John R. Countryman

John Russell Countryman (January 25, 1933 – December 14, 2024), also known by the stage names John Russell, Johnny Russell or Johnnie Russell, was an American child actor and career officer for the United States Foreign Service.

Before the age of ten, Countryman appeared in more than a dozen Hollywood films, and afterwards had a brief career on the New York stage. A graduate of a private Jesuit military secondary school, he served in the Air Force and then entered the Foreign Service in 1962. He held various postings in the Middle East and Africa before being appointed United States Ambassador to Oman from 1981 to 1985. Following his 35-year diplomatic career, he served as Executive Director of the Mission for Peace and Cooperation in the Middle East under the auspices of Search for Common Ground.

Early life and family John Russell Countryman was born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 25, 1933. His father, Russell Countryman, worked for Associated Press as a photography and art editor; his mother was a Czech immigrant. A succession of film roles quickly followed. (In a personal interview, Countryman said he had made 18 films in Hollywood.)

While in college, Countryman had signed up with the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), but his military service was deferred when he was awarded a post-graduate Fulbright Fellowship to study English literature at the Free University of Berlin. He had applied for a fellowship to the University of Leeds, but the Fulbright Program had a surplus of applications for England and not that many for Germany. Countryman had studied German in both high school and university, and agreed to switch countries.

From 1971 to 1975, Countryman served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Libreville, Gabon, in west-central Africa. During his Gabonese tour, Countryman and his wife also toured South Africa, which was then under apartheid. In 1976, thanks to his diplomatic experience in Saudi Arabia and familiarity with the Persian Gulf states and emirates, plus the research he did at the Army War College, Countryman was tapped for the post of Deputy Director of Arabian Peninsula Affairs (ARP) at the State Department, where he worked until 1978. He was confirmed by the United States Senate by unanimous consent and presented his credentials in Muscat on October 14, 1981. Countryman developed the growing relationship between the U.S. and Oman by promoting trade as well as military access; his staff coordinated a 150th anniversary celebration of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the two nations. and Countryman arranged for Vice President George Bush to visit the sultanate on one of his visits to the region.

Countryman spoke about his diplomatic experiences to students at his high school alma mater during that school's annual Career Day. He was inducted into the Xavier High School Hall of Fame in 2010, sixty years after his graduation.

Countryman died of pneumonia in Loudoun, Virginia, on December 14, 2024, six weeks before his 92nd birthday.

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