Russell Rouse
1913 - 1987Russell Rouse (20 November 1913 – 2 October 1987) was an American screenwriter, director, and producer who is noted for the "offbeat creativity and originality" of his screenplays and for film noir movies and television episodes produced in the 1950s.
Rouse was the son of film pioneer Edwin Russell. His first employment in films was in the prop department at Paramount Studios, where he began writing screenplays. His play, Yokel Boy, was filmed in 1942 and became his first film writing credit.
Rouse has 18 credits as a screenwriter between 1942 and 1988.. Commencing with his third writing credit, The Town Went Wild (1944), Rouse co-wrote many stories and scripts with Clarence Greene. The partners are noted for their work on a series of six film noir movies commencing with D.O.A (directed by Rudolph Maté-1950). With the second film in the series, The Well (1951), they also took on directing and producing: Rouse as director, and Greene as producer. This collaboration continued through the noir series (The Thief (1952), Wicked Woman (1953), New York Confidential (1955), and House of Numbers (1957)) and beyond. In the late 1950s Greene and Rouse formed a production company, Greene-Rouse Productions, which created the film noir television series Tightrope that ran for one season (1959-60) as well as two films in the 1960s.
In addition to their noir work, Rouse and Greene produced two westerns (The Fastest Gun Alive (1956) and Thunder in the Sun (1959). The 1959 film, Pillow Talk, was based on their story. Their careers drew to a close shortly after the unsuccessful film, The Oscar (1966).
Rouse and Greene were nominated for the Academy Award for writing The Well (1951). They received the Academy Award for Pillow Talk (1959) (with Maurice Richlin and Stanley Shapiro). D.O.A. has been preserved in the National Film Registry; the film has been remade several times, and Rouse was credited as a writer on two: Color Me Dead (1969) and D.O.A (1988).
Rouse's son Christopher Rouse is a noted film editor.
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The Well
Russell Rouse, Leo C. Popkin
Richard Rober, Gwendolyn Laster
In a racially mixed American town, a five-year-old black girl falls unnoticed into a hidden, forgotten well on her way to school. Having nothing better to go on, the police follow up a report that the child was seen with a white stranger, and rumors run wild. Before hapless, innocent Claude Packard is even found, popular hysteria has him tried and convicted. But is he guilty?
The Well
The Fastest Gun Alive
Russell Rouse
Glenn Ford, Jeanne Crain
Whenever it becomes known how good he is with guns, ex-gunman George and his wife Dora have to flee the town, in fear of all the gunmen who might want to challenge him. Unfortunately he again spills his secret when he's drunk. All citizens swear to keep his secret and support him to give up his guns forever -- but a boy tells the story to a gang of wanted criminals. Their leader threatens to burn down the whole town, if he doesn't duel him.
The Fastest Gun Alive
The Caper of the Golden Bulls
Russell Rouse
Stephen Boyd, Yvette Mimieux
Peter Churchman stopped robbing banks a long time ago and is now living as a wealthy and respected citizen in Pamplona, Spain. But then his former companion Angela appears and blackmails him to help her robbing the Spanish National Bank of Pamplona. He gives in and develops a brilliant plan... Will this be then end of his comfortable life?
The Caper of the Golden Bulls
Thunder in the Sun
Russell Rouse
Susan Hayward, Jeff Chandler
A band of Basque immigrants treks through the Old West toward California, where they hope to put down roots and open wineries. When the group's leader dies, his widow Gabrielle marries his brother in accordance with Basque tradition. But it's a loveless union; Gabrielle is smitten with Lon Bennett, the scout who's been hired to guide them on their journey.
Thunder in the Sun
The Oscar
Russell Rouse
Stephen Boyd, Elke Sommer
An amoral lowlife accidentally stumbles into an acting career that sets him on a trajectory to Hollywood stardom. But everyone on whom he steps on the way to the top remembers when he is nominated for an Oscar and he runs a dirty campaign in an attempt to win.
The Oscar
