Double Oscar actor dies of heart attack

The only actor ever to have received two Oscars for the same film has died, aged 88.

Harold Russell, who received two Academy Awards for his role in "The Best Years of Our Lives" after losing his hands in World War II has suffered a heart attack.

Mr Russell, who rarely acted again but used his celebrity to push for the rights of the disabled, died at a nursing home in Needham, Massachusetts.

He received two Oscars for the film: one as best supporting actor, and a second, special Oscar for "bringing aid and comfort to disabled veterans through the medium of motion pictures".

He joined the US Army on December 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, as an instructor in the parachute corps.

He was working as an explosives expert in 1944 when a defective fuse exploded a charge of TNT he was holding as he instructed a demolition squad at Camp Mackall, North Carolina. Both his hands were amputated.

Mr Russell, who had hooks to replace his hands, was featured in an Army documentary, "Diary of a Sergeant," on the rehabilitation of an amputee.

Though Russell didn't say a word in the film, producer Sam Goldwyn saw it and wanted Russell to play Homer Parrish in "The Best Years of Our Lives."

The 1946 film won seven Academy Awards, including best picture, best director for William Wyler and best actor for Fredric March.

It also starred Myrna Loy. The film depicted how WWII veterans coped with the aftermath of the war and their return to changed families and community.