William D. Russell

Directing

William D. Russell

Born 1908-05-01 · Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

William D. Russell was an American film and television director. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana on April 30, 1908, he began his Hollywood career with the 1945 film Hollywood Victory Caravan. His career in film ended with his last film, 1951's Best of the Badmen. In the early fifties he began directing for television with Screen Gems, and his many credits include episodes of Father Knows Best (he was with the show from 1954 to 1956), Dennis the Menace, Perry Mason, Hazel, Bewitched, the Farmer's Daughter and Family Affair. Russell was nominated for three Emmys, first for You Are There in 1953, second for the Farmer's Daughter in 1964, and later for Family Affair in 1967. His directorial career ended shortly before his death in April 1968.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Hollywood Victory Caravan poster
5.6

A girl is desperate to get to Washington D.C. to be with her lonesome brother, a wounded G.I. She persuades Bing Crosby to let her join his caravan.

Hollywood Victory Caravan

1945

Best of the Badmen poster
6.5

After the North defeats the South, Union Maj. Jeff Clanton heads to Missouri to provide the Confederacy's Quantrill's Raiders a chance to claim allegiance to the Union, thereby clearing their wanted status. But standing in Clanton's way are the corrupt lawmen Joad and Fowler, who would rather keep the men outlaws to collect the reward on their heads. After Joad and Fowler frame Clanton for murder, he manages to escape, becoming an outlaw himself.

Best of the Badmen

1951

Bride for Sale poster
7.0

Nora Shelley is a tax expert for the accounting company which is led by Paul Martin. She thinks she can find a suitable husband by inspecting their clients' tax documents. Martin finds out and tries to dissuade her from this approach, later enlisting the help of his friend Steve Adams, who tries to woo Shelley.

Bride for Sale

1949

Ladies' Man poster
10.0

A boy from the country inherits $10 million, and decides to go to New York City to live it up.

Ladies' Man

1947

The Green Promise poster
6.4

A stubborn farmer is raising his children alone. When his oldest daughter gets a suitor, the father nearly goes on the rampage, but he is forced to change his tune when he is injured, leaving her in charge of the farm.

The Green Promise

1949

The Sainted Sisters poster
7.3

Two female con artists from New York City, fleeing the law with money from their latest scam, hide out in a small town in Maine, near the Canadian border. However, this small town's residents aren't quite as unsophisticated as the girls think they are.

The Sainted Sisters

1948

Dear Ruth poster
6.7

Lt. William Seacroft, on leave from the Italian front, arrives at the New York home of Ruth Wilkins, with whom he has been corresponding. Unknown to both Ruth and Bill, Ruth's younger sister, Miriam, has been writing the letters and signing Ruth's name as part of a program to keep up soldiers' morale. Although Ruth has just gotten engaged to a coworker, she agrees to see Bill and pretend she wrote the letters.

Dear Ruth

1947

Our Hearts Were Growing Up poster
6.5

Russell and Lynn are a pair of college students in the 1920s. They get mixed up with kind-hearted bootlegger Donlevy who helps them get their boy friends back.

Our Hearts Were Growing Up

1946