A descendant of Jewish emigrants with Russian-Ukrainian roots: how Armie Hammer conquered Hollywood

Few people know that the star of the films “The Lone Ranger”, “J. Edgar”, “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”, American actor Armie Hammer has curious roots associated with Russia. His great-grandfather, the famous millionaire Armand Hammer, was born into a family of Jewish emigrants from the Russian Empire, and his great-grandmother was Russian actress of German origin Olga Vadina, reports Twizz.

Photo: IStock

The actor's great-grandfather is the famous Jewish millionaire Armand Hammer, whose father was from Odessa. Armie Hammer spent his childhood in Los Angeles and the Cayman Islands.

Hammer's professional acting career began with bit parts in the television series Veronica Mars, Gossip Girl, The Reaper, and Desperate Housewives. In 2006, the film "Flika" with his participation was released, and in 2007 - the psychological thriller "Fatal Choice".

In October 2008, the film "Billy: The Early Years" was released, where Hammer played the main role. For it, he received the Faith and Values ​​Award in the Grace Award, which is awarded for the most inspiring performance in film or television by Mediaguid, an organization that provides Christian-themed film reviews.

Career Rise

The successful part of Army's career began 13 years ago with David Fincher's The Social Network. In it, Hammer was immediately given the task of playing twins, that is, in fact, two different people, who were then glued together in one frame. The actor did an excellent job and after the success of the picture he continued to collaborate with prominent directors and share the frame with popular actors and actresses.

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In 2011, he played Prince Andrew Alcott in Snow White: Revenge of the Dwarves. In January 2012, he voiced the Winklevoss twins in the animated series The Simpsons (an episode of The D'oh-cial Network). In 2013, he was cast in the title role of the Disney film The Lone Ranger, which was released in July 2015 and became a commercial success, grossing $260,5 million worldwide on a reported budget of $215 million]. In 2015, Hammer played Ilya Kuryakin in Guy Ritchie's The Agents of A.N.C.L.

Hammer also starred in Death on the Nile. The film premiered in early 2022.

Playing in the films of Clint Eastwood, Guy Ritchie and Gore Verbinski in the company of Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio and Geoffrey Rush, Armie Hammer himself became a star for which people go to the movies.

Charges

In 2010, the actor married actress and journalist Elizabeth Chambers. The couple had children: daughter - Harper Grace Hammer and son - Ford Douglas Armand Hammer.

In 2020, the wife left the actor. In the confusion of the divorce proceedings, several women accused the actor of physical and emotional abuse. Against the background of the scandal, he lost his roles in the cinema.

According to Wikipedia, in 2023, after all the checks, the Los Angeles prosecutor's office decided not to file sexual offense charges against Armie Hammer due to insufficient evidence.

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For 10 years before that, the actor had already had problems with the law. In 2011, Hammer was arrested at a US Border Patrol checkpoint in West Texas after a sniffer dog found marijuana in his car. Arrest records showed that he was in possession of 0,02 ounces of marijuana, three medical marijuana cookies, and one marijuana brownie at the time of his arrest.

He later spent one day in jail before posting a $1000 bail. An El Paso attorney declined to prosecute because the amount of marijuana Hammer had prevented him from doing so, resulting in the charges being dropped.

“The arrest was a misunderstanding of interprovincial laws where federal laws appear to supersede state laws. I mean, who knew? Let's just say it was a great way to learn the legal system," the actor said in 2013 during an interview on Conan.

Visit to Russia

In 2017, the actor came to Russia with the premiere of the film "Gunfight". On The Jimmy Kimmel Show, Hammer spoke about his visit. He said that he thinks that the Russian audience's great love for him is due to a combination of his acting work and the fact that his family has long-standing Russian roots that are "connected even with the Lenins."

The actor said that he arrived in Moscow at 11 pm, and at 7 am he started working and worked until the film’s premiere, which was in the evening. “Then there was the premiere, and then there was dinner. One of the employees of the company that distributes the film “Shootout” tells me: “You did a good job, the press is very happy, a great premiere. If you want to get poisoned now, then it can be arranged!” Hammer recalls.
He says that at first he did not understand the meaning of these words, the actor thought that these were translation difficulties. But his interlocutor continued: “If you want a drink, it can be arranged!”

“He ordered vodka and off we went. Here it is, Russia! This is my third time in Russia and the overall score is: Russia-3, Army-0!” the actor joked.

Hammer admitted that he loves Russian cuisine, but his favorite dish in Russia “is probably vodka!” “At some point we ate it like food!” he says.

“I’m not sure, but it seems to me that Russia leaves the best vodka in the country. If they send it to me, I will be glad. If you put this vodka in the freezer for a couple of hours, it tastes like water. It's very dangerous because you're going to formal dinners that you're supposed to be at—that's work,” Hammer says.

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“In front of each person there is a stack. They fill it with ice-cold vodka for you. One person stands up and makes a speech. Thank you for coming from America, etc. Let's have a drink! You drink, put the glass on the table and they immediately refill it! My wife says that no one drinks completely, you need to drink one sip at a time, but I think that’s for cowards,” says the actor. “And they kept pouring and pouring!” The sense of time is lost. That time we ended up leaving the restaurant at 5 am! We returned from the restaurant and were told that we had 10 minutes to pack our things!”

“I woke up in Paris and asked, are we going home? The wife answered “yes” in a dissatisfied voice,” the actor summed up his story.

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