Russell Gleason

Gleason was born to actors Lucile (née Webster) and James Gleason on February 6, 1908, in Portland, Oregon, where his parents were acting in local theater productions. As a child, Gleason appeared on stage in some of the theatrical productions put on by his parents. His debut occurred when he was carried on stage by his grandmother to appear with his mother in The Heir to the Hooray. Growing up, he lived with his maternal grandmother in Oakland, California. During school years, he rarely saw his parents, but he acted with them in stock theater during summer vacations.

Gleason's first foray into film was when he was 21, with a leading role in 1929's The Shady Lady, directed by Edward H. Griffith. The following year, he had a critical success in his role of Private Mueller in the Oscar-winning film, All Quiet on the Western Front. His short career only spanned 15 years, during which time he appeared in over 50 feature films, mostly in featured or starring roles. In 1933, he acted on the stage in a showcase known for its connections to Hollywood, Harold Lloyd's Beverly Hills Little Theatre for Professionals. He appeared with both of his parents in the film series surrounding the Higgins Family, of which nine films were made from 1938 to 1941. The Gleasons appeared in seven of those films, the last one being Grandpa Goes to Town in 1940 (the last two "Higgins" films were made with other actors). He also appeared in the Jones Family series, produced by 20th Century Fox.

After making his last film, The Adventures of Mark Twain, which finished production in September 1942, he joined the Army. His final four pictures all were released in 1944, after he was already in the service.

Early in his career, he was romantically linked with Mary Brian. Gleason was married to Cynthia Hobart (later Cynthia Lindsay), who was a stunt woman and swimmer, and later wrote a biography of Boris Karloff. The entire Gleason family was close friends with Karloff, and the young couple became the godparents to Karloff's daughter, Sara Jane. Hobart also co-wrote George Burns' autobiography with the actor. The Gleasons had a son, Michael, on June 1, 1939. After Russell Gleason's death, Cynthia remarried, to Lou Lindsay, and Michael took his step-father's last name, and went on to become a television producer.

On December 25, 1945, Gleason was in New York City awaiting deployment to Europe with his regiment, when he fell to his death out of a fourth-story window in the Hotel Sutton on East 56th Street in Manhattan, which the Army had commandeered to house the troops. Law enforcement was unable to determine whether Gleason's fall from the window had been accidental or a suicide. Some publications, such as Variety, had reported that Gleason had been prescribed a sulfonamide to treat a cold at the time, and that the drug had resulted in grogginess that led his accidental fall.

He was interred at the Long Island National Cemetery, a military cemetery, on December 28, 1945.

• (Per AFI database)