Encyclopedia
Bruce Lorne Campbell is an
American actor of
Irish-
Scottish descent. Campbell is very well-known for his starring role as
Ash in the
Evil Dead is a 1981 horror film [i] written and directed by Sam Raimi [i], starring Bruce Campbell [i]...
trilogy of
horror/slapstick
movies. He is a
B-movie icon.
Campbell currently lives in
Medford, Oregon, with his wife, costume designer Ida Gearon.
Film career
Early career
Campbell began acting as a teenager and soon began making small
Super 8 movies with friends. After meeting
Sam Raimi in high school the two became very good friends and started making movies together. Campbell would go on to attend
Western Michigan University while he continued to work on his acting career. A few years and at least fifty movies later, they got together with other family and friends and began work on
The Evil Dead is a 1981 horror film [i] written and directed by Sam Raimi [i], starring Bruce Campbell [i]...
. Campbell starred and worked behind the camera, receiving a "co-executive producer" credit; Raimi wrote, directed and edited. Four years later the movie became a
cult hit in
England, leading to American success and two sequels:
Evil Dead II and
Army of Darkness.
Major roles
Campbell's best-known roles are as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams in Sam Raimi's
Evil Dead films, and he has appeared in many of Raimi's films outside of the
Evil Dead series. Campbell often takes on quirky roles, such as
Elvis Presley in the film
Bubba Ho-Tep is the title of a short story by Joe R. Lansdale [i] which was adapted as a 2002 [i] horror [i] ...
, and appears in films that go straight to video or cable TV. Along with
Bubba Ho-Tep, Campbell played a supporting role in the 2005 film
Sky High, and is starring in the upcoming
My Name is Bruce.
He also is the narrator in both of the Spiderman movie games.
Campbell was supposed to star in
Darkman is the title of a 1990 film directed by Sam Raimi [i], starring Liam Neeson [i]. ...
, but the studio reportedly insisted on
Liam Neeson, unsure of Campbell's ability to play the role . Campbell stayed on behind the scenes, credited as "additional voice recording", and appears as the final face/disguise of Darkman in the film's final shot.
He was also one of the final contenders for the role of
The Phantom is an American [i] comic strip [i] created by Lee Falk [i], recounting the ...
, but it ultimately went to
Billy Zane instead . His fellow Hercules: The Legendary Journeys cast member
Kevin Sorbo was interestingly also one of the final three contenders for the role of
Lee Falk's legendary superhero.
Cameos
Campbell undertakes numerous
cameo appearances in films, and is known to pop up in all genres of film, often to serve as a
comic relief. He has made cameo appearances in both
Spider-Man films . In the first he played the wrestling announcer who dubbed Peter Parker "The Amazing Spider-Man". In the sequel, he played a snooty usher, Dylan Reid, who criticized Peter Parker's appearance at length before refusing to let him into the theater, thereby causing a rift with Mary-Jane. He appears as a demonic plastic surgeon in
John Carpenter's
Escape from L.A.. Campbell has also had several small parts in the movies of
Joel and Ethan Coen, appearing as an actor in a TV soap opera in
Fargo, as well as bit parts in
Intolerable Cruelty,
The Hudsucker Proxy and
The Ladykillers is a 1955 [i] British film [i]. ...
.
Acting style and personality
Many people consider Campbell to be the greatest "
B-movie" star of all time. His acting style is an "over-the-top" machismo that lends itself well to roles such as that of Ash Williams, whom Campbell himself has dubbed "an idiot and a jerk like the rest of us" . This style is parodied in the film
The Majestic where Campbell appears as Roland the Intrepid Explorer in the B Movie
Pirates of the Sahara written by Jim Carrey's screenwriter character. Campbell also excels at "reverse acting", a frequent filming technique of Raimi's where action sequences are filmed in the reverse sequence of how they will appear in the film.
Over the years, Bruce has developed a huge fanbase and he is a favorite at film conventions. Campbell has a reputation as being one of the nicest people in the business, and offers advice about getting into the film industry on his Web site.
Television and video games
Outside of film, Campbell has appeared in a number of television series. He starred in
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. was a short-lived western [i] television [i] seri ...
a boisterous Sci-fi comedy western created by Jeffrey Boam and Carlton Cuse that ran for one season and
Jack of All Trades, a similarly themed series set in the early days of American Independence. He is perhaps better known for his supporting role as the recurring character Autolycus on the fantasy series
and
. He also directed a number of episodes of
Hercules and
Xena., including the "Hercules" Series Finale. In addition to these more light-hearted parts, he also had a critcally acclaimed dramatic guest role as a grief-stricken detective seeking revenge for his father's murder in a two-part episode of
. Ironically, even though at the time he had decided to pursue more purely dramatic roles, Campbell did not audition for this part.
