(reprinted by permission)

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".  

There you have it.

Stay tuned...

Jan Hanbolke

Back to the Bruce Campbell's Page     Go to Bruce Campbell's Filmography