In 1979, with his Detroit friends, Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert, Bruce raised $350,000 for a low-budget film, "Evil Dead," in which he starred and 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." After its appearance in 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. After filming "Crime wave," a cross-genre film, Co-Produced by Bruce and Written by Sam Raimi with his newfound partners Ethan and Joel Coen, Dino De Laurentis agreed to take on the sequel to "Evil Dead." Blessed with a budget ten time the original, "Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn" was released in 1987 with Campbell again Starring in and Co-Producing this "less gory, more funny" sequel. A move to Los Angeles followed, and Bruce quickly gained a foothold in a series of independent genre films such as "Maniac Cop," "Moontrap" and "Sundown." He then met his wife, costume designer Ida Gearon, on the set of "Mindwarp" a "post-apocalyptic Jeremiah Johnson." Bruce then put the Producer hat back on and Co-Executive Produced the biker yarn "Easy Wheels" and Produced "Lunatics: A Love Story" for RCA/Columbia. In 1992, Bruce rejoined his old Detroit colleagues and made the third of the popular "Evil Dead" trilogy, "Army of Darkness," which he Starred in and Co-Produced for Universal Studios. Immediately following that, Bruce's Coen Brothers friends invited him to join them for a featured role in their "big business comedy" "The Hudsucker Proxy" for Warner Bros. Bruce then made his foray into television, first Starring in the highly touted Fox series "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.," then as a recurring Guest-Star on the hit show "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," With these under his belt, Bruce easily made the transition to Director, helming several episodes and recurring in the number one syndicated series, "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys." Bruce has since reprised his "King of Thieves" character in the hit "Hercules companion series, "Xena: Warrior Princess." In recent days, Bruce has been expanding his range on television, with appearances on Sam Raimi's cryptic "American Gothic", ABC/Disney's TV movie update of "The Love Bug" and a decidedly dramatic turn on the acclaimed NBC show "Homicide." He teamed up with Fox again for the Hit TV film "Tornado!" and starred in NBC's "In the line of duty/ Blaze of Glory." Currently he is enjoying a recurring role on ABC's Emmy-nominated "Ellen" and participated in one of the three touted "Out" episodes. But, Bruce hasn't abandoned his film roots. During this time, he's had featured roles in the blockbuster "Congo," John Carpenter's "Escape from L.A.," and Universal's feature version of "McHale's Navy." Bruce followed these up with a starring role in an award-winning independent crime-drama, "Running Time." Recently, he has made the leap into the multi-media industry, providing voices on cutting-edge CD-Rom adventure games for 7th Level and Konami. Bruce's television career continues to unfold, starring in a pilot for an ABC sit-com, "Missing Links," and another ABC/Disney TV film, "Gold Rush."
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