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John R. Countryman, who was featured in a number of Hollywood films alongside stars like Shirley Temple and Barbara Stanwyck in the 1930s and 1940s while using the stage name Johnny Russell, has died. He was 91.

Countryman, following his time in the movie business, served as an American diplomat for years and was appointed the U.S. Ambassador to Oman by President Ronald Reagan, a post he served in from 1981 to 1985.

His daughter, Vanessa Countryman, who serves as secretary of the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission, told TheWrap her father died on Dec. 14 in Loudoun, Virginia, following a brief battle with pneumonia.

Countryman appeared in several major films in the late ’30s and early ’40s, including his portrayal of Jesse James Jr. in the 1939 movie “Jesse James” starring Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda. The year prior, he appeared as Stanwyck’s son Roddy in the romantic drama “Always Goodbye,” and in 1940, in his best-known role,...

John R. Countryman, who billed as the child actor Johnny Russell appeared in films with Barbara Stanwyck, Tyrone Power, Shirley Temple and Jimmy Stewart before serving as a U.S. diplomat and ambassador in the Middle East and Africa, has died. He was 91.

Countryman died Dec. 14 in Loudoun, Virginia, after a short bout with pneumonia, his daughter, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Secretary Vanessa Countryman, told The Hollywood Reporter.

In the biggest role of his brief acting career, Russell portrayed Tyltyl, the younger brother of Temple’s Mytyl, in the fantasy film The Blue Bird (1940), which was Fox’s answer to MGM’s The Wizard of Oz, released a year earlier. In a dream, the two kids set out on on a series of adventures.

Temple’s mother, Gertrude, was reportedly unhappy that her daughter was sharing so much screen time with the adorable Russell and sought to have him replaced,...

Jean Arthur films on TCM include three Frank Capra classics Five Jean Arthur films will be shown this evening, Monday, January 5, 2015, on Turner Classic Movies, including three directed by Frank Capra, the man who helped to turn Arthur into a major Hollywood star. They are the following: Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, You Can't Take It with You, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; George Stevens' The More the Merrier; and Frank Borzage's History Is Made at Night. One the most effective performers of the studio era, Jean Arthur -- whose film career began inauspiciously in 1923 -- was Columbia Pictures' biggest female star from the mid-'30s to the mid-'40s, when Rita Hayworth came to prominence and, coincidentally, Arthur's Columbia contract expired. Today, she's best known for her trio of films directed by Frank Capra, Columbia's top director of the 1930s. Jean Arthur-Frank Capra...

Review by Sam Moffitt

I never was a fan of Shirley Temple, far from it. I do recall seeing most of her movies years ago. Back in the Sixties Channel 11, in St. Louis, used to have a Shirley Temple Theater on weekend afternoons. My sister Judy, for some reason, had to watch those Shirley Temple films. So I can recall seeing Bright Eyes, the Little Colonel, Heidi, Little Miss Marker and what have you.

To say I was not impressed would be a major understatement. Even as a young kid I realized there was a strict formula to Shirley’s movies, namely her sunny disposition and optimistic outlook would win over cranky old adults and straighten out bratty little kids, who were usually the villains, in her films, and that was about all.

I do recognize and respect Shirley Temple’s place in film history. She was the biggest star...

Writer/director Mj Dixon's Slasher House prequel, Legacy of Thorn, is working its way through post-production, and in advance of its first screening in London early next year, a teaser trailer and four new posters have arrived.

The film was shot over two weeks last summer in an abandoned high school in the northwest of England. Based on the oldest character in the Mycho Universe, Thorn is an all new independent feature length production from Mycho Entertainment Group. It harks back to classic slasher movies like Halloween and Friday the 13th but with the usual Mycho twist.

Legacy of Thorn stars Jade Wallis, Johnnie Russell, Craig Canning, and Jane Haslehurst with Aaron Jeffcoat, Stephanie Jezard, Evie Constanti, Anas Belarbi, and Richard Holloran as Thorn and Mem Ferda as Detective Cyphers.

For more info visit the official Legacy of Thorn website, and "like" Legacy of Thorn on Facebook.

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