Russell Griswold (spelled Griswald in European Vacation), also known as "Rusty" or "Russ," is the younger child of Clark and Ellen Griswold and the younger brother of Audrey Griswold. Like the rest of his family, he appears in all five movies in the series.
Portrayal in movies[]
Vacation (1983)[]
In the original Vacation, Rusty is portrayed by Anthony Michael Hall, and is twelve years old according to the script. He is first seen along with Clark buying the car that they drive on their Vacation to Walley World. He later chats with Cousin Dale about video games and also has a beer that Clark shares with him. He doesn't catch on to Clark's story about wanting to go to Walley World at the end.
European Vacation[]
In European Vacation, Rusty is portrayed by Jason Lively and is shown to be very girl crazy, hooking up with women in every country visited, and finally meeting a girl who understands him at the end. He is explicitly fifteen years old in this film.
Christmas Vacation[]
In Christmas Vacation, Rusty is twelve years old according to the script, indicating that this film chronologically occurs before European Vacation at the end of the same year portrayed in the original Vacation. He is portrayed by Johnny Gallecki, and is shown to be Clark's right-hand man when it comes to helping with everything (most notably the lights on the house).
Vegas Vacation[]
In Vegas Vacation, Rusty is portrayed by Ethen Embry. He takes advantage of being in Vegas as he pretends to be a man named Nick Papagorgio and ends up leaving Vegas with a car. He is presumably sixteen years old in this film.
Vacation (2015)[]
In the Vacation reboot Rusty is portrayed by Ed Helms. It is revealed that at some point after the events of Vegas Vacation he got married to a woman named Debbie and had two boys Kevin and James. He is shown to act very similar to Clark, and, unlike his sister Audrey, understands as a father how Clark always wanted to give his family a good time.
Trivia[]
- Like his sister Audrey, Rusty was portrayed by a different actor in all five films.
- Although commonly thought to be the older sibling, the script for Christmas Vacation confirms that Rusty is twelve and Audrey is fourteen. Also, all five movies consistently cast actresses for Audrey that were older than the actors playing Rusty.
Rusty Griswold is a major character in the vacation series. He is a main character in all the films.