Bruce Campbell

American actorTemplate:SHORTDESC:American actor[[Category:**Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Pagetype/config' not found.**s with short description]]

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**Bruce Lorne Campbell** (born June 22, 1958) is an American actor, voice actor, producer, writer and director. One of his best-known roles is Ash Williams in Sam Raimi's *Evil Dead* franchise, beginning with the 1978 short film *Within the Woods*. He has starred in many low-budget cult films such as *Crimewave* (1985), *Maniac Cop* (1988), *Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat* (1989), and *Bubba Ho-Tep* (2002).

In television, Campbell had lead roles in *The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.* (1993–94) and *Jack of All Trades* (2000), and a recurring role as Autolycus, King of Thieves, in *Hercules: The Legendary Journeys* and *Xena: Warrior Princess* (1995–99). He played Sam Axe on the USA Network series *Burn Notice* (2007–13) and reprised his role as Ash Williams on the Starz series *Ash vs. Evil Dead* (2015–18).

Campbell started his directing career with *Fanalysis* (2002) and *A Community Speaks* (2004), and then with the horror comedy feature films *Man with the Screaming Brain* (2005) and *My Name Is Bruce* (2007), the latter being a spoof of his career. He can also be seen as the role of the father in *The Escort* (2015).

## Early life

Campbell was born in Royal Oak, Michigan, the son of Joanne Louise (née Pickens), a homemaker, and Charles Newton Campbell (April 27, 1928 – November 3, 2004), who worked in advertising for 35 years in roles ranging from traveling billboard inspector to company vice-president, later teaching at nine colleges as an adjunct professor, and was also an actor and director in local theater.

Campbell has an older brother, Don, and an older half-brother, Michael Rendine. He is of Scottish and English descent.

## Career

### Early years

 File:Bruce Campbell .jpg
Campbell began acting as a teenager and soon began making short Super 8 movies with friends. After he met Sam Raimi in Wylie E. Groves High School, the two became very good friends and started making movies together. Campbell would go on to attend Western Michigan University while he continued to work on his acting career. Campbell and Raimi collaborated on a 30-minute Super 8 version of the first *Evil Dead* film, titled *Within the Woods*, which was initially used to attract investors.

### Major film roles

A few years later, Campbell and Raimi got together with family and friends and began work on *The Evil Dead*. Campbell starred and worked behind the camera, receiving a "co-executive producer" credit. Raimi wrote, directed and edited, while fellow Michigander Rob Tapert was producer. Following an endorsement by horror writer Stephen King, the film slowly began to receive distribution. Four years following its original release, it became the number one movie in the UK. It then received distribution in the United States, spawning two sequels: *Evil Dead II* and *Army of Darkness*.

Campbell was also drawn in the Marvel Zombie comics as his character, Ash Williams. He is featured in five comics, all in the series *Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness*. In them, he fights alongside the Marvel heroes against the heroes and people who have turned into zombies (deadites) while in search of the Necronomicon (Book of the Names of the Dead).

He has appeared in many of Raimi's films outside of the *Evil Dead* series, notably having cameos in the director's *Spider-Man* film series. Campbell also joined the cast in Raimi's *Darkman* and *The Quick and the Dead*, though having no actual screen time in the latter film's theatrical cut.

 File:Bruce Campbell by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Campbell often takes on quirky roles, such as Elvis Presley in the film *Bubba Ho-Tep*. Along with *Bubba Ho-Tep*, he played a supporting role in *Maniac Cop* and *Maniac Cop 2*, and spoofed his career in the self-directed *My Name is Bruce.*

Other mainstream films for Campbell include supporting or featured roles in the Coen Brothers film *The Hudsucker Proxy*, the Michael Crichton adaptation *Congo*, the film version of *McHale's Navy*, *Escape From L.A.* (the sequel to John Carpenter's *Escape From New York*), the Jim Carrey drama *The Majestic* and the 2005 Disney film *Sky High*.

Campbell had a starring voice role in the hit 2009 animated adaptation of the children's book *Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs*, and a supporting voice role in Pixar's *Cars 2*.

In January 2010, he stated in an interview that his new film project is called *Bruce vs. Frankenstein*., a sequel to *My Name is Bruce*. The film would have been directed and produced by his friend Mike Richardson. It was later cancelled.

