11 Facts About Bing Russell

Neil Oliver "Bing" Russell was an American actor and Class A minor-league baseball club owner.

Bing Russell always wanted to become an actor and studied drama at Brattleboro High School.

Bing Russell grew up around the New York Yankees' spring training camp in St Petersburg, Florida, in the 1930s and 1940s, where his father ran a floatplane service.

Bing Russell made his debut in the film Cavalry Patrol, and had some uncredited roles in his early career.

Bing Russell appeared in the original pilot for The Monkees TV series as Rudy, a record store owner and the group's manager; after the show was greenlit by NBC, the concept of a manager was discarded and Bing Russell's character was not retained.

An edited version of this pilot, in which Bing Russell appears, was broadcast as a regular episode of the first season, and is part of the show's syndication package to this day.

Kurt, as a child actor, had appeared with the real Elvis in the film It Happened at the World's Fair, and in a later interview recalled the singer-actor, professing to be a fan, asking to meet Bing Russell, who had accompanied his son to the set.

Bing Russell owned the Portland Mavericks, the only independent team in the Short Season Northwest League.

Bing Russell kept a 30-man roster because he believed that some of the players deserved to have one last season.

Bing Russell's team set a record for the highest attendance in minor league history, but lost the 1977 pennant to the Bellingham Mariners.

Bing Russell died from complications of cancer on April 8,2003, in Thousand Oaks, California.