Neil Oliver "Bing" Russell (May 5, 1926 – April 8, 2003) was an American actor and Class A minor-league baseball club owner. He was the father of Hollywood actor Kurt Russell. Although best known as the deputy on Bonanza (1959) and Robert in The Magnificent Seven (1960), Russell's was also well known on a national level as the owner of the Portland Mavericks Baseball Club. Helming the only independent team in the class A Northwest League, Russell was an innovator. Before Bull Durham (1988), there were the Mavericks. Russell kept a 30 man roster because he believed that some of the players deserved to have one last season. His motto was simply one three lettered word - not WIN - although the Mavericks did just that - no, the word was FUN. He created a park that kept all corporate sponsorship outside the gates, hired the first female general manager in professional baseball, and the following year hired the first Asian American GM/Manager. That same season his team set a record for the highest attendance in Minor league history, and went on to win the pennant. Ex-major leaguers and never-weres who couldn't stop playing the game flocked to his June tryouts, which were always open to anyone that showed up. From as far away as Capetown, and France, players would head to Portland for a chance with Russell's Mavericks.

Filmography

• 1990Dick Tracy — Club Ritz Patron
• 1989Tango & Cash — Van Driver
• 1988Sunset — Studio Guard
• 1987Overboard — Elk Cove: Sheriff Earl
• 1979Elvis — Vernon Presley
• Arthur Hailey's The Moneychangers — Timberwell
• 1976The Loneliest Runner — Fred Dawkins
• 1976The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe
• 1975The Apple Dumpling Gang — Herm Dally
• 1974A Cry in the Wilderness — Mr. Griffey
• 1974Death Sentence — Trooper
• Petrocelli
• The Rockford Files — Lieutenant
• 1974The Sex Symbol — Public Relations Man
• 1973Runaway! — Fireman
• 1973Satan's School for Girls — Sheriff
• 1973Set This Town on Fire — Chuck
• Emergency! — Carl Wilson
• 1972Now You See Him, Now You Don't — Alfred
• The Streets of San Francisco — Detective Dan Riggs
• 1971A Taste of Evil — Sheriff
• Alias Smith and Jones
• 1971The Million Dollar Duck — Mr. Smith
• 1971Yuma — Rol King (as Neil Russell)
• 1969The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes — Angelo
• 1968Blackbeard's Ghost — Second Track Meet Official
• 1968Journey to Shiloh — Greybeard
• The Mod Squad
• The Outcasts
• Dundee and the Culhane
• Hondo — Thompson
• Ironside — Cal Bristold
• Mannix
• The Guns of Will Sonnett — Chet
• 1967The Ride to Hangman's Tree — Keller (Uncredited)
• 1966An Eye for an Eye — Writer
• 1966Madame X — Sergeant Riley
• The Monkees — Rudy
• The Monroes
• Branded — Sheriff Gorman
• I Dream of Jeannie — Amos Lincoln
• The Big Valley — Jack Tolliver, Clint, Mac, Joe Garrett, Rancher, Dan Kelsey, Sheriff, Slade, Sheriff Jim Dolan
• 1965The Hallelujah Trail — Horner
• 1964Cheyenne Autumn — Braden's Telegraph Operator (uncredited)
• 1964One Man's Way — Tom Rayburn
• The Munsters
• 1963A Gathering of Eagles — Captain (uncredited)
• The Fugitive — Sgt. Eggins, Officer, Matt Davis, Officer Westphal
• 1963The Stripper — Mr. Mulvaney (uncredited)
• 1962Flashing Spikes — Hogan
• General Electric True
• 1962How the West Was Won — Man (uncredited)
• Sam Benedict — Len George (uncredited)
• 1962Stakeout! — Joe
• Stoney Burke
• The Virginian — Sgt. Eads, John Rudd, Donovan, Sam Fuller, Gabe Sloan, Ned Smith
• Ben Casey
• Route 66 — Frank Satterfield
• Stagecoach West
• Surfside 6
• Tate
• The Andy Griffith Show — Mr. Burton
• 1960The Great Impostor — Morgan (uncredited)
• 1960The Magnificent Seven — Robert
• Black Saddle — Lee Curry, Ken Wilson
• Bonanza — Sheriff Clem Foster, Deputy Clem Foster, Major Reynolds, Poindexter
• 1959Good Day for a Hanging — George Fletcher
• Johnny Ringo — Dick Walsh
• Laramie — Sam Purdy
• 1959Last Train from Gun Hill — Skag, Belden Hand
• Rawhide — Jack Harris
• 1959Rio Bravo — Cowboy Murdered in Saloon (uncredited)
• The Alaskans
• 1959The Horse Soldiers — Dunker, Yankee Soldier Amputee
• The Twilight Zone — George Cousins, Ben Braden
• Bronco — Johnny Rawlins
• 1958Cattle Empire — Douglas Hamilton
• 1958Suicide Battalion — Lt. Chet Hall
• The Donna Reed Show
• The Rifleman
• The Texan
• Wanted: Dead or Alive — Clay, Billy Hemp
• 1957Bombers B-52 — Operator (uncredited)
• 1957Drango — Lieutenant with Supply Wagon
• 1957Gunfight at the O.K. Corral — Harry - Griffin Bartender (uncredited)
• Harbor Command
• Have Gun, Will Travel — Sheriff Reagan
• Maverick — Tyler Brink, Russ Aikens
• 1957Ride a Violent Mile — Corporal Norman
• Sugarfoot — Sergeant McKinnock, Hank Gibson
• 1957Teenage Thunder — Used-Car Salesman
• 1957The Deadly Mantis — State Trooper
• 1957The Land Unknown — Radio Operator (uncredited)
• 1957Without Incident
• 1956Attack — Medic
• Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre — Sam - Henchman, Deputy Stover, Cole
• The Man Called X
• 1955A Life at Stake — Bartender (uncredited)
• 1955Cult of the Cobra
• Gunsmoke — Simon Fletcher, Ed Shelby, Tabor, Head, Walsh, Arnold Rolfing
• Navy Log
• Science Fiction Theatre
• The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp — Sergeant Turner
• Lassie
• Public Defender — 2nd Cop
• The Wonderful World of Disney — Arne, Track Starter (uncredited)
• 1953Big Leaguer
• Letter to Loretta — Convict, Jim Murphy, Newsman, Sergeant
• You Are There — Lendall Pitts, Disheartened Soldier
• Schlitz Playhouse of Stars — Assistant Director
• The Living Christ — Lazarus

Appearances as themselves (1)

• 2014The Battered Bastards of Baseball — Himself (Archive Footage)