In 1979 with his Detroit friends,
Sam Raimi and
Rob Tapert, Bruce Campbell raised $350,000 for a low-budget film,
The Evil Dead (1981), in which he starred and co-executive produced. Completed piecemeal over four years, the film first gained notoriety in England where it became the best-selling video of 1983, beating out
The Shining(1980). After its appearance at Cannes, where
Stephen King dubbed it “the most ferociously original horror film of the year”, New Line Cinema stepped forward to release “Evil Dead” in the U.S.
Campbell then rejoined his Detroit colleagues to star and co-produce the second and third films in the Evil Dead trilogy (Evil Dead II (1987) & Army of Darkness (1992)), completing 12 years of work on the cult favorite.
This rough-and-tumble background was a plus as Campbell made his foray into television, first starring in the highly touted Fox series The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (1993), then as a recurring guest-star on the hit show Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993).
With these under his belt, Campbell easily made the transition to director, helming numerous episodes and recurring as the King of Thieves in the #1 syndicated Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995), and its follow-up phenomenon, Xena: Warrior Princess(1995).
Bruce has since expanded his range on television, appearing in anything from Disney’s update of The Wonderful World of Disney: The Love Bug (1997), to decidedly dramatic turns on the acclaimed series Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) and The X-Files (1993). At the invitation of ABC, Campbell ventured into the world of sitcoms with a recurring role on ABC’s Emmy-nominated Ellen (1994), participating in one of the three touted “out” episodes.
Campbell then directed and starred as himself in My Name Is Bruce (2007), a spoof of his B-movie career, then re-teamed with Disney for their fun-filled hit, Sky High (2005).
In 2013, Bruce co-produced the hit remake of Evil Dead (2013), joined his filmmaking pal Sam Raimi on Oz The Great and Powerful (2013), and completed an impressive seven-year run on the spy show, Burn Notice (2007) (2007-2013), USA’s #1 show on cable.
More than two decades after the release of Army of Darkness (1992), Bruce returned to his most iconic role for Ash vs Evil Dead (2015), a highly-anticipated series premiering on the Starz network on Halloween 2015.
