Rosalind Russell and Frederick Brisson.

Born Ejner Petersen to Carl and Cleo Petersen. his father changed their surname to Brisson and after winning the European light-heavyweight championship, began acting and singing. In 1934, the family moved to the US and father Carl pursued a successful career in nightclubs and movies. Son Ejner changed his first name to Frederick and began a show business career as a manager, co-producer, and talent agent in England. In 1939, he sailed to America and obtained a job as a junior partner in the Frank Vincent talent agency in Hollywood. Actor Cary Grant introduced him to Rosalind Russell. Wives: Arlette Janssens Josephson (4 May 1978 - 8 October 1984) (his death) Rosalind Russell (25 October 1941 - 28 November 1976) (her death) (1 child) His son with Rosalind Russell was Lance Brisson, born 1943. He was separated from his widow Arlette at the time of his death. Two weeks after he died, his son Lance launched a suit against Arlette, challenging her rights to his estate. After two years, a settlement was reached. He was at his first wife Rosalind Russell 's bedside when she died. His wife, Arlette, was a consultant to a communications company and a vice president of Tiffany & Company. She was born around 1939. Frederick was a veteran of World War II, serving in the United States Army Air Force during the War. See Frederick Brisson: Obituary.

Rosalind Catherine Russell was born to James Edward Russell (1860 - 1926) and Clara A. McKnight (1874 - 1958). Both of her parents were born in Connecticut. She had siblings James Edward, Clara J., John J.. George Benedict, Mary Jane, and Josephine B. Russell. The middle of seven children, she was named after the S.S. Rosalind at the suggestion of her father, a successful lawyer. After receiving a Catholic school education, she went to the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York, having convinced her mother that she intended to teach acting. In 1934, with some stock company work and a little Broadway experience, she was tested and signed by Universal. Simultaneously MGM tested her and made her a better offer. When she plead ignorance of Hollywood (while wearing her worst-fitting clothes), Universal released her and she signed with MGM for seven years. For some time she was used in secondary roles and as a replacement threat to limit Myrna Loy's salary demands. Knowing she was right for comedy, she tested five times for the role of Sylvia Fowler in The Women (1939). George Cukor told her to "play her as a freak." She did and got the part. Her "boss lady" roles began with the part of reporter Hildy Johnson in His Girl Friday (1940), through whose male lead, Cary Grant, she met her future husband, Grant's house guest at the time. In her forties, she returned to the stage, touring "Bell, Book and Candle" in 1951 and winning a Tony for "Wonderful Town" in 1953. Columbia, worried the public would think she had the female lead in Picnic (1956), billed her "co-starring Rosalind Russell as Rosemary." She refused to accept an Oscar nomination as supporting actress for the part, an Oscar she would no doubt have won had she relented. "Auntie Mame" kept her on Broadway for two years followed by the movie version. Following her death, she was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. She died about three weeks after Patrick Dennis, the author of Auntie Mame (1958), which was one of her most famous roles. Rosalind gave birth to her only child at age 35, a son Lance Brisson, on May 7, 1943. Lance's father was her husband, Frederick Brisson. Rosalind won Broadway's 1953 Tony Award as Best Actress (Musical) for "Wonderful Town", a musical based on the same source as her film My Sister Eileen (1942), for which she received an Oscar nomination playing the same character. She also received a 1957 Tony Award nomination as Best Actress (Dramatic for "Auntie Mame", a role she recreated in an Oscar-nominated performance in the film version Auntie Mame (1958). See Rosalind Russell: Obituary.