Film: Fan facts

KURT RUSSELL (in 'Breakdown', released this week)

Track Record: It took over 11 years before Kurt made a name for himself in the acting profession. Then, at last, he got the lead on a major television series - at the age of 12. More than a dozen Disney projects later, the pressure of playing nice and cute began to show and he was found getting swinging with a baseball bat. Like his father, who left baseball when he got the part of the deputy sheriff in Bonanza, Kurt had a brief sojourn as a professional baseball player until a sports injury took him back to screen. Popular action films, drama and comedies are the big-screen equivalent to this popular sport and also keep him close enough to his father's wise adage - "Life should be staying outside and playing basketball." Kurt says, "If you want to own big airplanes, do action pictures."

Recharging: Kurt appreciates a director saying to him "that's far enough, don't go any further", or "bump it up a little bit". However, he is more than happy to go in the same direction with the tendency to get involved in sequels (The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, Escape From New York). He has even expressed hopes for MK II Used Cars, Stargate, and Executive Decision.

Home Run: He became one half of a "Hollywood dream team" after meeting long-time partner Goldie Hawn while filming Johnathan Demme's The Swing Shift. They began living together in the mid-Eighties. It was their neighbours, however, who got short shift when Goldie Hawn accused them of invading their privacy. One result was that loyal friend Tom Hanks g(az)umped himself and decided not to move into this area on principle of the neighbours' having told the tabloids about Goldie's rage.

Strike out: Before he would do Breakdown, the filmmakers had to say that they would fly him, or let him fly himself, back to his home in Colorado every night. And to have finished before school ended in the summer.

Jennifer Rodger