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The youngest of three brothers, Bruce Campbell born in Royal Oaks Michigan on
June 22nd in "the year of the Edsel." He grew up watching Lost In Space and
Gilligan's Island and his early years were very normal and uneventful until the
old acting bug took a bite out of him when he saw how much fun his dad was
having performing in local community theater and decided he wanted in OF the
action.
His first acting job occurred at age 14 when he lucked out when the actor who
was to play the young prince in Thc King and I became ill and Bruce stepped into
the role. He even had to sing - now there's something we haven't been treated to
yet...
Bruce went on to appear in several productions including acting with his dad in
South Pacific and being directed by him in the starring role of "Chance Wayne"
in Tennessee William's Sweet Bird of Youth While directing his son in this
straight drama, his father realized that Bruce had a lot of natural talent, that
he was very much at home on the stage and that the audience could sense it, too.
A star was born...
Then somewhere along the way, Bruce received a super-8 camera as a gift and
began experimenting with filmmaking on his own. He then met Sam Raimi in a high
school drama class in 1975, and the way Bruce this it, Sam did a pantomime in
class that really sucked, so Bruce consoled him and they became pals. Soon
Bruce, along with Sam and a bunch of their other friends, began making their
super-8 movia. The filmmakers were born...
During the summer of '75, Bruce volunteered and was one of the people accepted
to work as an apprentice up in northern Michigan at Traverse City's Cherry
County Playhouse, a wed known summer stock company. He worked 18 hour days
setting up sets, as an assistant stage manager, doing errands and being a
dresser. Evidently the casts and directors liked Bruce due to his positive
attitude because he even got a few minor parts in some of the shows. All this
for no pay, but for Bruce, it was an eye-opening experience and he loved it. A
lot of TV actors who were no longer working in television toured through there
that summer, but to Bruce they were Hollywood stars and the stars got in his
eyes. It was Bruce's first real taste of Hollywood.
Ten years later Bruce would run into several of these stars who professed to
have no reco11ection of the incident, however, to Bruce, it was a major incident
in his life and it gave him a good perspective on the whole Hollywood scene.
After that stint in summer stock, Bruce went to Western Michigan University and
took film courses, but dropped out after six months because he became too antsy.
He felt that the college courses were far behind where was after what he had
learned in the real world about film production and editing. It was an theory
and no play and by then the acting/filmmaking bug had taken a major chomp out of
him and so he went to work for a production company that made commercials.
He was a gopher for them for a year sweeping out studios, running around picking
up camera equipment, etc. and it gave him a good chance to learn the technics
side of the business rather than just the "artsy-farby" actor stuff.
Bruce, Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Co. continued to make their super-8's, turning
out such classics as Cleveland Smith Bounty Bunter--perhaps a little foresight
here?--The Blind Waiter--a foray into total insanity--and Toro, Toro, Toro--the
adventure of a homicidal lawamower with a mind of its owns
Now with a common goal in mind, to become professional filmmakers, they realized
that the fact way to break into the real world of filmmaking was in the horror
genre because it was the easiest to sell. They put together a short horror film,
Within Thc Wood, which turned out very well and was an excellent vehicle for
them to show to potential investors.
Bruce's dad became their first investor and in 1979 they went on to raise
S350,000 for a low-budget film which we've all come to know and love, Evil Dead,
which Bruce executive produced and starred in.
It took them four years to complete the film which first gained notoriety in
England where it became the best-selling video of 1983, beating out Thc Shining.
After its appearance at Cannes, where Stephen King dubbed it "the most
ferociously original horror film of the year"--how's that for some great PR--New
Line Cinema stepped forward to release Evil Dead in the U.S.
After filming Crime wave, a cross-genre picture, which Bruce co-produced and
co-starred in as the super egotistical sleaze, "Renaldo" and which was written
by Sam Raimi with his newfound partners Ethan and Joel Coen, Dine DeLaurentiis
then got into the act and agreed to take on the sequel to Evil Dead. Blessed
with a budget ten times the original, Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn was released in
1987 with Bruce again starring in and co-producing this "leas gory, more funny"
sequel.
