Catfish Russ

Catfish Russ

Screenwriter

Austin, Texas

Member Since:
September 2021
Last online:
> 2 weeks ago
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About Catfish



I was born at Georgia Baptist Hospital at 2:38 PM on Tuesday, April 16th 1957, Daniel Clay Russ; the fifth child and fourth son to Marvin Edward Russ, himself a child of refugees who emigrated from Russia to Scotland to South Carolina. My Mother, Irene Russ, was a Hungarian refugee who married Dad in Germany during the occupation. Dad was a ground crew chief in the 8th Air Force. Mom survived three concentration camps, two of which were Auschwitz, for 8 months and Ollendorf for 5 months. She saw the Russian Army shut down Auschwitz and the American Army shut down Ollendorf.

I grew up in Dekalb County Georgia and the greatest thing I ever did for myself was take Karate from Joe Corley. Joe Corley became the prime mover in a relatively new sport in Professional Karate. During this time, my brothers and I earned our Black Belts under Joe Corley. I was by accident and partly by luck, involved in this nascent sport. I trained with early champions like Jerry Rhome, and AAU national champions Jim Korb and Larry Korb. After Atlanta I lived in Chicago for several years and made my martial arts home at the Degerberg Academy. There Fred Degerberg introduced me to Danny Inosanto, and I ended up studying under him for around 16 years, attending Kali seminars and introducing him to audiences in Richmond and Austin. In Chicago, I studied Kali and Silat as well as kickboxing.

I managed to put together 25 fights which included 7 boxing matches and 18 kickboxing matches. In the ensuing years, professional karate’s growth exploded through gyms and dojos across Georgia, and there were numerous opportunities to fight including at Dobbins Air Force Base, and Savannah Civic Center, and many other venues in and around the country. Living in Wrigleyville in Chicago, I fought Karate matches at Karate tournaments in the Cicero area. And in New York I fought with teams out of Kingsway Boxing under Micheal Olajide Senior. We often fought against the teams from Gleasons in Brooklyn. One of my first fights was featured on CBS Sports Spectacular Though nothing to brag about, Russ was 18 and 7. Russ received his First-Degree Black Belt on August 25, 1974 and his Second degree on October 10th, 1982.

I learned through life that sometimes you have to fight. For your life. Your health. Your freedom. Your dignity.

Better train.

I grew up an Orthodox Jew in Dekalb County, Georgia, thus necessitating fighting and self-confidence skills.
I attended a rabbinical parochial school called a Yeshiva, studied to be a rabbi, but that didn’t take, and instead I became an ad guy. For 7 years I worked at the famous Martin Agency in Richmond, Virginia under Harry Jacobs and Mike Hughes. I spent 13 years at GSDM under the tutelage of Guy Bommarito and Roy Spence. Then I spent three years as the Executive Creative Director at R&R Partners where he headed up What Happens Here Stays Here, a famous campaign for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

My life spent in marketing reveals some personal milestones. I was the first ever creative director on the US Air Force account, and I served in this capacity for 8 years. Militarily, accessions were down during an unpopular war with Iraq, yet our team filled Air Force rosters with little trouble.

I launched Wal*Mart’s real people campaign and hired Academy award winning documentarian Albert Maysles to shoot it.

I helped launch the Nike Security Campaign, numerous Fannie Mae marketing efforts, and created TV spots for Kinky Friedman running for Texas Governor, Fannie Mae, Virgin Atlantic, Cheerwine, GEICO and others.

I helped launch Cybercorp, a Charles Schwab software trading company. Bruce Lee is in the award-winning spots.

I did stand-up comedy for 11 years and shared the stage with Dave Chappelle, Bill Hicks, Ray Romano, Sam Kinison, and Brian Regan.

I got my nickname Catfish playing Blues and chromatic harmonica. I have played with The Fabulous Thunderbirds and Country star David Kersh, and I have recorded with Danny Levin, John Blondell and Ginger Leigh.

I wrote and published 28 science fiction and/or horror stories, and have written two screen plays which have placed in 16 screenplay/film contests.

I speak fairly good French, a little Hebrew, and a little Yiddish, none of which come in handy in Texas.

Currently I am a Professor of Advertising at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Oddly though, I live in Austin.














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