UK Edition
Feeds
Russell Crowe started out as the bad boy of Hollywood, known as much for his short fuse as his acting talent. Between pinning BAFTA executives against walls, throwing phones at hotel employees and cavorting with Meg Ryan, he managed to notch up some Oscar-winning turns on the big screen. But that was then - marriage and children have mellowed the former hellraiser and nowadays he's more likely to be watching kids' TV, being baptised and informing us that he can't get by without 40 or 50 cuddles a day. Aww! As he proves he's still tough as 2lb steak onscreen in new film American Gangster, we dish up ten fascinating facts about the Antipodean thesp.
1. Russell was born in New Zealand and moved to Australia when he was four, where his parents worked as movie set caterers. He moved back to New Zealand at 14 before returning to Australia at 21. Phew!
2. Russell paid his way as a fruit picker, car washer, cocktail waiter, restaurant manager and busker before landing his first movie role in The Crossing at 25. He starred opposite Danielle Spencer, who would become his wife 13 years later.
3. Russell recorded rockabilly single 'I Want To Be Like Marlon Brando' in a pompadour quiff prior to forming band 30 Odd Foot of Grunts in 1992. He later confessed that he had never seen a Brando film when he wrote the song.
4. Russell donned fishnets to play Dr Frank N. Furter onstage in The Rocky Horror Show 50 times in the '80s, and Eddie and Dr Scott a further 400 times. Tim Curry's version of the character is his favourite movie villain, although he claims he was "pretty good in high heels" himself. We're not ones to argue.
5. Russell has a life-long passion for horses. "They're just like people," he says. "There are some horses that you have a deeper connection with immediately, and you can work on that over time." He is so soppy over his equine co-stars that he can't bear to say goodbye at the end of a film. What a softie!
6. Russell's nickname is Rusty.
7. Prior to the 2001 Oscars, the FBI told Russell that the al-Qaeda terrorist group wanted to kidnap him. He was guarded by the Secret Service for several months, although he insists he "never fully understood what the f*** was going on".
8. How does Russell feel about LA? He says: "I'd move to Los Angeles if New Zealand and Australia were swallowed up by a tidal wave, if there was a bubonic plague in England and if the continent of Africa disappeared from some Martian attack." Ok-ay, Rusty, we get the message!
9. Russell turned down the part of Aragorn in the Lord of The Rings trilogy because the second instalment clashed with filming 2001's A Beautiful Mind.
10. Russell designs clothes when he can't nod off at night and had sweatshirts made for the crew of boxing epic The Cinderella Man.