A move to Los Angeles followed, and Bruce quickly gained a foothold in a series
of independent genre films such as Maniac Cop, Moontrap and Sundown. In 1990, he
made a film called Mindwarp, a "post-apocalyptic Jeremiah Johnson," which for
Bruce turned out to be a very significant time in his life. It was on the set of
this film that he met his wife, costume designer Ida Gearon. (Bruce has two
children--one of each-- from a previous marriage). Bruce then put the producer
hat back on and co-executive produced the biker yarn Easy Whecis and produced
Lunatics: A Love Story, for RCA/Columbia.
In 1992, Bruce rejoined his old Detroit colleagues and co-produced for Universal
Studios the third of the popular Evil Dead trilogy, Army of Darkness, in which
he one again reprised his role as that lovable lamebrain hero, Ash. Immediately
following that, Bruce's Coen Brothers friends invited him to join them for a
featured role in their "big business comedy" The Hudsucker Proxy for Warner
Bros.
Bruce then made his first real venture into television, starring in the highly
touted Fox series The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. -- one of the best shows
to come on TV in years. Too bad Fox wasn't smart enough to realize that...
He then had a recurring guest-starring role on the hit show Lois and Clark: The
New Adventures of Superman. With these under his belt, Bruce easily made the
transition to director, helming several episodes and guest-starring in the
number one syndicated series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Bruce hut since
reprised his "King of Thieves" character, "Autolycus," in the equally popular
Hercules companion series Xena: Warrior Princess.
Bruce has continued to expand his range on television, with an appearance on Sam
Raimi's cryptic American Gothic where he "met the beetles." He turned in an
excellent dramatic performance on the acclaimed show Homicide which surely
opened a lot of eyes in Hollywood and teamed up again with Fox to star in the
action-packed TV movie TORNADO! The fact that TORNADO! pulled in the highest
ratings of any Fox TV film to date made Bruce feel really good and helped to
take the "Brisco" lump in his throat away.
This fall Bruce can be seen in several episodes of the popular sitcom, Ellen, on
ABC in which he has a recurring role as "Ed" the bookstore manager--a worthy
comedic adversary for Ellen as her big bad boss and later this season he will
guest star in an upcoming episode of Ward Science in which he plays, of all
things, a "genie." Move over Robin Williams...
He also has the starring role in Disney's TV movie update of The Love Bug where
he's traded in talking to a horse for talking to a car; a co-starring role in
the Sci-Fi cyber-thriller, Menno Mind airing on The Movie Channel in July and
the lead in In the Line of Duty: Blaze of Glory, formerb Jeff and Jig, a "Bonnie
and Clyde" type movie for NBC.
Bruce hasn't abandoned his film roots, though. During this time, he's had
featured roles in the blockbuster Congo, in John Carpenter Escape From L.A. as
the maniacal "Surgeon General of Beverly Hills" - a part that should have been
expanded and a co-starring role in Universal's upcoming feature version of
McHale's Navy in which he plays one of McHale's zany cohorts, "Virg the
womanizer." Bruce also has the lead in the upcoming independent feature, Running
Time formerly known as "Blood Money," an art house crime drama which was filmed
in black and white and directed by another Detroit colleague, Josh Becker.
Running Time has been sent off to the Sundance Film Festival where they hope it
will be awarded some major prizes.
Most recently, Bruce has made the leap into the multi-media industry by
supplying the voice of the hero in two upcoming CD-ROM adventure games,
Cold-blooded for 7th Lead and Broken Halt for Konami. A venture into, what
"Brisco" would say is, "the coming thing"...
Bruce is now starring in a weekly syndicated television series "Jack of All
Trades".
Source: houseofhorrors.com
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