Bruce Campbell

For other people with this name, see Bruce Campbell (disambiguation).

Bruce Campbell
File:BruceCampbellUSONov09.JPG Campbell in November 2009
Born	Bruce Lorne Campbell (1958-06-22) June 22, 1958 Royal Oak, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, author, producer, writer, director
Years active	1976-Present
Spouse(s)	Christine Deveau (m. 1983–89) Ida Gearon (m. 1991)
Website	bruce-campbell.com

Bruce Lorne Campbell (born June 22, 1958) is an American film and television actor, director, writer, producer and author. As a cult film actor, Campbell is best known for his role as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of films and he has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Crimewave, Maniac Cop, Bubba Ho-tep, Escape From L.A. and Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat. He would later spoof his B-movie career in My Name Is Bruce, in which he starred and directed. He has since made voice appearances in animated films, including Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Cars 2.

In television, Campbell is known for his lead role in The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., his portrayal of Autolycus (the King of Thieves) in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess, and notably for his role as Sam Axe on the USA Network series Burn Notice.

Personal life

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. Bruce Campbell is of Scottish descent. He has an older brother, Don, and an older half-brother, Michael Rendine.

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 on the set of the movie Mindwarp.

Campbell is left-handed.

Life and 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 short 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 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, while fellow Michigander Rob Tapert was producer. 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. Campbell's role as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams has since become iconic. The first two films in the series are considered horror classics and are credited with spawning the "horror comedy" genre.

He was also drawn in the Marvel Zombie comics as his character, Ash Williams. He is featured in 5 comics, all in 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).

He has appeared in many of Raimi's films outside of the Evil Dead series, notably cameo roles in the Spider-Man film series. Bruce Campbell also joined the cast in Raimi's Darkman and The Quick and the Dead, though having no actual screen time in the latter film's theatrical cut.

Campbell often takes on quirky roles, such as Elvis Presley in the film Bubba Ho-tep, and appears in B-Movies and starred in My Name Is Bruce. Along with Bubba Ho-tep, he also played a supporting role in Sky High, He also was featured in the Jim Carrey drama The Majestic. Campbell also had a key supporting role in the Coen Brothers film The Hudsucker Proxy.

Other roles for Campbell included the Michael Crichton adaptation Congo, the film version of McHale's Navy, and Escape From L.A., the sequel to John Carpenter's Escape From New York. Campbell was also the star of the Maniac Cop B-movie series.

Campbell had a starring voice role in the hit films 2009 animated adaptation of the children's book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and Cars 2.

In January 2010, he stated in an interview that his new film project is called Bruce vs. Frankenstein. The film is directed and produced by his friend Mike Richardson.

On July 13, 2011, Campbell announced that he would be producing the remake of The Evil Dead along with Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert. Campbell will not act in the movie as Ash, but may still make some sort of appearance in the film.

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 science fiction 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 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." based upon the character of Moxie Mannheim's son (Bruno Mannheim) from the superman comics 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 character Autolycus ("the King of Thieves") on both Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess, which reunited him with producer Rob Tapert. Campbell played Hercules/Xena series producer 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 also landed the lead role of race car driver Hank Cooper in the Disney made-for-television remake of The Love Bug.

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 the fourth season of Homicide: Life on the Street. Campbell later played the part of a bigamous 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".

Campbell co-stars on the television series Burn Notice, which has aired since 2007 on USA Network. He portrays Sam Axe, a beer-chugging, womanizing former Navy SEAL now working as an unlicensed private investigator and occasional mercenary with his old friend Michael Westen, the show's main character. When working under cover, he frequently goes by the alias Chuck Finley. During Comic-Con 2010, it was revealed that Campbell would be the star of a Burn Notice made-for-television prequel focusing on Sam's Navy SEAL career, titled Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe. The movie was first aired on April 17, 2011.

Voice acting

Campbell is featured as a voice actor in several video game titles. He provides the voice of Ash in the three games based on the Evil Dead film series: Evil Dead: Hail to the King, Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick and Evil Dead: Regeneration. As well as titles such as Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle, Spider-Man: The Movie, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man.

