Charles Russell

Charles Russell was born on March 31, 1918 and  was a movie and radio actor who appeared in 17 movies between 1943 and 1950. He was also a television producer who worked in Hollywood and Australia.

He played Johnny Dollar on CBS Radio from 1949 to 1950 until Edmond O'Brien replaced him to become the second actor to portray the insurance investigator.

Born in New York City, Russell made his debut as a ball player in Ladies' Day (1943). His last film was Chinatown at Midnight (1949). 

Russell married fellow 20th Century-Fox contract player Nancy Guild in 1947, and they had one child, a daughter, Elizabeth, in 1949. They divorced in 1950.
He moved into television producing working on shows such as The Untouchables and Naked City.

He worked for a number of years in Australia at the ABC. John Cameron, head of drama at the ABC in the 1970s, said Ryssell "was a man of great talents, who had developed a drinking problem to help him cope with the pressures of Network American television. He was winning his battle, but still had bad spells. He gave the ABC a great shot in the arm, and built a degree of professionalism in its drama filming that continued to pay dividends long after he returned to America."Russell died in Beverly Hills, California, on January 18, 1985.