Elizabeth Russell

Minor character actress who appeared rather unsympathetically in a number of films for producer Val Lewton in the 1940s, including The Seventh Victim , Bedlam and Cat People and her best known part in The Curse of the Cat People .

Sister-in-law of Rosalind Russell.

Her first film assignment came almost immediately after her arrival at Paramount in Hollywood when she replaced Frances Farmer , who had been loaned to Samuel Goldwyn for the starring role in Come and Get It , in Girl of the Ozarks opposite Farmers new husband, Leif Erickson.

She met writer Peter Viertel through friend and roommate Maria Montez , and he introduced her to Val Lewton. She ultimately appeared in five pictures for Lewtons unit.

She wrote an as yet unproduced screenplay on the life of friend Mara Montez.

After Paramount dropped her she returned East to act in theater with Zasu Pitts. Russell and the comedienne became good friends and Pitts had her cast in two of her films, Miss Polly " and Sos Your Aunt Emma! .

Profiled in "Character Actors in Horror and Science Fiction Films, 1930-1960" by Laurence Raw.