webhosting   Cheap Reseller Hosting   links    free hosting by fateback   hosting reseller   100WebSpace offers 100MB Web Space

Born Russell Craig Edie in Port Perry, Ontario on January 10, 1948. Craig Russell, once among the best-known female impersonators in North America became the ambassador of Canada's gay culture.

As personal secretary to the incomparable Mae West in her final years, and as Toronto's most flamboyant hairdresser, Russell pivoted between Canada and Hollywood, between public and private worlds. His nights were a drag queen's fantasy, and his uncanny impersonations of West, Judy Garland, Bette Davis and Barbra Streisand made him famous.

In 1977 Russell made his film debut in the film Outrageous, based on Margaret Gibson's book Making It, a chronicle of Gibson's life as Russell's roommate. It was a huge hit and Russell would travel the world in its wake.

In 1978 at the Berlin International Film Festival, Craig was awarded Best Actor for Outrageous!

Craig Russell died October 30, 1990 of a stroke resulting from AIDS at Toronto Western Hospital.

One of the earliest North American gay-themed films to receive theatrical distribution, Outrageous! is a funny and affecting film about a female impersonator and his touching friendship with a schizophrenic girl. Craig Russell plays a gay hairdresser and star-wannabe who does flawless impressions of Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, Bette Midler, Mae West and others. And while the musical segments are fun, the film best succeeds in his friendship with Liza (Hollis McLaren), a troubled young woman who checks herself out of a mental hospital but who becomes frightened and confused when her family and doctors want her to return to the institution. A tender story of ambitions, eccentricity and the courage of being oneself.

Craig and Hollis McLaren in Outrageous

This romantic comedy is about Abigail Adams (Suzanne Somers), a sexy, talented, and dedicated lawyer, her new client Prof. Roger Keller (Donald Sutherland), and their fight to save baby seals from slaughter. The good professor manages to get the attention of Washington brass, and the good lawyer manages to get the attention of the professor, so the battle against the corporate devil (Lawrence Dane) in charge of the mayhem begins. And the battle of the sexes is played out against that backdrop.

Too Outrageous is the sequel to the 1977 cult classic Outrageous. Craig Russell is back as gay hairdresser-turned-female impersonator Robin Turner, as is Hollis McLaren as his mentally unbalanced girlfriend. We learn that since last we saw him, Robin has become quite successful on the New York nightclub circuit with his imitations of Streisand, Garland et. al. We also learn that McLaren is as mixed-up as ever; this time she falls under the spell of a duplicitous bartender.

Craig as Carol Channing

as Judy Garland

as Judy Garland

as himself

Craig Russell, Lynne Carter, Arthur Blake and Charles Pierce

Craig Russell's page 1|media index