out some things in our garage...there is one old wooden chest, which contains memorabilia from my great grandfather, who served with the cavalry, and spent much of his army time up at Ft. Yates North Dakota..from my grandfather who served during WW1, and from my dad who served in WW11...three generations of memorabilia, such as medals, uniforms, discharge papers, ribbons, old ammo, helmets....three men from three different generations, who served in three different capacities in the army...
I am proud to be the keeper of this chest
My brother never served in the military, as he was blind in one eye, and during the height Viet Nam, he was going to quit his fourth year of college, and try to join the military...but as he could not pass a simple eye test, he was rejected by all branches of the military...however, my own husband spent 10 years in the full time army, and 16 years in the reserves...he just retired, and of all odd dates, he retired on Sept 10, 2001, just one day before the WTC tragedy....his retirement papers are dated Sept 11, 2001, which is really kind of eerie....in fact we did not know if he retirement would go through or not, because sometimes they can prevent retirement if they think you will be needed in an emergency...however they did through...so in time my husbands military gear will join my great grandfathers, and grandfathers, and my fathers stuff in the military chest...
And there I guess it will end...I had two sons...my older boy, tho, died many years ago, of leukemia, and the younger boy had no interest in joining the military, preferring rather to get his college degree and go into civilian employment...
However, my husbands father was at Normandy...he died four years ago....and two of my husbands fathers brothers served..one uncle in the Pacific during WW11, and the other uncle in Korea....
one of my husbands greatest treasures, is a picture frame containing the pictures of his dad and two uncles, in the prime of their lives, in their military uniforms...that picture frame will also someday join our military trunk....I think the tradition of one generation entrusting the care of the nation to the next generation is especially heartwarming...
God Bless you sir, for having served and defended so that I can sit here and rattle on...
Hang on to all those favorite things of your memories of your All American Veteran family, they have to be priceless.
They will be a solid link to how great our country was as mirrored in this pictorial as well as physical evidence for your future generations.
They will appreciate your faithfulness to preserve this memorabilia of your Service Family.
by Norman Miller
Thursday, January 31, 2002
MetroWest Daily News
Harold Russell lost both of his hands during a training accident in the service in 1944, but the longtime MetroWest resident never let that slow him down.
The Nova Scotia native who brimmed with charm and personality went on to become the only person to win two Oscars for the same role in the same year for the film "The Best Years of Our Lives."
He helped establish AMVETS, served on many veterans agencies, built a consulting business that helped the handicapped and made it his life's mission to show disabled people, especially those who had lost limbs as he had, that life could still be great.
Russell died in a nursing home Tuesday night. He was 88.
"The two things I remember about Harold, and this is what everyone should know about Harold, is what people think about you is what you think about yourself," said Suzanne Saskel-Delay of Milton. She worked for Russell about 15 years ago at his management consulting firm in Waltham.
"The second thing I learned is he always said, 'Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me,' " she said.
The consulting firm, Harold Russell Associates, matched disabled people with jobs in the high-tech industry.
Nancy Cassidy of Framingham worked with him for two years in the early 1980s, and remembers Russell as inspirational.
"He always tried to make people feel at ease," said Cassidy. Russell didn't give a stranger time to wonder how to react to a person with hooks rather than hands.
He would thrust his right hook out for a handshake and say "It's all right. Some people have hands and some people have hooks," and would do whatever it took to put the person at ease. He had the knack.
"He was interesting to be around, and he could inspire people," Cassidy said.
Russell became nationally known in 1946, when he starred as Homer Parrish, a World War II veteran who had lost his hands, in "The Best Years of Our Lives."
That movie won several Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Fredric March and Best Director for William Wyler. It is an unsentimental portrait of soldiers returning from WWII, and its true emotion shines through even today, more than a half-century later.
The American Film Institute ranked it as one of the top 100 films of all time.
Russell won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and was presented a special Oscar for "bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans."
"I got my award for special contributions, and I'm hanging around backstage," said Russell in a 1998 interview. "I found out months later that when I was nominated for supporting actor, they figured I didn't have a chance, the other guys had too much background. When they get to supporting actor, they had to practically throw me out on the stage."
Russell was born in 1914, and moved to Cambridge in 1919. He also lived in Natick in the late 1950s and early 1960s and in Wayland for several years.
On Dec. 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Russell joined the military and became an instructor in the parachute corps.
On D-Day, June 6, 1944, he became an explosives instructor for the 13th Airborne Division. It was then, in South Carolina, that both of Russell's hands were blown off in a freak training accident with dynamite.
"I was one sorry sack," Russell said about his stay in the Walter Reed Hospital after the accident.
Russell had hooks put in place of his hands, and he made a training video, "Diary of a Sergeant."
Although he never said a word in the film, producer Sam Goldwyn saw it and decided to hire Russell for what became his Oscar-winning role.
Although he did not star in another movie until "Inside Moves," in 1980, Russell kept busy building awareness for those with disabilities.
He made his mission personal as well as professional, and would visit recent amputees, whether soldiers or civilians, in hospitals wherever he went to offer them encouragement.
Russell helped to organize the World Veterans Federation, and served as vice president of its fund.
He served three terms as the national commander of the AMVETs after he helped start the organization.
President Harry Truman appointed Russell as the chairman of the President's Committee on Hiring the Handicapped.
The President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities' annual award was named after Russell.
He also wrote two autobiographical books: 1949's "Victory in My Hands," and "The Best Years of My Life," in 1981.
In the 1980s, Russell auctioned off one of his Oscars to help pay for his wife's medical expenses. It auctioned for $60,000.
The last time Russell appeared on film was in "Dogtown," in 1997, playing Blessed William.
Until recently, Russell lived on Cape Cod, but had moved in with his daughter, Adele R. Russell in Ashland. Neither she nor Russell's son, Gerald, could be reached for comment.
"He was an interesting man," said Saskel-Delay. "He was like a father figure to those of us who were younger. He was a wonderful man, Harold was."
Cassidy agreed.
"It sounds kind of quaint," she said, "but he was just a very nice man."
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