Campbell produced the remake of *The Evil Dead*, along with Raimi and Rob Tapert. Campbell made an appearance that may allude to his signature character, Ash, with the expectation he would reprise that role in *Army of Darkness 2*. In a later interview with TV personality Erin Ashley Darling, Campbell announced that *Army of Darkness 2* is not happening, saying "It's all internet B.S. There's no reality whatsoever. These random comments slip out of either my mouth, or Sam Raimi's mouth, next thing you know, we're making a sequel." In September 2017, during a panel at Fan Expo Canada, when asked if audiences could expect 4th *Evil Dead* film, Campbell said "Everybody says Evil Dead 4! Evil Dead 4! You know, if we did an Evil Dead 4, Sam Raimi would spend $200 million on it, and it would bomb.", elaborating that the only future for *Evil Dead* is unrestricted distribution via a premium cable network, as *Ash vs Evil Dead* is on Starz.

### Television roles

Outside of film, Campbell has appeared in a number of television series. He starred in *The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.* a boisterous science fiction comedy western created by Jeffrey Boam and Carlton Cuse that ran for one season. He played a lawyer turned bounty hunter who was trying to hunt down John Bly, the man who killed his father. He starred in the television series *Jack of All Trades*, set on a fictional island occupied by the French in 1801. Campbell was also credited as co-executive producer, among others. The show was directed by Eric Gruendemann, and was produced by various people, including Sam Raimi. The show aired for two seasons, from 2000 to 2001. He had a recurring role as "Bill Church Jr." based upon the character of Morgan Edge from the Superman comics on *Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman*.

From 1996 to 1997, Campbell was a recurring guest star on the show *Ellen* as Ed Billik, who becomes Ellen's boss when she sells her bookstore in season four.

He is also known for his supporting role as the recurring character Autolycus ("King of Thieves") on both *Hercules: The Legendary Journeys* and *Xena: Warrior Princess*, which reunited him with producer Rob Tapert. Campbell played *Hercules*/*Xena* series producer Tapert in two episodes of *Hercules* set in the present. He directed a number of episodes of *Hercules* and *Xena*, including the *Hercules* series finale.

Campbell also landed the lead role of race car driver Hank Cooper in the Disney made-for-television remake of *The Love Bug*.

Campbell made a critically acclaimed dramatic guest role as a grief-stricken detective seeking revenge for his father's murder in a two-part episode of the fourth season of *Homicide: Life on the Street*. Campbell later played the part of a bigamous demon in *The X-Files* episode "Terms of Endearment". He also starred as Agent Jackman in the episode "Witch Way Now?" of the WB series *Charmed*, as well as playing a state police officer in an episode of the short-lived series *American Gothic* titled "Meet the Beetles".

Campbell co-starred on the television series *Burn Notice*, which aired from 2007 to 2013 on USA Network. He portrayed Sam Axe, a beer-chugging, former Navy SEAL now working as an unlicensed private investigator and occasional mercenary with his old friend Michael Westen, the show's main character. When working undercover, his character frequently used the alias Chuck Finley, which Bruce later revealed was the name of one of his father's old co-workers. Campbell was the star of a 2011 *Burn Notice* made-for-television prequel focusing on Sam's Navy SEAL career, titled *Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe*.

In 2014, Campbell played Santa Claus in an episode of *The Librarians*. Campbell played Ronald Reagan in season 2 of the FX original series *Fargo*. More recently Campbell reprised his role as Ashley "Ash" Williams in *Ash vs Evil Dead*, a series based upon the *Evil Dead* franchise that launched his career. *Ash vs Evil Dead* began airing on Starz on October 31, 2015, and was renewed by the cable channel for second and third seasons, before being cancelled.

In January 2019, Travel Channel announced a reboot of the *Ripley's Believe It or Not!* reality series, with Bruce Campbell serving as host and executive producer. The 10-episode season debuted on June 9, 2019.

### Voice acting

Campbell is featured as a voice actor in several video game titles. He provides the voice of Ash in the three games based on the *Evil Dead* film series: *Evil Dead: Hail to the King*, *Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick* and *Evil Dead: Regeneration*. He also provided voice talent in other titles such as *Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle*, *Spider-Man: The Movie*, *Spider-Man 2*, *Spider-Man 3*, *The Amazing Spider-Man*, and Dead by Daylight.

