Gail Russell was born in Chicago,Illinois on September 21st in either 1924 or 1925.There seems to be some confusion regarding the year of her birth.While her grave marker gives 1924,her death certificate clearly states 1925.Her parents were George H.Russell,an insurance salesman and the former Gladys Barnet.A brother,George Jr. was born five years earlier.
Gail's early years were spent in Chicago,attending Kosminski Grammer School,where the introverted child sought few friends amongst the other children.''I don't think she was abnormal in this'',Mrs Russell once told an interviewer.''She was just like thousands of other children who cannot face new situations until they become accustomed to them''.However true that may be,in the case of Gail these emotions continued to develop in her rather then disapate as she matured.As Gail herself described it,"I was possessed with an agonizing kind of self-consciousness where I felt my insides tightening into a knot, where my face and hands grew clammy, where I couldn't open my mouth, where I felt impelled to turn and run if I had to meet new people. When my parents had guests, I would run, get under the piano and hide there''.
During her times of self-imposed exile,Gail explored her natural gift for drawing and painting.A suitable means of escape for a girl desperate to avoid social contact.''School had been a trial for me'',she told Silver Screen magazine in 1949,''because of the torture of associating with other children.That's why I took up art - to escape from necessary adjustment to realities''.Attending the local cinema was another solitary activity for young Gail to lose herself in.Ginger Rogers was a particular idol of hers.
Shyness aside,life was not always unpleasant for Gail.''It was a happy childhood actually,a musical one.My father played about everything - piano,violin,banjo and guitar.We lived in a small apartment.I played bass drum,my brother the guitar and Dad the violin.I was 9 or 10 then.I remember Mother bawling Dad out because we'd play so late she was afraid I wouldn't get enough sleep.She used to hide the violin''.
''When my family first came here (California) it was a vaction really'' said Gail.''Then we put a down payment on a house and a down payment on some furniture.My brother went into the Army and one by one pieces of furniture went.When I was discovered for movies,I was sleeping on the living room floor on newspapers''.The Russell family were in bad shape financially.
In 1942,fate intervened,creating a Hollywood discovery story second only to that of Lana Turner.
One day,as the well publisized story goes,Paramount supervisor of talent and casting,William Meiklejohn gave two class cutting,hitch hiking 17 year old school boys from University High School a lift.During the ride he mentioned he worked for Paramount Pictures at which point the boys began to rave about a classmate who should be in pictures,comparing her beauty to that of Hedy Lamarr.Ever on the lookout for new talent,at a time when talent often relied solely on one's looks,Meiklejohn followed his hunch and contacted the school.Gail had by this time transferred to a technical college busily studying in pursuit of her ambition to be a commercial artist, a suitable occupation with plenty of scope for solitude.When the studio finally tracked her down,she thought it was a classmate playing a joke.
At this point,Mama Russell took charge.
Both George and Gladys harboured ambitions in show business.George as a musician,and Gladys as an actress.In a Los Angeles Times article n 1947,with the telling headline,'Gail Sent To Stardom By Mother',the article describes how,as a young girl,Mrs Russell had gotten cold feet when summoned by a movie studio and insisted that her daughter would not make the same mistake.According to author,Kirk Crivello,Gladys Barnet was from a small town in Pike County,Illinois.She was one of seven children and an orphan at age nine.As a teenager she worked selling fruit near the Essanay Studios in Chicago.She was offered a screen test but fear of taking time off work stopped her from attending.Now,driven by both selfish and financial needs,Gladys Russells vicarious chance of a lifetime had arrived.
''Mother practically dragged me to see William Meiklejohn who had tracked me down at University High School'',Gail explained.''I was petrified.Mr Meiklejohn,a kindly man,kept trying to get me to talk,but nothing came out''.
Turned over to Paramount drama coach,William Russell,he,and others groomed her for stardom.Rushed into her first acting assignment,Gail must have been accutely aware of the fact that she had no 'natural' talent to speak of and no previous acting experience.
''A week later they cast me in a Henry Aldrich picture,wearing a bathing suit and a transparent raincoat.It had been raining and there was a large puddle across from the studio commisary where the scene was to be shot.Of course they had to do it just as the sets broke for lunch and stars such as Alan Ladd and Bing Cosby and others were passing by''.
Henry Aldrich Gets Glamour was released in 1943.In it she played a high school beauty who steals Henry Aldrich (played by Jimmy Lydon) from his girlfriend (played by Diana Lynn). The series was Paramount Studios answer to MGM's Andy Hardy series,a testing ground for new talent.
Years later,Gail discussed her first film role.''I can hardly remember it.When I went over it with Mr.Russell,it seemed possible - well,almost possible.But on the set,with the director shouting and the lights blazing,and the cameras threatening,I'd go deaf.Really.They'd tell me what to do and I simply couldn't hear.I'd try desperately to listen and all I did was wish I were dead''.
And so began Gail Russell's career in Hollywood.
