Charles Bronson

Charles Bronson, born Charles Dennis Buchinsky on November 3, 1921, in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, was an American actor whose career spanned stage, television, and film. He was the eleventh of fifteen children in a Roman Catholic family of Lithuanian descent, raised in a coal mining community in the Allegheny Mountains north of Johnstown. His father, Walter Buchinsky, born Vladislavas Valteris Paulius Bučinskas/Bučinskis, was a Lipka Tatar originally from Druskininkai in southern Lithuania. His mother, Mary, née Valinsky, was born in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, to parents also from Lithuania. The family lived in extreme poverty, sleeping in shifts in a cold-water shack, and Bronson later recalled going hungry frequently during the Great Depression. English was not spoken in the home during his childhood, and he grew up speaking Lithuanian and Russian in addition to English. He was the first member of his family to graduate from high school.

Bronson appeared on Broadway in 1936, with credits including Snickering Horses. Following his father's death from cancer in 1933, he had worked in the coal mines, initially in the mining office and later underground, earning one dollar per ton of coal mined. He continued that work until enlisting in the United States Army Air Forces in 1943. He served in the 760th Flexible Gunnery Training Squadron and later flew 25 combat missions as a Boeing B-29 Superfortress aerial gunner with the Guam-based 61st Bombardment Squadron, part of the 39th Bombardment Group, conducting missions against the Japanese home islands. He received a Purple Heart for wounds sustained in battle.

After the war, Bronson took odd jobs until a theatrical group in Philadelphia hired him to paint scenery, which led to minor acting roles. He later shared an apartment in New York City with Jack Klugman, then also an aspiring actor, before relocating to Hollywood and enrolling in acting classes at the Pasadena Playhouse. His early screen work was credited under his birth name, Buchinsky. His first film appearance was an uncredited role as a sailor in You're in the Navy Now in 1951, directed by Henry Hathaway. That same year he appeared in The Mob and The People Against O'Hara, directed by John Sturges. In 1952, his credits included Bloodhounds of Broadway, Battle Zone, Pat and Mike, Diplomatic Courier, My Six Convicts, The Marrying Kind, and Red Skies of Montana.

In 1953, Bronson played Igor, the mute sidekick of Vincent Price, in the horror film House of Wax, directed by Andre de Toth. To prepare for the role, he studied sign language. The film reached fourth place on the year's box office rankings, earning $23 million, and was later selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2014 as culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. In 1954, amid the Red Scare and House Un-American Activities Committee proceedings, he changed his surname from Buchinsky to Bronson at his agent's suggestion, due to concerns that a Russian-sounding name could harm his career. That year he appeared in Apache, directed by Robert Aldrich, as well as Riding Shotgun, Tennessee Champ, Miss Sadie Thompson, Crime Wave, Vera Cruz, and Drum Beat.

Bronson received an Emmy Award nomination for his supporting role in an episode of General Electric Theater. His first cinematic leading role came with Machine-Gun Kelly in 1958. Through the early 1960s he took on sizeable co-starring roles in major productions, including The Magnificent Seven in 1960, The Great Escape in 1963, This Property Is Condemned in 1966, and The Dirty Dozen in 1967. Actor Alain Delon, a fan of Bronson, hired him to co-star in the French film Adieu l'ami in 1968. That same year Bronson played one of the leads in the Italian spaghetti Western Once Upon a Time in the West. He went on to appear in several European productions, among them Rider on the Rain in 1970, which won a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. During this period he was regarded as the most popular American actor in Europe.

Returning to the United States, Bronson collaborated with director Michael Winner on Chato's Land and The Mechanic, both in 1972, and The Stone Killer in 1973. He became the world's top box-office star at that time, commanding a salary of one million dollars per film. In 1974, Winner directed him in Death Wish, in which he played an architect who becomes a vigilante. The film was commercially successful and generated four sequels. Bronson subsequently worked frequently with director J. Lee Thompson and starred in a succession of action films, including Mr. Majestyk in 1974, Hard Times in 1975, St. Ives in 1976, The White Buffalo and Telefon in 1977, and Assassination in 1987. He also appeared in non-action television films during this period. His last significant film role was a supporting part in the dramatic film The Indian Runner in 1991, for which reviewers praised his performance. Bronson retired from acting in the late 1990s and died on August 30, 2003.