He provided the voice of main character Jake Logan in the PC title, *Tachyon: The Fringe*, the voice of main character Jake Burton in the PlayStation game *Broken Helix* and the voice of Magnanimous in *Megas XLR*. Campbell voiced the pulp adventurer Lobster Johnson in *Hellboy: The Science of Evil* and has done voice-over work for the Codemaster's game *Hei$t*, a game which was announced on January 28, 2010 to have been "terminated". He also provided the voice of The Mayor in the 2009 film *Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs*, the voice of Rod "Torque" Redline in *Cars 2* and the voice of "Fugax" in the 2006 film *The Ant Bully*.

Despite the inclusion of his character "Ash Williams" in Telltale Games' *Poker Night 2*, Danny Webber voices the character in the game, instead of Bruce Campbell.

He has a voice in the online MOBA game, *Tome: Immortal Arena* in 2014. Campbell also provided voice-over and motion capture for Sgt. Lennox in the Exo Zombies mode of *Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare*.

### Writing

In addition to acting and occasionally directing, Campbell has become a writer, starting with an autobiography, *If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor*, published on August 24, 2002. The autobiography was a successful *New York Times* Best Seller. The paperback version of the book adds a chapter about the reaction of fans at book signings.

> "Whenever I do mainstream stuff, I think they're pseudo-interested, but they're still interested in seeing weirdo, offbeat stuff, and that's what I'm attracted to".
>
>

*If Chins Could Kill* follows Campbell's career to date as an actor in low-budget films and television, providing his insight into "Blue-Collar Hollywood".

Campbell's next book, *Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way* was published on May 26, 2005. The book's plot involves Bruce (depicted in a comical way) as the main character struggling to make it into the world of A-list movies. He later recorded an audio play adaptation of *Make Love* with fellow Michigan actors, including longtime collaborator Ted Raimi. This radio drama was released through the independent label Rykodisc and spans 6 discs with a 6-hour running time.

In addition to his books, Campbell also wrote a column for *X Ray Magazine* in 2001, an issue of the popular comic series *The Hire*, and comic book adaptations of his *Man with the Screaming Brain*. Most recently he wrote the introduction to Josh Becker's *The Complete Guide to Low-Budget Feature Filmmaking*.

In late 2016, Campbell announced that he would be releasing a third book, *Hail to the Chin: Further Confessions of a B Movie Actor,* which will detail his life from where *If Chins Could Kill* left off. *Hail to the Chin* was released in August 2017, and accompanied by a book tour across the United States and Europe.

Campbell maintained a blog on his official website, where he posted mainly about politics and the film industry. The blog has since been discontinued.

### Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival

Since 2014, the Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival, narrated and organized by Campbell, has been held in the Muvico Theater in Rosemont, Illinois. The first festival had his original run from August 21 to 25, 2014 presented by Wizard World, as part of the Chicago Comicon. The second festival ran from August 20 to 23, 2015, with the guests Tom Holland and Eli Roth. The third festival took place over four days in August 2016. Guests of the event were Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert and Doug Benson.

## Personal life

Campbell's first wife was Christine Deveau, whom he married in 1983. They had two children, Rebecca and Andy, before their divorce in 1989. Campbell currently lives in Jacksonville, Oregon, with his second wife, costume designer Ida Gearon, whom he met on the set of the movie *Mindwarp*.

Campbell is also an ordained minister and has officiated weddings for couples.

## See also

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* *Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way* (Template:ISBN)

