Comment by DB on September 9, 2012 at 1:18pm

$60,500 for an oscar is a bargain these days!  Harold Russell was an amazing individual selling it to support his wife's health.  I wonder what happened to the 2nd one?  A BU Alum that had some great and terrible family moments.  The actions by his son must have been devastating.

what a great utube video to see it coming from a WW2 real life veteran even if the accident was the result of a fiasco making a training film.  Airborne is still Airborne.

amazing how the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has attempted to crack down on public sales; here's an interesting article from forbes on selling oscars these days.  http://www.forbes.com/2006/03/01/oscars-black-market_cx_lr_0301blac...

Comment by Herman Darvick on September 12, 2012 at 6:39pm

DB, the accident had nothing to do with the training film. Sgt. Harold Russell was training the soldiers who would handle explosives. His training session was stopped for an important meeting. It was June 6, 1944. The invasion of Normandy was announced. The explosives were left in the hot sun. When Russell and the other soldiers got back, Russell began to continue but when he touched the explosives, they, well, exploded and he lost both hands. He recovered so quickly, that a training film was made about his accident and recovery.

Comment by DB on September 13, 2012 at 3:07am

Hermann, it is ironic that the DDay Normandy Invasion had been announced on the same day while at Camp Mackall, N.C. Russel, a sergeant in a demolition squad, was holding a half-pound block of TNT when it exploded. Both hands went with the blast,  And never got the chance for deployment.

Some reports quote grenades while others cite during a trianing film on demolition.  I believe the training film you are reffering to was done before receiving his Army discharge, Russell acted in a training film that showed amputees throughout the country how to master their problems which is what caught Goldwyns eye in hollywood.

Comment by Herman Darvick on September 13, 2012 at 6:08am

DB, it doesn't matter what may be reported elsewhere, this is from a 1998 interview with Harold Russell:

"Well, June 6, 1944, we get called to a briefing. It's a chaplain and a couple of officers, and they tell us about D-day. Usually a briefing is less than an hour, but this one, with all the questions, goes more than two hours. When it's over, we've still got about a thousand troops to run through a live-ammo, live-explosives obstacle course. So I started helping the guys make up explosive charges. It's not my job, I'm supposed to be the boss, but it's late in the day and we have to hurry it up. What I didn't realize was those blasting caps had been sitting out in the sun, on a blanket, for two hours, and they were touchy. I put one in a quarter-pound of nitro-starch and that was it."

Harold Russell was sent to Walter Reed and learned how to use the hooks. The government wanted to make an educational film about handicapped veterans. Hollywood called Walter Reed and asked if they had a vet with no hands. They called the film "Diary of a Sergeant." Russell was the sergeant, someone did the voiceover, he never said a word on screen. With the war coming to an end, Samuel Goldwyn wanted to make a film about soldiers returning home from the war; one soldier would show the problems of disabled veterans. They got a screenplay from McKinlay Kantor and playwright Robert Sherwood worked on it. The disabled character was a sailor with neurological damage that has made him spastic. They couldn't find an actor who could convincingly "act spastic."

Russell continues, "They're having one last war bond drive, I mean the war's over, this is the last one to pay off the last stuff, and they decide to include 'Diary of a Sergeant' on the program. And somebody drags Willie Wyler (Goldwyn's director for the proposed film) to this war bond thing. He couldn't give a crap about war bonds. But he sees 'Diary' and the light bulb goes on. He says, 'Hey, we can make the spastic a double amputee!'"

Comment by DB on September 13, 2012 at 6:47am

 am sure the LIFE Article of 1946 was equally as relevent as Russell was interviewed then as well.

Regardless, I think we have debated this to an end - so don't feel compelled to respond.

opps had to make a slight correction...as it wasn't Time Life in that period just Life Magazine as Herman can be a "stickler" for accuracy and didn't want to get his darvicks in an uproar.

Comment by Herman Darvick on September 13, 2012 at 6:54am

Just a personal note, DB.  I went to Harold Russell's Hyannis, Mass,. home to pick up the Oscar. He picked me up at the airport in his car. At his home, he ordered pizza and when it came he cut me a slice. I'm sure that by 1992 there were more advanced "hooks" but he was doing just fine with his "old" hooks. He put the Oscar in a shoe box. On my return flight (small plane from Hyannis to Boston for my connection to La Guardia), I put the box on the belt through the xray. The lady working the belt stopped it as you could easily see what was in the box. She asked me: "What is that?" I replied "What does it look like?" She said "An Oscar?"  I took it out of the box and told her about Harold Russell and my auction.

Comment by DB on September 13, 2012 at 7:12am

was an exciting moment I'm sure.  What ought not get lost is that this individual wasn't an actor and

beat out the very prestigious nominees in his category: Claude Rains ("Notorious"), Clifton Webb ("The Razor's Edge"), Charles Coburn ("The Green Years") and William Demarest ("The Jolston Story”). and also made Academy history by being presented a Special Oscar by Shirley Temple for his inspiring portrayal of the disabled veteran. It was the only time an actor ever received an Oscar twice for the same role.

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