Since his career-defining role in the 1981 horror film The Evil Dead, Bruce Campbell has worked hard at becoming the most well-known B movie actor in the business. Campbell grew up making home movies with a group of friends that included Sam Raimi, now known as the director of the blockbuster Spider-Man movies starring Tobey Maguire. Campbell's comic book handsomeness and experience in regional theater earned him the lead role in Raimi's first feature, The Evil Dead, a low-budget horror film that got nationwide distribution and led to two sequels, including 1992's Army of Darkness. Campbell has worked steadily in films and television ever since, often in bit parts or cameo roles, but sometimes as a dashing comic lead. On television he starred in the short-lived series The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (1993-94) and had a recurring role as Autolycus, the King of Thieves, in both Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995-99, starring Kevin Sorbo) and Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001, starring Lucy Lawless). On the big screen he shows up occasionally in Coen brothers' movies, including The Hudsucker Proxy (1994, starring Tim Robbins) and The Ladykillers (2004, starring Tom Hanks), and he often makes cameo appearances in Raimi's movies, including Spider-Man (2002, as the fight announcer) and Spider-Man 2 (2004, as the "Snooty Usher"). After 20 years of making movies, Campbell was able to exploit his cult status with a well-received autobiography, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor (2002), occasional gigs writing comic books and steady TV work, including the cable TV series Burn Notice (2007).
In 2005 Campbell published his first novel, Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way... He and his wife, Ida Gearon, made the 2005 documentary A Community Speaks, about land management issues in the woods of southern Oregon.
"Such is an actor's life. We must ride the waves of every film, barfing occasionally, yet maintain our dignity, even as the bulk of our Herculean efforts are keel-hauled before our very eyes. [On filming MacHale's Navy]"
Career Highlights: Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn, The Evil Dead, Army of Darkness
First Major Screen Credit: The Evil Dead (1983)
Biography
A self-described B-movie actor, Bruce Campbell can claim to have scaled the casualty-littered mountain of cult movie stardom. First attaining more notoriety than fame for his performance in Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead (1983), which he also executive produced, Campbell went on to star in that movie's two sequels and a number of other schlock-tastic films. He has also occasionally ventured into more reputable territory, thanks to such films as the Coen brothers' The Hudsucker Proxy (1994).
Hailing from Royal Oak, MI, where he was born June 22, 1958, Campbell attended Western Michigan University. When he was only 21, he and two of his Detroit friends, Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, scraped together 350,000 dollars to make a low-budget horror film. The result, completed piecemeal over four years, was The Evil Dead, an exuberantly awful piece of filmmaking that featured Campbell as its demon-battling hero. The film first earned notoriety in England, and after being personally endorsed by author Stephen King when it was screened at Cannes, it was eventually released in the U.S. in 1983.
The Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn followed in 1987, and the third installment in the series, Army of Darkness, was released in 1992. Both were enthusiastically embraced by fans of the series and less so by critics, but one thing that impressed both groups was Campbell's work in both films, thanks in part to his uncanny ability to make it through an entire performance without blinking once.
In addition to the Evil Dead films, Campbell has acted in a number of other low-budget films, and, in the case of the Coens' The Hudsucker Proxy and a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo in Fargo (1996), a handful of fairly respectable projects as well. He has also acted frequently on television, most notably in the weekly Western The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. and Jack of all Trades. In 2001 Campbell made his literary debut with If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor. A humorously detailed account of his rise to B-movie stardom, If Chins Could Kill detailed, among other things, Campbell's uniquely diverse fanbase as well as his relationship with longtime friend and frequent collaborator Sam Raimi. When fans embraced the freewheeling semi-autobiography with more zeal than even Campbell himself may have anticipated, a succesful speaking tour was soon followed by a sophomore novel, the satirical Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way. A highly fictionalized look at what it may be like for Campbell to land a substantial role in a high-profile Hollywood production, Make Love the Bruce Campbell way found the sarcastic B-movie idol hobnobbing with co-star Richard Gere and offering directorial advice to veteran director Mike Nichols. Yet Campbell was hardly one to forget where his bread was truly buttered, and following his brief literary detour, it was time to head back to the big screen for a pair of memorable cameos in pal Raimi's Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, the longtime actor and emerging producer was finally ready to make his feature directorial debut with the outlandish sci-fi comedy The Man with the Screaming Brain. Despite helming the occasional Xena and Hewrcules episode, Campbell had yet to tackle feature films and when the opportunity arose to direct a script that he himself had written, everything just seemed to fall into place. Though the critics weren't so kind, fans were more than willing to indulge as their favorite film and television star finally got a chance to shine on his own. After voicing his most famous character in a pair of Evil Dead videogames, it was finally time for Campbell to return to the role of Ash on the big screen - albiet in a decidedly meta-manner - when he stepped into the role of an actor named Bruce Campbell who is mistaken for the demon-slayer that he played in the movies and forced to to battle with the legions of hell in the 2006 horror comedy They Call Me Bruce; a film that also afforded Campbell his sophomore feature directorial credit. That same year, Campbell would also team with May director Lucky McKee for the chilling horror film The Woods. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
Bruce has had an extensive working relationship with director Sam Raimi, starring as Ash in Raimi's Evil Dead trilogy of horror-slapstick, as well as narrating all Spiderman video games and movies – also helmed by Raimi. He is currently starring as Sam Axe in Burn Notice on the USA Network.
