Robert Russell Bennett

Robert Russell Bennett (June 15, 1894 – August 18, 1981) was an American composer and arranger, best known for his orchestration of many well-known Broadway and Hollywood musicals by other composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers. In 1957 and 2008, Bennett received Tony Awards recognizing his orchestrations for Broadway shows. Early in his career he was often billed as Russell Bennett.

Life and career

Early life

Robert Russell Bennett was born in 1894 to a musical family in Kansas City, Missouri. His father, George Bennett, played violin in the Kansas City Symphony and trumpet at the Grand Opera House, while his mother, May, worked as a pianist and teacher. She taught Bennett piano, while his father taught him violin and trumpet.

The Bennett family moved to a farm in Freeman, Missouri, when Bennett was four, to speed his recovery from polio. By that time, he had demonstrated his aptitude for music and his remarkable ear by picking out the finale of Beethoven’s "Moonlight" Sonata on the white keys of the piano. By his early adolescence, his father often called upon him to play any given instrument as a utility member or substitute player within Bennett’s Band in Freeman. In his autobiography, Bennett recalled finding a ragtime tune on the piano at age ten and being informed by his mother that such music was trash—this lesson taught him to be, as he called it, a “life-long musical snob.” His mother also taught his academic lessons until he was twelve due to health concerns; his health remained an obstacle when Bennett later decided to join the Army.

Robert Russell

Robert or Bob Russell may refer to:

Politics

Sport

Music, acting and entertainment

Robert Russell (actor)

Robert Russell is an actor and translator. He played Dr. Wellington Yueh in the Sci Fi Channel's 2000 miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune.

Selected filmography

External links

Robert Russell (English actor)

Robert Russell (24 May 1936 – 12 May 2008) was an English actor known for a memorable supporting role as John Stearne alongside Vincent Price in the classic British horror film Witchfinder General (1968).

He was born in Kent, England. His family emigrated to South Africa for 9 years when he was aged 11. He worked in a gold mine after leaving school. He returned to England and trained as an actor at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. He then appeared on stage with stars such as Laurence Olivier and Michael Gambon, as a member of the National Theatre touring company.

He made numerous appearances on UK television, often playing tough characters and villains due to his imposing stature, including The Avengers, The Sweeney, Space: 1999, Blake's 7 and Doctor Who, playing a guard in the serial entitled The Power of the Daleks and a Highland Games Champion, The Caber, in Terror of the Zygons. Some of his other film appearances included Othello (1965), The Whisperers (1967), Bedazzled (1967) with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Inspector Clouseau (1968), The Breaking of Bumbo (1970), Man in the Wilderness (1971) with Richard Harris, Sitting Target (1972), Double Exposure (1977), Queen of the Blues (1979) starring Mary Millington, Ivanhoe (1982), and the TV film of The Sign of Four (1983).