Russell Simpson was a character actor with a distinctive appearance,
despite being cast in relatively small roles. He had a grim,
beady-eyed, sharp-nosed, and weatherbeaten face that was always
familiar to audiences. Simpson was born on June 17, 1880, in San
Francisco, California, and as a teenager, he was involved in the
Alaska gold rush before deciding to pursue an acting career.
He began his acting career by joining a number of touring companies
and eventually made his way to Broadway. Simpson's silent film
debut was in The Virginian (1914),but it was unbilled. He went on
to appear in occasional leads and top support roles in many other
silent films, including the remake of The Virginian (1923) and
The Frontiersman (1927),where he played the role of President
Andrew Jackson.
As the advent of sound in films began, Simpson's roles grew smaller,
and his characters became increasingly grizzled, stubborn, and
cranky. He became a stock player in director John Ford's company
of actors, which led to one of his finest roles as Pa Joad in the
classic The Grapes of Wrath (1940). He appeared in many other Ford
pictures, including Drums Along the Mohawk (1939),Tobacco Road
(1941),They Were Expendable (1945),My Darling Clementine (1946),
and The Sun Shines Bright (1953).
Simpson continued acting until the very end, making his last film
for Ford: The Horse Soldiers (1959). Over the course of his four-decade
acting career, he appeared in hundreds of films and also
graced TV westerns such as The Lone Ranger (1949) and Adventures
of Wild Bill Hickok (1951).
Simpson was married to Gertrude Aller for more than 40 years,
and they had a daughter named Roberta. He passed away on December
12, 1959, at the age of 79, due to natural causes in Woodland
Hills, California.
