Harold Russell Autographs, Memorabilia & Collectibles

Harold Russell (1914-2002) was working as an explosives expert at an Army base in 1944 when a defective fuse exploded a charge of TNT he was holding. Both of his hands were amputated. Recommended by actor Dana Andrews, Russell was selected by Samuel Goldwyn to play the part of Homer Parrish in The Best Years of Our Lives(Andrews, who had met Russell while narrating an Army film on the recuperation of wounded soldiers, played Fred Derry in the film.) The script originally called for a wounded veteran returning home from WWII; it was adapted to fit Russell's physical condition. Russell won two 1946 Academy Awards for his performance: one for Best Supporting Actor and the other, a special Oscar, for "bringing aid and comfort to disabled veterans through the medium of motion pictures". In 1992, Russell became the first and only actor to sell his Oscar (to pay for medical treatment for his wife). An author and national commander of AMVETS (1949-1951, 1960-1970), Russell also served as chairman of President Johnson's Committee on Hiring the Handicapped. Russell is one of only two non-actors to win an acting Oscar, the other being Haing Ngor for The Killing Fields.