The son of actors James and Lucille Gleason, Russell Gleason started his own career as a juvenile in several of his parents' stage productions. Russell made the transition to films in 1929's The Sophomore; the following year, he scored a personal and critical success as Private Muller in the Oscar-winning All Quiet on the Western Front. His subsequent screen assignments included the role of perennial boyfriend Herbert Thompson in 20th Century-Fox's "Jones Family" series, and Republic's "Higgins Family" outings, in which he co-starred with his mother and father. Russell Gleason was 37 years old when he died in an accidental fall from a hotel window; his widow was radio and screen actress Cynthia Lindsay, who in 1975 wrote Dear Boris, an affectionate memoir of the Gleason family's close friend Boris Karloff.
by Hal Erickson
biography
