Comprehensive information and links about Charles Bronson

Charles Bronson (November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor of "tough guy" roles. In most of his roles he starred as a brutal police detective, a western gunfighter, vigilante, boxer or a Mafia hitman. He was blunt, physically powerful, and had a look of danger well suited to such roles.

in the notorious Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania coal mining neighborhood of Scooptown near Pittsburgh, 11th of 15 children born to Lithuanian immigrants. His father died when Charles was young and Charles went down to mine coal like his older brothers until he was drafted. He earned $1ton of coal mined.

His family was so poor that, at one time, he had reportedly been forced to wear his sister's dress to school because he had no other clothes (see [[1]]). This story has also been repeated in

In 1943, Bronson was drafted into the United States Army Air Corps and served as a tail gunner onboard B29 bombers.

Although Bronson was of Slavic and Baltic descent, many people thought he looked like a Chicano or Mexican-American who was Mestizo (mixture of Spanish and Indian ancestry). Thus, due to his looks Bronson sometimes played characters who were Mexican or who were part-Indian.

Acting Career

After the war, he decided to pursue acting, not from any love of the subject, but rather, because he was impressed with the amount of money that he could potentially make in the business. Bronson was roommates with Jack Klugman, another starving actor at the time. Klugman later said of Bronson that he was good at ironing clothes. During the McCarthy hearings he changed his last name to as Slavic names were suspect. One of his earliest screen appearances under his new name was as Vincent Price's henchman in 1953 horror classic House of Wax.

In 1961 Bronson made an appearance with Elizabeth Montgomery in , a former combat photographer, free-lancing in New York City. Frequently, Bronson's character was involved in assignments for the Police Department, which frequently put Bronson's character in danger. A number of the series episodes, which were all in Black and White, are now available on DVD.

Although he began his career in the United States, Bronson first made a serious name for himself acting in European films. He became quite famous on that continent, and was known by two nicknames: The Italians called him "Il Brutto" ("The Ugly") and to the French he was known as "le monstre sacré," the "sacred monster".

Even though he was not yet a headliner in America, his overseas fame earned him a 1971 Golden Globe as the "Most Popular Actor in the World". That same year, he wondered if he was "too masculine" to ever become a star in the US.

Bronson's most famous films include (1968) he played heroic gunfighters, taking up the cause of the defenseless. Sergio Leone once called him "the greatest actor I ever worked with". In (1975), he played a street fighter making his living in illegal boxing matches in Louisiana.

He is also remembered for , a successful New York architect, a liberal until his wife (played by Hope Lange)was murdered and his daughter raped.

He became a crime-fighting vigilante by night, a highly controversial role, as his executions were cheered by crime-weary audiences. After the famous 1984 case of Bernhard Goetz, the actor recommended that people not imitate his character.

Bronson was married to British actress Jill Ireland from 1968 until her death from breast cancer at age 54 in 1990. She was his second wife. He met her when she was still married to British actor David McCallum. At the time, Bronson (who shared the screen with McCallum in ) reportedly told McCallum: "I'm going to marry your wife." Two years later, Bronson indeed married Jill.

Bronson died of pneumonia while suffering from Alzheimer's disease at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, aged 81.

At the time of his death, he was survived by his wife Kim, four children, two stepchildren and two grandchildren. A stepson, Jason McCallum Bronson, preceded him in death after succumbing to a drug overdose in 1985.

With his death, Robert Vaughn is the only one of the seven main stars of