When it comes to the legend of Walt Disneyâs final statement, Kurt Russell has the last word.
Disney Studios has always been a huge part of the actorâs career. He signed a 10-year contract with the studio early on and now Russell is starring as Star-Lordâs dad, Ego, in Disney and Marvelâs upcoming âGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.â Still, his connection to the company goes well beyond business.
As a kid, Russell had a close, personal relationship with Walt Disney. The industry pioneer thought so highly of the young actor that a legend surfaced claiming Disneyâs last words were actually âKurt Russell.â
In fact, itâs more than legend, according to Russell. Itâs true.
Disney died in 1966 when Russell was still a teen. The actor says he learned about Disneyâs last words a couple of years later.
In a recent interview, Russell told HuffPost, âThey pulled me into the office a couple years after he died, and this woman â who I donât believe it was his secretary, but it mightâve been, I donât know â pointed to [something he wrote] and she said, âDo you know what thatâs about?â And I said, âNo, I donât.â[She said], âBecause he wrote something after it. But then he went back up and he wrote your name. That was the last thing he wrote.â And I said, âOh gee. I donât know what itâs connected to.ââ
Was it because Disney considered Russell a friend? Was it for a movie role? Who knows?
Russell said heâs been asked about it for years, but he doesnât know any more than that. âShe was pointing out that thatâs the last thing he wrote. Thatâs the only thing I know.â
The actor said Disney was very important in his life and he learned a âtremendous amountâ from him. Russellâs stories are even more unbelievable than learning Disneyâs last words.
âWe did have a personal relationship. We played Ping-Pong at lunch sometimes. Heâd come down to set. Weâd go watch movies that the studio was making, and heâd come down and ask if I wanted to go see them. Heâd took me around and introduced me to all the different departments at Disney, and at one point gave me a bunch of original photo cells that they make the backdrop drawings of the characters and stuff like that,â said Russell.
âThere were many, many things that I connected with him [on],â he continued. âHe reminded me a lot of my own grandfather. My grandfather was a creative and sort of inventive man, and they were not dissimilar in their demeanor, too.â
Apparently, Disney even liked to give Russell career advice. The actorâs family has a deep connection to professional baseball; his dad, Bing Russell, ended up owning a minor league baseball team â a âuniqueâ minor league baseball team (which is the subject of the documentary âThe Battered Bastards of Baseballâ). Kurt played pro baseball himself for a while, too. Disney told him early on that he didnât think it was for him.
âI was very comfortable around him, and I had a great time with him, great relationship, and it was very important. He said to me, âBaseball might not be something that you end up doing as a career.â He said, âI think you might want to look at things in this business because I think youâre going to have a long career.â So he did have a strong effect on me,â recalled Russell.
After an injury reportedly slowed his baseball dreams, Russell became an actor again, and Disneyâs prediction of a long career came true.
âGuardians of the Galaxy 2â is now set to be one of the biggest box-office successes of the actorâs career, and itâs coming on the heels of another one of the his movies, âFate of the Furious,â which is soon passing $1 billion worldwide.
Russell said, âItâs just serendipitous the fact that theyâre coming out literally back-to-back, so thatâs kind of [an] amazing event.â
Or perhaps itâs just a bit of Disney magic.