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BRUCE CAMPBELL
Okay - the basics: I am the youngest of three brothers (Mike and Don) and I was born in Royal Oak, Michigan at the same hospital as my pal Sam Raimi on June 22nd in the year of the Edsel (you do the math). I'd call my childhood "normal" in that I grew up in the suburbs, watched "Lost In Space" on TV, dug tunnels in my back yard and ran around dressed as Zorro. Are you starting to get the idea?
That nasty acting "bug" took a bite out of me when I was 8 - I saw how much fun my dad was having performing in local community theater and decided I wanted in on the action.
My first official acting job occurred at age 14 when the actor who was to play the young prince in The "King and I" became ill and I stepped into the role. I even had to sing -- now there's something you don't see every day...
I went on to appear in several Community theater productions, including "South Pacific" and "Fiorello," then was directed by my dad as "Chance Wayne" in Tennessee Williams' "Sweet Bird of Youth."
Somewhere along the way, I started to experiment with this "filmmaking" thing, doing cheezeball super-8 flicks with a neighborhood pal of mine.
I then met future big shot director Sam Raimi in a high school drama class in 1975. See, Sam did a lame-o pantomime in class, and I followed it with an equally lame-o one - we consoled each other and became fast friends. Soon, along with Sam and a bunch of other high school knuckleheads, we began making heaps of super-8 movies - about 50 or so.
During the summer of '76, I volunteered to work as an apprentice up in northern Michigan at Traverse City's Cherry County Playhouse - a summer stock company. I worked 18-hour days putting up sets, being assistant stage manager, doing errands, etc. I didn't make a stinkin' nickel, but it was a very positive, eye-opening experience. Working with TV actors, it was my first real taste of "Hollywood."
That fall, I BRIEFLY attended Western Michigan University and took theater courses, but dropped out after six months because I just got too darn antsy. I managed to get work as a PA (production assistant) for a production company that made commercials in Detroit.
For the next year, I was a "gopher" for them, sweeping out studios, running around picking up camera equipment, etc. - it gave me a good chance to learn the technical side of the business rather than just the "artsy-fartsy" actor stuff.
In the early part of 1979, with buddy Sam Raimi and new associate Rob Tapert, I set out to become a professional filmmaker. We realized that the fastest way to break into the real world of "show biz" was to take fate into our own hands and raise the darn money ourselves. We put together a short super-8 horror film, "Within The Woods," which served as a good vehicle for raising money from potential investors. This resulted in a whopping $350,000 (almost as much as "Titanic") to make "Evil Dead." I starred in this epic and Co-Executive produced it as well.
A mere four years later, the completed film first got noticed in England where it became the best-selling video of 1983, beating out "The Shining." After its appearance at Cannes, France, author Stephen King dubbed it "the most ferociously original horror film of the year" -- not a bad endorsement, and New Line Cinema stepped forward to release Evil Dead in the U.S.
Long story short, that's the beginning...
