Before Becoming A Movie Legend, Kurt Russell Guest-Starred In A '60s Spy TV Series

Kurt Russell is one of the great tough guys of Hollywood. From surly one-eyed criminal Snake Plissken in "Escape From New York" to legendary lawman Wyatt Earp in "Tombstone," Russell is an icon of cinematic machismo rivaling Clint Eastwood himself. (He's also been willing to play that reputation for comedy, especially with his turn as wannabe action hero Jack Burton in "Big Trouble in Little China.")

So, for people (like me) who first saw Russell acting as an action hero in classic John Carpenter movies and Westerns, it's amusing to learn that this typecasting came a lot later in his career. In fact, before "The Thing," Kurt Russell spent the 1960s as a child actor across movies and television. Watching the wide-smiled, bright-eyed Russell aged 12, you'd never guess he'd grow up to be one of the grittiest leading men that the movies have.

Russell's child acting made him a prolific face on many hit 1960s TV shows. He appeared as the "jungle boy" on a "Gilligan's Island" episode, in addition to having guest spots on "Gunsmoke," "The Fugitive," and the famed spy TV series "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." On the latter, Russell appeared in Season 1, Episode 10, "The Finny Foot Affair," as a young boy named Christopher Larson — adorable dog included.

Russell gets special billing as the episode's guest star, credited fourth in the title sequence after stars Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, as well as Leo G. Carroll as U.N.C.L.E. Chief Alexander Waverly. But his character's connection to the story is incidental.

Unlike most other Cold War-era spy fiction, "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." was less nationalistic. The series' co-leads, the American Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and the Russian Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum), were partners working for the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement (U.N.C.L.E.) to take down criminal syndicates.

Most spy shows would have the Soviets as the villains, not an equal partner in law-keeping. Compare that to "Star Trek" making the Russian Pavel Chekov a main character (although he was later dropped from "Star Trek: The Animated Series" for non-artistic reasons).

In "The Finny Foot Affair," Solo and Kuryakin are sent to investigate a Scottish village where everyone has inexplicably died of old age. The cause is a World War II-era bio-weapon, J-47, developed by Japanese scientists. The episode's villain is the rogue Japanese General Yokura (Leonard Strong), who wants to get the J-47. 

As for Kurt Russell, Christopher Larson is a young boy traveling alone who has a chance encounter with Napoleon at an airport. Napoleon "saves" his life by stopping a suitcase cart from hitting the boy. Awed by the spy, Christopher accompanies Napoleon on his mission because he wants to introduce the dashing Mr. Solo to his widowed mother and get himself a new stepfather. He even switches out his New York plane tickets to follow Napoleon to Norway. Russell's voice hadn't even broken yet, but you can already see some of his rascally charm when he pulls that switcheroo on a disbelieving airport clerk.

"The Man From U.N.C.L.E." is a minuscule part of Russell's legacy, but if he hadn't acted his way through TV guest spots as a kid, we may not have the movie star he became.