Anna Russell, née Anna Claudia Russell-Brown (27 December 1911 – 18 October 2006) was an English–Canadian singer and comedian. She gave many concerts in which she sang and played comic musical sketches on the piano. Among her best-known works are her concert performances and famous recordings of The Ring of the Nibelungs (An Analysis) – a humorous 22-minute synopsis of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen – and (on the same album) her parody How to Write Your Own Gilbert and Sullivan Opera.
Her amazing 30-minute comedic distillation of Wagner's 20-hour opera cycle "The Ring"
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Quote
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To be a Dramatic Soprano requires not so much the attributes of a singer, as those of a successful auctioneer or hog-caller. To blast your way through a Wagnerian orchestra, for instance, a beautiful tone is an absolute waste of time. You're much better off with the factory-whistle or buzz-saw type voice. With a good cutting edge.
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[Describing the plot of Wagner's "Ring of the Nibelungs"] I'm not making this up, you know!
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Fact
1
After spending many years in North America, Anna Russell relocated to New South Wales and spent the last years of her life with her "adopted daughter" and biographer Darlene Prussak.
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Her catchphrase was "I'm not making this up, you know!".
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As Russell pondered the complex family relations of Wagner's doomed and addled Siegfried and followed him from the rock of Brunnhilde to the palace of Gutrune, she paused to note that Gutrune is "the only woman that Siegfried's ever come across who wasn't his aunt. I'm not making this up, you know!" The line became her catchphrase and the title of her 1985 autobiography.
Actress
Title
Year
Status
Character
Alvin Purple
1976
TV Series
Mrs. Ferns
Matlock Police
1975
TV Series
Charlotte
Rush
1974
TV Series
Mrs. Robbins
The Gentlemen of Titipu
1973
TV Movie
Lady Katisha (voice)
The Rovers
1970
TV Series
Mrs. Potts
Kill or Cure
1962
Mrs. Margaret Clifford
Hansel and Gretel
1954
Rosina Rubylips - the Witch (voice)
Kraft Theatre
1947
TV Series
What Men Live by
1938
Short
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Tempo
1962
TV Series
Herself
Music for You
1954-1958
TV Series
Herself
The Jack Paar Tonight Show
1958
TV Series
Herself
The Ed Sullivan Show
1953
TV Series
Herself
Known for movies
Hansel and Gretel (1954) as Rosina Rubylips - the Witch
$14 Million
