Russell Mack

Russell Mack was an American actor, director and producer during the 1920s and 1930s. Born in Oneonta, New York on November 11, 1892, Mack would enter the entertainment industry in 1920 as a performer in the Oscar Hammerstein II musical comedy, Always You, which played at the Lyric Theatre in January and February of that year. During the 1920s, he would appear in starring roles in almost a dozen productions on Broadway. His credits included the very successful musical comedy, The Gingham Girl (1923–24); the musical My Girl (1924–25), another successful production; Square Crooks, a 1926 comedy; and another successful comedy, The Little Spitfire (1926–27). His final performance would be as a lead in a 1927 farce, Storm Center.^[1]

With the onset of talking pictures, Mack would make the move to Hollywood, where his first credit was penning the script for the very successful 1929 film, Rio Rita,^[2] which would become the most successful film of the year for the newly formed studio, RKO Radio Pictures.^[3] Staying at RKO, he would move into directing for his next project, the 1930 domestic drama, Second Wife.^[4]

After Second Wife, he would move over to Pathé Exchange, where he directed Night Work, before writing and directing Big Money later that year. When Pathé and RKO merged in 1931, he would direct one film for them, Lonely Wives, before moving over to Universal Pictures. Over the next three years, Mack would direct six films for Universal, including the film version of the Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman play, Once in a Lifetime in 1932. 1934 would see his return to RKO, where he would write, direct and produce The Meanest Gal in Town. Although he would be slated to direct several films between 1933 and 1935, his final screen credit would be The Band Plays On in 1934 for MGM.^[4]

Mack would die in New York City on June 1, 1972 at the age of 79.

Filmography

(as per AFI's database)^[4]

References