Campbell was born in Royal Oak, Michigan, the son of Joanne Louise (née Pickens), a homemaker, and Charles Newton Campbell, an amateur actor and traveling billboard inspector.[1] He has an older brother, Don, and an older half-brother, Michael.[2]
Family
Campbell's first wife was Christine Deveau, whom he married in 1983. They had two children, Rebecca and Andy, before their divorce in 1989. Campbell currently lives in Jacksonville, Oregon, with his second wife, costume designer Ida Gearon, whom he met in the set of the movie Mindwarp.
Career
Early years
Campbell signing a VHS copy of The Evil Dead at a fan meet-and-greet
Bruce Campbell began acting as a teenager and soon began making small Super 8 movies with friends. After meeting Sam Raimi in Wylie E. Groves 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. Campbell and Raimi collaborated on a 30-minute Super 8 version of the first Evil Dead film, titled Within the Woods, which was initially used to attract investors.
Major film roles
A few years later, Campbell and Raimi got together with other family and friends and began work on The Evil Dead. Campbell starred and worked behind the camera, receiving a "co-executive producer" credit; Raimi wrote, directed and edited.
Following an endorsement by horror writer Stephen King the film slowly began to receive distribution. Four years following its original release, it became the number one movie in the UK. It then received distribution in the U.S., spawning two sequels: Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness. The first two films in the series are considered horror classics and are credited with spawning the "horror comedy" genre.
In January 2010 told in a Interview that his new film project called Bruce vs. Frankenstein.[3] The film is directed and produced by his friend Mike Richardson.[4]
Television roles
Outside of film, Campbell has appeared in a number of television series. He starred in The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. a boisterous sci-fi comedy western created by Jeffrey Boam and Carlton Cuse that ran for one season. He played a lawyer turned bounty hunter who was trying to hunt down John Bly, the man who killed his father. He went on to kill John Bly with the orb, a ball of immense technology sent back from the fifth millennium. He starred in the television series Jack of All Trades, set on a fictional island, occupied by the French in 1801. Campbell was also credited as co-executive producer, among others. The show was directed by Eric Gruendemann, and was produced by various people, including Sam Raimi. The show aired for two seasons, from 2000 to 2001. He had a recurring role as "Bill Church Jr." on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
In 1996-1997, Campbell was a recurring guest star on the show Ellen as Ed Billik, who becomes Ellen's boss when she sells her bookstore in season four. He is also known for his supporting role as the recurring characterAutolycus ("the King of Thieves") on both Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. Campbell played Hercules/Xena series producer Rob Tapert in two episodes of Hercules set in the present. He directed a number of episodes of Hercules and Xena, including the Hercules series finale.
Campbell made a critically acclaimed dramatic guest role as a grief-stricken detective seeking revenge for his father's murder in a two-part episode of Homicide: Life on the Street. Campbell later played the part of a polygamous demon in The X-Files episode, "Terms of Endearment". He also starred as Agent Jackman in the episode "Witch Way Now?" of the WB series Charmed, as well as playing an FBI agent in an episode of the short-lived series American Gothic titled "Meet the Beetles".
He provided the voice of main character Jake Logan in the PC title, Tachyon: The Fringe, the voice of main character Jake Burton in the PlayStation game Broken Helix and the voice of Magnanimous in Megas XLR. Campbell voiced the pulp adventurer Lobster Johnson in Hellboy: The Science of Evil and has done voice-over work for the Codemaster's game Hei$t, which is scheduled for a 2009 release.
Writing
Autobiography
If Chins Could Kill
In addition to acting and occasionally directing, Campbell has become a writer, including authoring an autobiography, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor. The paperback version of the book adds a chapter about the reaction of fans at book signings.
"Whenever I do mainstream stuff, I think they're pseudo-interested, but they're still interested in seeing weirdo, offbeat stuff. And that's what I'm attracted to."
If Chins Could Kill... was published in 2002 and follows Campbell's career to date as an actor in low-budget films and television. The paperback edition also contains a chapter dedicated to comments of fans at book signings. The autobiography was a New York Times Bestseller[5]
Comedy
Campbell has also written a book titled 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.
He was also drawn in the Marvel Zombie comics as his character, Ash from the Evil Dead. He is featured in 5 comics all the series Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness. In the comics he fights along side the Marvel heroes against the heroes and people who have turned into zombies (deadites) while in search of the Necronomicon (Book of the Dead.)
The wrestling announcer in Spider-Man that coins the name "Spider-man".
A stubborn usher in Spider-Man 2 who refuses to give Peter Parker access to Mary Jane's play on account of being late, thus causing a rift in their relationship.
A Maître d’ in Spider-Man 3 who tries to help Peter propose to MJ.
A small role in Congo, where he is torn to shreds by savage gorillas in the first ten minutes.
Was in a clip from the show Robot Chicken titled "morning wood" and as a car chase narrator for the Ohma #1 news team.