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, a game which was announced on the 28 January 2010 to have been "terminated". He also provided the voice of The Mayor in the 2009 film Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, the voice of Rod "Torque" Redline in Cars 2 and the voice of "Fugax" in the 2006 film The Ant bully.

Writing

File:If Chins Could Kill Cover.jpg

If Chins Could Kill...

In addition to acting and occasionally directing, Campbell has become a writer, starting with an autobiography, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor published on August 24th 2002. The autobiography was a successful New York Times Best Seller. 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, providing his insight into "Blue-Collar Hollywood".

Campbell's next book Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way published on May 26th 2005. The books plot involves Bruce (depicted in a comical way) 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.

Campbell maintained a blog on his official website, where he posts mainly about politics and the film industry.

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Director	Notes
1977	It's Murder!	Cop on Bicycle	Sam Raimi	Short film
1978	Within the Woods	Ashley J. "Ash" Williams
1979	Attack of the Helping Hand		Scott Spiegel	Short film
				Cinematographer only
1981	The Evil Dead	Ashley J. "Ash" Williams	Sam Raimi
1982	Cleveland Smith: Bounty Hunter	Cleveland Smith	Josh Becker	Short film
1983	Going Back	Brice Chapman	Ron Teachworth
1985	Crimewave	Renaldo 'The Heel'	Sam Raimi
	Stryker's War	Video newscaster	Josh Becker	Also writer
1987	Evil Dead II	Ashley J. "Ash" Williams	Sam Raimi
1988	Maniac Cop	Jack Forrest	William Lustig
1989	Intruder	Officer Howard	Scott Spiegel
	Moontrap	Ray Tanner	Robert Dyke
	The Dead Next Door	Voice	J.R. Bookwalter
1990	Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat	Robert Van Helsing	Anthony Hickox
	Maniac Cop 2	Jack Forrest	William Lustig
	Darkman	Final Shemp	Sam Raimi	Cameo
1991	Lunatics: A Love Story	Ray	Josh Becker
1992	Eddie Presley	Asylum Attendant	Jeff Burr
	Waxwork II: Lost in Time	John Loftmore	Anthony Hickox
	Mindwarp	Stover	Steve Barnett
	Army of Darkness	Ashley J. "Ash" Williams	Sam Raimi
1994	The Hudsucker Proxy	Smitty	Joel and Ethan Coen
1995	Congo	Charles Travis	Frank Marshall
	The Demolitionist	Raffle Winner	Robert Kurtzman
1996	Fargo	Soap Opera Actor	Joel and Ethan Coen
	Tornado!	Jake Thorne	Noel Nosseck	Television film
	Escape from L.A.	Surgeon General of Beverly Hills	John Carpenter
	Assault on Dome 4	Alex Windham	Gilbert Po	Television film
1997	In the Line of Duty: Blaze of Glory	Jeff Erickson	Dick Lowry
	Menno's Mind	Mick Dourif, Rebel Leader	Jon Kroll
	Running Time	Carl	Josh Becker
	McHale's Navy	Virgil	Bryan Spicer
	The Love Bug	Hank Cooper	Peyton Reed	Television film
	Goldrush: A Real Life Alaskan Adventure	Pierce Thomas 'PT' Madison	John Power
1998	The Ice Rink	Actor	Jean-Philippe Toussaint
1999	From Dusk till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money	Barry	Scott Spiegel
	Double Jeopardy	Party Bartender	Bruce Beresford	Cameo
2000	Icebreaker	Carl Greig	David Giancola
	Timequest	William Roberts	Robert Dyke
2001	Hubert's Brain	Thompson	Phil Alden Robinson	Voice
	The Majestic	Roland the Intrepid Explorer	Frank Darabont
2002	Spider-Man	Ring Announcer	Sam Raimi	Cameo
	Bubba Ho-tep	Elvis Presley	Don Coscarelli
	Serving Sara	Gordon Moore	Reginald Hudlin
	Terminal Invasion	Jack	Sean S. Cunningham	Television film
	Fanalysis	Himself	Bruce Campbell	Documentary
2003	Drugs	Bruce	Chad Peter	Direct-to-video
	Intolerable Cruelty	Soap opera actor on TV	Joel and Ethan Coen
2004	The Ladykillers	Humane Society Worker
	Comic Book: The Movie	Himself	Mark Hamill
	Spider-Man 2	Snooty Usher	Sam Raimi	Cameo
2005	Alien Apocalypse	Dr. Ivan Hood	Josh Becker	Television film
	Man with the Screaming Brain	William Cole	Bruce Campbell
	Sky High	Coach Boomer	Mike Mitchell
2006	The Woods	Joe Fasulo	Lucky McKee
	Touch the Top of the World	Ed Weihenmayer	Peter Winther	Television film
	The Ant Bully	Fugax	John A. Davis	Voice
2007	Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters	Chicken Bittle	Matt Maiellaro, Dave Willis
	Spider-Man 3	Maître d’	Sam Raimi	Cameo
	My Name is Bruce	Bruce Campbell
2009	Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs	Mayor Shelbourne	Phil Lord and Chris Miller	Voice
	White on Rice	Muramoto	Dave Boyle
2011	Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe	Sam Axe	Jeffrey Donovan	Television film
	Cars 2	Rod "Torque" Redline	John Lasseter, Brad Lewis	Voice
2013	Oz: The Great and Powerful	Gore/The Dark Wizard	Sam Raimi
TBA	Bruce vs. Frankenstein	Bruce Campbell		Possible upcoming role