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell is so proud to be a Highlander", *Daily Record* (July 1, 2012). Retrieved on November 10, 2015.
2. ↑ "Bruce Campbell's Prime-Time Moment", *The New York Times* (September 12, 2008). Retrieved on November 10, 2015.
3. ↑ "The Mighty Bruce", *The Guardian* (February 14, 2009). Retrieved on November 10, 2015.
4. ↑ https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/detroitnews/obituary.aspx?n=charles-newton-campbell&pid=182892708
5. ↑ Bruce Campbell biography, *Yahoo! Movies*
6. ↑ "An Interview With Bruce Campbell". *IGN*. December 18, 2002. https://www.ign.com/articles/2002/12/18/an-interview-with-bruce-campbell?page=1. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
7. ↑ Grossberg, Josh (February 22, 2018). "Bruce Campbell Toasts Stephen King For Helping Get Evil Dead 2 Made". *SyFyWire*. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/bruce-campbell-toasts-stephen-king-for-helping-get-evil-dead-2-made. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
8. ↑ "Bruce Campbell Vs. Frankenstein! Gimme Some Stitches, Baby!". https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/35405/bruce-campbell-vs-frankenstein-gimme-some-stitches-baby.
9. ↑ "Listen up, screwheads! Bruce Campbell has a message for ya'!". https://www.aintitcool.com/node/43676.
10. ↑ Joe Comicbook. "Bruce Campbell Confirms He Will Do Army Of Darkness Sequel". *Comicbook.com*. https://comicbook.com/blog/2013/10/18/bruce-campbell-confirms-he-will-do-army-of-darkness-sequel/.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "[EXCLUSIVE Bruce Campbell Fan Expo Q&A – Hail to the King, Baby! | Nightmare on Film Street]" (in en-US), *Nightmare on Film Street* (2017-09-05).
12. ↑ "Get Burnt DVD commentary feature for episode 3: Fight or Flight". http://forums.usanetwork.com/index.php?showtopic=403916.
13. ↑ Patten, Dominic (October 28, 2015). "'Ash Vs Evil Dead' Renewed For Season 2 By Starz Ahead Of Halloween Debut". https://deadline.com/2015/10/ash-vs-evil-dead-renewed-season-2-bruce-campbell-lucy-lawless-starz-1201596597/. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
14. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
15. ↑ Oller, Jacob (January 2, 2019). "Ripley's Believe It or Not! show names Bruce Campbell host". https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-show-names-bruce-campbell-host.
16. ↑ "Poker Night 2 (Video Game 2013)". https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2813566/?ref\_=nm\_flmg\_act\_2. Retrieved 2015-11-22.
17. ↑ "KIXEYE – TOME: Immortal Arena". https://www.kixeye.com/game/tomeimmortalarena/home.
18. ↑ Chalk, Andy (June 1, 2015). "Bruce Campbell to Star in New Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare DLC". *PC Gamer*. https://www.pcgamer.com/bruce-campbell-to-star-in-new-call-of-duty-advanced-warfare-dlc/. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
19. ↑ "Google Books". *Books.google.com*. https://books.google.com/books?id=g8zheCbYg1oC.
20. ↑ "The New York Times", *The New York Times*.
21. ↑ "Newsroom - Bruce-Campbell.com". http://www.bruce-campbell.com/newsroom.asp?specific=747. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
22. ↑ "Bruce Campbell Blog". http://www.bruce-campbell.com/blog.asp.
23. ↑ "The Awesome Fest Presents: Bruce Campbell's Horror Film Festival @ Chicago Comic Con 2014". Archived from the original on July 24, 2015.
24. ↑ "Second Annual Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival Scares Up Surprises at Wizard World Chicago".
25. ↑ Collis, Clark (August 22, 2016). "Bruce Campbell's Horror Film Festival: Special Groovy Report". *Entertainment Weekly*. https://ew.com/article/2016/08/22/bruce-campbell-horror-film-festival-2/. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
26. ↑ Wolfe, Clarke (June 25, 2016). "Everything You Need to Know About Bruce Campbell's Horror Film Festival". *Nerdist*. https://nerdist.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-bruce-campbells-horror-film-festival/. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
27. ↑ Lee, Luaine (July 11, 2012). "Bruce Campbell Learned to Go With the Flow". *Toledo Blade*. http://www.toledoblade.com/TV-Radio/2012/07/11/Bruce-Campbell-learned-to-go-with-the-flow.html. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
28. ↑ Dobbs, Sarah (April 8, 2013). "Bruce Campbell interview: Evil Dead, being ordained, making bombs". Den of Geek. https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/25111/bruce-campbell-interview-evil-dead-being-ordained-making-bombs. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
29. ↑ "Bruce Campbell's Ash returns to fight 'Evil Dead'". *USA TODAY*. October 29, 2015. https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2015/10/29/bruce-campbell-lucy-lawless-ash-vs-evil-dead/74603008/.
30. ↑ Ausiello, Michael (March 24, 2015). "Fargo Elects Bruce Campbell to Play Ronald Reagan in Season 2", *TVLine*. Retrieved on March 25, 2015.

## External links

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