1. Charles Bronson was known for his roles in action films and his "granite features and brawny physique".
88 Facts About Charles Bronson
1. 2.
Charles Bronson himself worked in the mines as well until joining the United States Army Air Forces in 1943 to fight in World War II.
3.
Charles Bronson had sizeable co-starring roles in The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, This Property Is Condemned, and The Dirty Dozen.
4.
Charles Bronson performed in many major television shows, and was nominated for an Emmy Award for his supporting role in an episode of General Electric Theater.
5.
Charles Bronson continued playing leads in various action, Western, and war films made in Europe, including Rider on the Rain, which won a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
6.
In 1974, Charles Bronson starred in the controversial film Death Wish, about an architect turned vigilante, a role that typified most of the characters he played for the rest of his career.
7.
Charles Bronson made a number of non-action television films in which he acted against type.
8.
Charles Bronson's last significant role in cinema was a supporting one in a dramatic film, The Indian Runner ; his performance in it was praised by reviewers.
9.
Charles Bronson was born November 3,1921, in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, a coal mining region in the Allegheny Mountains, north of Johnstown.
10.
Charles Bronson was the 11th of 15 children born into a Roman Catholic family of Lithuanian descent.
11.
Charles Bronson's father, Walter Buchinsky, was a Lipka Tatar from Druskininkai in southern Lithuania.
12.
Charles Bronson's mother, Mary, whose parents were from Lithuania, was born in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, in the Coal Region.
13.
Charles Bronson said English was not spoken at home during his childhood, like many other first-generation American children he grew up with.
14.
Charles Bronson once recounted that even as a soldier, his accent was strong enough to make his comrades think he was a foreigner.
15.
In 1933, after his father died of cancer, Charles Bronson went to work in the coal mines, first in the mining office and then in the mine.
16.
Charles Bronson later said he earned one dollar for each ton of coal that he mined.
17.
Charles Bronson later recounted that he and his brother engaged in dangerous work removing "stumps" between the mines, and that cave-ins were common.
18.
The family suffered extreme poverty during the Great Depression, and Charles Bronson recalled going hungry many times.
19.
Charles Bronson said he had to wear his elder sister's dress to school for lack of clothing.
20.
Charles Bronson was the first member of his family to graduate from high school.
21.
Charles Bronson worked in the mines until enlisting in the United States Army Air Forces in 1943 during World War II.
22.
Charles Bronson served in the 760th Flexible Gunnery Training Squadron, and in 1945 as a Boeing B-29 Superfortress aerial gunner with the Guam-based 61st Bombardment Squadron within the 39th Bombardment Group, which conducted combat missions against the Japanese home islands.
23.
Charles Bronson flew 25 missions and received a Purple Heart for wounds received in battle.
24.
Charles Bronson later shared an apartment in New York City with Jack Klugman, who was an aspiring actor at the time.
25.
Charles Bronson appeared on an episode of The Red Skelton Show as a boxer in a skit with Skelton playing "Cauliflower McPugg".
26.
Charles Bronson appeared with fellow guest star Lee Marvin in an episode of Biff Baker, USA, an espionage series on CBS.
27.
In 1955, Charles Bronson acted in Target Zero, Big House, USA, and Jubal.
28.
In 1957, Charles Bronson was cast in the Western series Colt.
29.
Charles Bronson had the lead role in the episode "The Apache Kid" of the syndicated crime drama The Sheriff of Cochise, starring John Bromfield.
30.
In May 1958, Roger Corman's biopic of a real life gangster Machine-Gun Kelly premiered, in it Charles Bronson plays the lead.
31.
Geoffrey M Warren of The Los Angeles Times said Bronson makes Kelly "a full, three dimensional human being".
32.
Charles Bronson plays the lead as a Los Angeles high-school teacher, who witnesses a gangland killing and agrees to testify.
33.
Charles Bronson played the lead in which he portrayed Mike Kovac, a freelance crime fighting photographer in New York City.
34.
In 1958 on television, Charles Bronson appeared as Butch Cassidy on the television Western Tales of Wells Fargo in the episode titled "Butch Cassidy".
35.
In 1959, Charles Bronson had a supporting role in an expensive war film, Never So Few, directed by John Sturges.
36.
Charles Bronson played a recurring role in the second season of Hennesey.
37.
In 1961, Charles Bronson played supporting roles in William Witney's Master of the World, Joseph Newman's A Thunder of Drums, and Richard Donner's X-15.
38.
On television in 1961, Charles Bronson played a boxer in an episode of One Step Beyond titled "The Last Round", aired January 10, and he starred alongside Elizabeth Montgomery in a Twilight Zone episode named "Two".
39.
Charles Bronson was nominated for an Emmy Award for his supporting role in an episode entitled "Memory in White" of CBS's General Electric Theater.
40.
In 1963, in John Sturges's The Great Escape, Charles Bronson was part of an ensemble cast who played World War II prisoners of war.
41.
In 1964, Charles Bronson guest-starred in an episode of the Western TV series Bonanza named "The Underdog".
42.
In 1965, Charles Bronson acted in Guns of Diablo, a film derived from the television series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters.
43.
In 1966, Charles Bronson played a central character in Sydney Pollack's This Property Is Condemned, based on a Tennessee Williams's play.
44.
Elston Brooks of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram said "Charles Bronson has never been better as the embittered boarder".
