HAROLD RUSSELL

Harold Russell was a Canadian-American World War II veteran and actor from the 1940s to the 1990s. He lost his hands due to a defective explosive he was holding while making a training film for the Army. Director William Wyler later saw him in an Army film about rehabilitation and cast him as Homer Parrish in the 1946 movie The Best Years of Our Lives with Fredric March and Dana Andrews. Russell won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance and, earlier in the same ceremony, he was also awarded an honorary Oscar for "bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans.". This was the only time in Oscar history that the Academy has awarded two Oscars for the same performance. Russell has appeared in only two other films; Inside Moves and Dogtown. He passed away in 2002 at the age of 88.