Homicide producer Tom Fontana was a fan of Campbell's and phoned him one day asking if Bruce had any ideas for appearing on the show. Campbell later played the part of a polygamous demon in the
X-Files-episode "Terms of Endearment", a performance that was well-received by his fanbase for its 'serious' dramatism and teased by Campbell as an ad for his new haircut
Campbell is featured as a voice actor in several video game titles. He provides the voice of Ash in the three latest Evil Dead-themed games, as well as titles such as
and
Spiderman 2 is the Academy Award [i]-winning sequel [i] to the popular 2002 film [i] ' ...
. He also provides the voice of main character Jake Logan in the PC title,
and the voice of Magnanimous in
Megas XLR is an American [i] animated television series [i] that aired on the Toonami [i] ...
. He has had many appearances in other television shows, including
Robot Chicken is an American [i] stop motion [i] animated television series [i] create ...
as himself, endorsing "Morning Wood".
Writing
In addition to acting and occasionally directing, Campbell has become a somewhat active writer, including authoring an autobiography,
, which traces his career as an actor in low-budget movies and television. The paperback version of the book adds a chapter about the reaction of fans at book signings.
Campbell has also written a book entitled
Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way, a comical novel featuring himself as the main character struggling to make it into the world of A-list movies. He later recorded an audio play adaptation of
Make Love with fellow Michigan actors including long time collaborator Ted Raimi. This radio drama styled interpretation of the novel was released through independent label Rykodisc and spans 6 discs with a 6 hour running time.
In addition to his novels Campbell also wrote a column for
X-Ray Magazine in 2001, an issue of the popular comic series "The Hire", comic book adaptations of his "Man With The Screaming Brain" and most recently he wrote the introduction to Josh Becker's "The Complete Guide To Low Budget Feature Film Making".
Advice
In a
Starbucks campaign known as "The Way I See It", Campbell offered the following advice which adorned certain coffee cups:
Selected filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Other notes |
| 2007 | Spider-Man 3 is the third film in the Spider-Man [i] film series based on the fictional [i] ...
| A restaurant maitre'd | Filming re-shoots |
| | Chicken Bittle | Post-production |
| 2006 | My Name is Bruce | Bruce Campbell | Post-production |
The Ant Bully is a computer-animated [i] film [i] produced by Tom Hanks [i] and Gary Goetzman's Playtone [i] ...
| Fugax | |
| The Woods | Joe Fasulo | |
| 2005 | Sky High | Coach Boomer | |
Man with the Screaming Brain is a 2005 science fiction [i]/slapstick [i] film directed by, co-writte ...
| William Cole | Also Directed and Co-wrote |
Alien Apocalypse is a Sci-Fi channel original movie based on Human in Chains, a Josh Becker [i] ...
| Dr. Ivan | |
| 2004 | Spider-Man 2 is the Academy Award [i]-winning sequel [i] to the popular 2002 film [i] ' ...
| Snooty Usher | |
| 2002 | Serving Sara | Gordon Moore | |
| Spider-Man | Ring Announcer | |
Bubba Ho-tep is the title of a short story by Joe R. Lansdale [i] which was adapted as a 2002 [i] horror [i] ...
| Elvis Presley/Sebastian Haff | |
Timequest is an interactive fiction [i] game released by Legend Entertainment [i], and written by Bob Bates [i] ...
| William Roberts | |
| 2001 | The Majestic | Roland the Intrepid Explorer | |
| 1999 | Icebreaker | Carl Greig | |
| 1998 | The Ice Rink | Actor | |
| 1997 | McHale's Navy | Virgil | |
| Running Time | Carl | |
| 1996 | Menno's Mind | Mick Dourif, Rebel Leader | |
| 1995 | Congo | Charles Travis | |
| 1994 | The Hudsucker Proxy | Smitty, Argus Reporter | |
| 1993 | Army of Darkness | Ashley 'Ash' J. Williams | Co-producer |
| 1992 | | John Loftmore | |
| 1989 | Moontrap | Ray Tanner | |
| 1987 | Evil Dead II | Ashley 'Ash' J. Williams | Co-producer |
| 1983 | Going Back | Brice Chapman | |
| 1981 | The Evil Dead is a 1981 horror film [i] written and directed by Sam Raimi [i], starring Bruce Campbell [i]...
| Ashley 'Ash' J. Williams | Co-producer |
| 1979 | Within the Woods | Bruce | |
References
- If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor ,
- Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way
External links
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- - Book Signing Photo Gallery @ TheGATE.ca
-
-
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- - a la Chuck Norris Facts style.
- on Slice of SciFi
- The Bruce Campbell Soundboard