45.
Also that year, Charles Bronson acted in Vincente Minnelli's The Sandpiper.
46.
In 1967, in Robert Aldrich's The Dirty Dozen, Charles Bronson was part of an ensemble cast who played GI-prisoners trained for a suicide mission.
47.
In 1968, Charles Bronson made a serious name for himself in European films.
48.
Charles Bronson was making Villa Rides when approached by the producers of Jean Herman's French film Adieu l'ami looking for an American co-star for Alain Delon, a fan of Bronson's acting.
49.
Charles Bronson went on to star in a series of European made movies that were hugely popular.
50.
Charles Bronson had turned down Leone prior to this film for the lead in 1964's A Fistful of Dollars.
51.
Also that year, Charles Bronson acted in Henri Verneuil's Guns for San Sebastian, and Buzz Kulik's Villa Rides.
52.
In 1970, Charles Bronson played lead roles in Richard Donner's Lola, Peter Collinson's You Can't Win 'Em All, Sergio Sollima's Violent City, and Terence Young's Cold Sweat.
53.
Also in 1970, Charles Bronson played a lead in Rene Clement's French thriller, Rider on the Rain.
54.
Wanda Hale of the Daily News gave it four stars and said Charles Bronson is "marvelous as the tough American colonel".
55.
In 1972, The Valachi Papers was directed by Terence Young; Charles Bronson played Joseph Valachi.
56.
In 1972, Charles Bronson began a string of successful action films for United Artists, beginning with Michael Winner's Chato's Land.
57.
In 1973, Charles Bronson worked with director John Sturges on Chino.
58.
In 1975, Charles Bronson starred in two films directed by Tom Gries: Breakout, a box office bonanza which grossed $21 million on a $4.6 million budget, and Breakheart Pass, a Western adapted from a novel by Alistair MacLean, which was a box office disappointment.
59.
Charles Bronson reached his pinnacle in box-office drawing power in 1975, when he was ranked 4th, behind only Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand, and Al Pacino.
60.
In 1976, Bronson did a Western comedy for UA, Frank D Gilroy's From Noon till Three.
61.
Also that year, Bronson made St Ives, his first film with director J Lee Thompson.
62.
In 1977, Charles Bronson acted in Irvin Kershner's Raid on Entebbe, where he played Dan Shomron.
63.
Finally in 1977, Charles Bronson was announced as the star of Raise the Titanic, but didn't appear in the final product.
64.
Charles Bronson auditioned for the role of Superman for the 1978 film adaptation, but producer Ilya Salkind turned him down for being too earthy and decided to cast Christopher Reeve.
65.
Charles Bronson went on to make two films for ITC, Love and Bullets and Borderline.
66.
Between 1976 and 1994, Charles Bronson commanded high salaries to star in numerous films made by smaller production companies, most notably Cannon Films, for whom some of his last films were made.
67.
Charles Bronson was paid $1.5 million by Cannon to star in Death Wish II, directed by Michael Winner.
68.
In Murphy's Law, directed by Thompson, Charles Bronson plays Jack Murphy, a hardened, antisocial LAPD detective who turns to alcohol to numb the pain of harsh reality.
69.
Greg Burliuk of the Kingston Whig-Standard and Robert DiMatteo of The Advocate-Messenger both praised Charles Bronson acting against type.
70.
Charles Bronson declined the role of Curly Washburn in City Slickers.
71.
In 1991, Charles Bronson acted in The Indian Runner, directed by Sean Penn.
72.
Linda Renaud of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Charles Bronson "cast totally against type, is thoroughly convincing as the distraught newspaperman".
73.
In 1993, Charles Bronson was paired Dana Delany to lead in the CBS television film Donato and Daughter, directed by Rod Holcomb.
74.
Charles Bronson's last starring role in a theatrically released film was 1994's Death Wish V: The Face of Death.
75.
From 1995 to 1999, Charles Bronson acted in a trilogy of TV movies as Commissioner Paul Fein, the patriarch of a family of law enforcers.
76.
Charles Bronson's health deteriorated in his later years, and he retired from acting after undergoing hip replacement surgery in August 1998.
77.
Charles Bronson died at age 81 on August 30,2003, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
78.
Charles Bronson was interred at Brownsville Cemetery in West Windsor, Vermont.
79.
Charles Bronson simmered, he sulked, he bristled with class resentments, but he hung in there, got the job done and expected no thanks.
80.
Charles Bronson's nobility was all the more palpable for never having to be expressed in words.
81.
Charles Bronson has to be completely established at the beginning of the movie, and ready to work.
82.
Charles Bronson has a great strength on the screen, even when he's standing still or in a completely passive role.
83.
Charles Bronson was scarred by his early deprivation and his early struggles as an actor.
84.
Charles Bronson was 18 years old when she met the 26-year-old Charlie Buchinsky at a Philadelphia acting school in 1947.
85.
Charles Bronson was married to English actress Jill Ireland from October 5,1968, until her death in 1990.
86.
Charles Bronson had met her in 1962, when she was married to Scottish actor David McCallum.
87.
At the time, Charles Bronson reportedly told him, "I'm going to marry your wife".
88.
On December 27,1998, Charles Bronson was married for a third time to Kim Weeks, an actress and former employee of Dove Audio who had helped record Ireland in the production of her audiobooks.