Hans Ruesch

: "This is about the racing driver, for the Norwegian geologist with a similarly spelled name go to Hans Reusch"

Infobox racing driver
name = Hans Ruesch


pixels = 200px
caption =
nationality = flagicon|Switzerland Swiss
date of birth = Birth date|1913|05|17|
date of death = Death date and age|2007|8|27|1913|5|17|df=yes
place of birth = Naples, Italy
related to =
current series =
first year = F1|1932
current team =
car number =
former teams = Maserati, Alfa Romeo, MG
starts = 100 +
wins = 27
poles = ?
fastest laps =
best finish = 1st
year = multiple
prev series = Grand Prix
prev series years =
titles = Founder, CIVIS (Center for Scientific Information on Vivisection)
title years = 1976
awards =
award years =

Hans Ruesch (May 17, 1913 – August 27, 2007) was a Swiss racing driver, a novelist, and an internationally prominent activist against animal experiments and vivisection. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/03/sports/03ruesch.html?th&emc=th Hans Ruesch, Writer and Grand Prix Winner, Dies at 94 - New York Times ] ]

Family

Ruesch was born to an Italian-speaking Swiss mother and a German-speaking Swiss father in Naples. He lived the first 14 years of his life in Naples, where his father was a textile industrialist and a specialist in Pompeian Art. Ruesch attended boarding school in Switzerland; and then, he studied Law at the University of Zurich. He dropped out in 1932 to join the racing circuit. http://www.historicracing.com/historicracing.cfm?OTDother=14&driverID=7844&selMonth=9&]

After World War II, in 1946, Ruesch left the United States and returned to Naples. He married Maria Luisa de la Feld in 1949. They separated in the early 1970s and Maria Luisa died in 2006. According to his daughter, Hans Ruesch died of cancer at his home in Lugano, Switzerland. He was 94. He is survived by his daughter, Vivian Ruesch Mellon of Manhattan, his sons, Hans Jr. and Peter, of Switzerland, and five grandchildren.

Racing career

He began racing in 1932 with MG at the Klausenrennen when he was 19. During the 1930s, he drove several Alfa Romeo and Maserati racing and sports cars at many smaller events throughout Europe. From 1935-6, Ruesch drove a Maserati 8CM 1934 and a Maserati 4CS, followed by an Alfa Romeo GP car from 1936-7. He also took part in the 1937 South Africa series. He competed in more than 100 races in Europe and South Africa, winning 27 races. During the early fifties, he was seen in a Ferrari 4.1-litre MM sports car.

Writing and film career

In the late 1930s, Ruesch moved to the United States, publishing short fiction in popular magazines. In 1946, he returned to Naples to continue writing. His most popular novels include "Top of the World" (Harper, 1950), "The Racer" (Ballantine, 1953), and "South of the Heart: A Novel of Modern Arabia" (Coward-McCann, 1957).

In The New York Times Book Review review of "Top of the World", Max Eastman called Mr. Ruesch "a born storyteller," and the novel is "a brilliant feat of poetic imagination." Ironically, Hans Ruesch had never seen an Eskimo. He based his story on the Oscar-winning film "Eskimo" (1933), directed by W.S. van Dyke. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023990/ Eskimo (1933) ] ]

Director Nicholas Ray wrote the screenplay for the movie of Ruesch’s novel, "Top of the World". It debuted in Europe under the name, "Les Dents du Diable". In 1961, it was released in the United States as The Savage Innocents. Anthony Quinn starred as Inuk, an Inuit Eskimo, who has had little contact with white men. At a trading post, Inuk accidentally kills a missionary, who insulted him by refusing the traditional Inuit (sexual) hospitality of wife-sharing. Inuk is pursued by a Javert-like police trooper, Peter O’Toole, in his first movie role. Mr. O'Toole refused to be credited with this movie, because his voice was dubbed. This movie was nominated for the Golden Palm award at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053244/ The Savage Innocents (1960) ] ]

Drawing on his experiences in European auto racing, Ruesch wrote the novel "The Racer". It was released as the film "The Racers" (1955). Kirk Douglas starred as Gino Borgesa, a reckless Formula One driver, ensnared by speed, adrenaline, and a Hollywood '50s romance. The movie was shot at several classic circuits, including Monaco, the Nürburgring, the Mille Miglia, and Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, with the climactic race at Reims-Gueux. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048531/ The Racers (1955) ] ]

Activism career

Ruesch was internationally known as an outspoken advocate against vivisection and other forms of animal testing. An animal lover since his childhood, he became an activist against animal testing, while living in Rome. Ruesch did not believe that medical research could benefit by using such methods. Instead, Ruesch insisted that medicine was led dangerously astray by what he saw as pseudo-science, and a fatally false methodology. He argued that rabbits, mice, rats, and other animals are not anatomically and physiologically similar to humans. Therefore, such animal testing can not predict physiological reactions in humans. [http://www.historicracing.com/search_action.cfm?start=1&page_no=1&keyword=Hans%20R%C3%BCesch&driverID=7844&search_type=D&search_full=Y Hans Ruesch] , historicracing.com, retrieved 9 November, 2007] In 1974, he founded the Center for Scientific Information on Vivisection (CIVIS) and devoted the rest of his life to the abolition of vivisection.

In the 1970s, Ruesch started writing exposés of the animal testing and research industry. He wrote the "Slaughter of the Innocent" (Bantam, 1978) and the "Naked Empress, or The Great Medical Fraud", as well as publishing, "The International Foundation Report Dedicated to the Abolition of Vivisection." "Slaughter of the Innocent" (Civitas Publications, 1983) is credited with promoting and strengthening the animal-rights movement in the U.S. and abroad.

elective bibliography

*"Top of the World" (1950) (ISBN 999755602X)
*"The Racer" (1953)
*"" / "The Great Thirst" / "The Arab" (1957)
*"The Game" (1961)
*"The Stealers" (1962)
*"Back to the Top of the World" (1974) (ISBN 0450021084)
*"Slaughter of the Innocent" (1978) (ISBN 0553111515)
*"Naked Empress, or the Great Medical Fraud" (1982) (ISBN 0686402332)

Filmography

* The Racers (1955)
*: as Such Men Are Dangerous (UK)

* "The 20th Century-Fox Hour" (1 episode, 1956)
*: Fox Hour of Stars (USA: rerun title) - Men Against Speed (1956) TV Episode

* The Savage Innocents (1960)
*: as Dents du diable, Les (France)
*: as Ombre bianche (Italy)

References

External links

* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2500299.ece Obituary in "The Times"]
* [http://www.historicracing.com/historicracing.cfm?OTDother=14&driverID=7844&selMonth=9& Racing Bio]
* [http://www.hansruesch.net/ Homepage] (Italian language)
* [http://www.swissinfo.org/ger/startseite/detail/Schweizer_Autor_und_Pharmakritiker_gestorben.html?siteSect=105&sid=8148802&rss=true.com Schweizer Autor und Pharmakritiker gestorben] (German language; "author and pharmaceutical critic")