Portrait of Joseph Ruskin

Birthday profile

Joseph Ruskin

Joseph Ruskin, American actor and producer (died 2013)

Born
April 14, 1924
Died
December 28, 2013
Zodiac sign
Aries
Birth year
1924

About Joseph Ruskin

Joseph Ruskin (born Joseph Richard Schlafman; April 14, 1924 – December 28, 2013) was an American character actor. == Early life == Ruskin was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts. After graduating high school in Cleveland, he served in the U.S. Navy and studied drama at Carnegie Mellon University, and began acting at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. Although he gained his greatest recognition in television and film, he continued to appear on stage throughout his career. He was Jewish. == Career == Ruskin appeared in an episode of The Outer Limits, called "Production and Decay of Strange Particles". He played in The Time Tunnel episode "Revenge of the Gods", as well as two separate, two-part Mission: Impossible episodes—"Old Man Out" and "The Slave"—as well as the episodes "The Brothers" and "The Puppet". He had a non-credited role as the voice of the Kanamits in The Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man", a season after playing the genie in another episode, "The Man in the Bottle". Ruskin also appeared in the Hogan's Heroes episode "The Gestapo Takeover". He played the gun-slinging troublemaker Gus Vogel in the Wanted: Dead or Alive season 2 "Reckless." which aired 11/6/1959.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Joseph Ruskin timeline

  1. Ruskin became a board member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) in 1976, and served on its board until 1999.
  2. He also became the first Western Regional Vice President of Actors' Equity Association in 1979.

The world when Joseph Ruskin was born

Joseph Ruskin was born in 1924. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1924

  • #1 song"It Had to Be You" – Isham Jones
  • Top movieThe Thief of Bagdad (Douglas Fairbanks)
  • Best-selling bookSo Big – Edna Ferber

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentFirst Winter Olympics held in Chamonix, France
  • Top headlineCalvin Coolidge elected president in a landslide
  • Technology milestoneIBM founded
  • Defining fadMah-jongg craze sweeps America
  • Notable inventionSpiral-bound notebook
  • World population1.95 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderCalvin Coolidge
  • Sports championWashington Senators (World Series)
  • U.S. population114.1M

1924 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Joseph Ruskin's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19242026
Gas$0.21$3.45/gal
Average home$5,800$435,000
Average income$3,520$67,500
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.02$0.73
Population114.1M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.