TV series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Knots Landing	Joel Benson	9.07 "Say Uncle"
1989	Generations	Alan Stuart
1993	The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.	Brisco County Jr.	Series Lead (1993–1994)
1995	Hercules: The Legendary Journeys	Autolycus	1995–1999
	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	Bill Church Jr.	2.20 "Individual Responsibility"; 2.21 "Whine, Whine, Whine"; 3.01 "We Have a Lot to Talk About"
	American Gothic	Lt. Drey	1.07 "Meet the Beetles"
1996	Ellen	Ed Billik	7 episodes (1996–1997)
	Xena: Warrior Princess	Autolycus	1996–1999
	Homicide: Life on the Street	Jake Rodzinsky	4.13, 4.14 "Justice Parts 1 & 2"
1997	Weird Science	Gene the Genie	5.11 "I Dream of Gene"
1998	Hercules: The Legendary Journeys	Rob Tapert	4.15 "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Hercules"
	Timecop	Agent Tommy Maddox	1.09 "The Future, Jack, the Future"
1999	The X Files	Wayne Weinsider	6.07 "Terms of Endearment"
	Hercules: The Legendary Journeys	Rob Tapert	5.09 "For Those of You Just Joining Us.."
2000	Jack of All Trades	Jack Stiles / Daring Dragoon	Series Lead (2000–2001)
2001	Beggars and Choosers	Jack	2.20 "The Long Goodbye"
	The Legend of Tarzan	Max Liebling	1.28 "Tarzan and One Punch Mullargan"
2002	Charmed	FBI Agent Jackman	4.22 "Witch Way Now?"
2003	Duck Dodgers	Pork Piggler	1.06 "K-9 Kaddy/Pig of Action"
	My Life as a Teenage Robot	Himcules	1.11 "Daydream Believer/This Time with Feeling"
2004	Megas XLR	Magnanimous	1.03 "Battle Royale"; 2.02 "The Return"
2006	Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!	Captain Shuggazoom	4.49 "Golden Age"
	The Replacements	Phil Mygrave	5 episodes (2006–2009)
2007	Burn Notice	Sam Axe	A Main Character (2007–Present)

See also

• If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor (ISBN 0-312-24264-6),
• Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way (ISBN 0-312-31260-1)

External links

• Official website
• Bruce Campbell at the Internet Movie Database
• Bruce Campbell at AllMovie
• Bruce Campbell at TV Tropes
• Salon Interviews Bruce Campbell
• "Not My Job" Bruce Campbell appears on Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me