Charles Bronson

Name: Charles Bronson
Birth Name: Charles Buchinsky
Height: 5' 11"
Sex: M
Nationality: American
Birth Date: November 3, 1921
Birth Place: Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, USA
Profession: actor
Place of Death: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Death Date: August 30, 2003
Death Cause: pneumonia
Husband/Wife: Kim Weeks (married on December 22, 1998), Jill Ireland (actress; born on April 24, 1936; married on October 5, 1968; died on May 18, 1990), Harriet Tendler (married in 1949; divorced in 1967)
   
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CHARLES BRONSON NEWS AND TRIVIA
  • Bronson's family are embroiled in a bitter fight over his $48 million will -- The grieving family poured into and out of Bronson's lawyer's office after being summoned to hear the late actor's bequests this week. (September 23, 2003)
  • Bronson's tiny hometown, the borough of 234, considers honoring him with a historical marker and a renamed street. (September 8, 2003)
  • Died on August 30, 2003 after several weeks suffering pneumonia.
  • The son of a Lithuanian coal miner, American actor Charles Bronson has claimed to have spoken no English at home during his childhood in Pennsylvania.
  • Lashed out at reports he is suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
  • Nickname: Il Brutto (Italy), Le Sacre Monstre (France)
  • Shared a room with Jack Klugman in a New York boarding house in the 1940s.
  • Perhaps the biggest late bloomer in Hollywood history, Bronson never got the marquee treatment he deserved until his late 40s. He was already 53 when Death Wish premiered.
  • The name Bronson is said to taken from the Bronson Gate at Paramount Studios, at the north end of Bronson Avenue.
  • Spoofed in an episode of THE SIMPSONS (1989) in which the Simpson family mistakenly travels to Bronson, Missouri, instead of Branson. In Bronson, such lines of dialogue as these are spoken by its citizens:No dice., This ain't ovah.
  • Changed his stage name in the early 50s in the midst of the McCarthy Red Scare for fear his last name (Buchinsky) would damage his career.
  • Was drafted in 1943 for Service in the Air Force during World War 2
  • Actor Dick Van Dyke would receive a lemon cake every Christmas from Bronson, who lived nearby in Malibu for 16 years
  • Director John Huston once summed him up as a grenade with the pin pulled
  • In 1954 on the Mexican set of the WESTERN VERA CRUZ, Bronson and Ernest Borgnine decided to go for cigarettes. This ment saddling up in costume, side arms and all, and riding to the nearest town. On the way, the pair was waylaid by a truck full of armed federales who mistook them for bandits and held them at gunpoint.
  • Served during World War 2 as a truck driver and later as a tail-gunner on a B-29 bomber
  • I am not a Casper Milquetoast. Bronson told The Washington Post in 1985, citing the time he was visiting Rome and felt a gun in his side. A guy in broken English asked me for money. I said, 'You give me money.' He turned around and he walked away.
  • Was paid $1,000,000 for DEATH WISH (1974)
  • Was paid $1,000,000 for VALDEZ, IL MEZZOSANGUE (1973)
  • Was paid $1,000,000 for THE STONE KILLER (1973)
  • Was paid $2,000/week for MAN WITH A CAMERA (1958)
  • Had hip replacement surgery in about August 1998.
  • Has starred in no less than 93 movies in his 47 years of movie making.
  • There are several dates of birth mentioned in various books. Sometimes it's November 3rd 1920 and sometimes it's November 3rd 1922.
  • His second wife Jill Ireland co-starred in no less than 15 movies beside her husband before she died of cancer in 1990.The first one was VILLA RIDES filmed in 1968 and the last one was ASSASSINATION filmed in 1987.
  • Is a very gifted painter. He has always enjoyed painting.
  • The head he works on as Igor in HOUSE OF WAX looks exactly like his.
  • The first movie he ever appeared in with his mustache was VILLA RIDES from 1968. In the following few movies you can see him sometimes with his mustache sometimes without. But from 1970 on he kept his mustache in every coming film with only very rare exceptions. They are: THE VALACHI PAPERS (1972), HARD TIMES (1975), ACT OF VENGEANCE (1986), THE INDIAN RUNNER (1991)
  • In 1963 Sergio Leone asked Bronson to star in his western A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS. He turned the roll down, so Leone asked Clint Eastwood. Bronson was not the first actor Leone asked to play the MAN WITH NO NAME. Richard Harrison also made the same mistake that Bronson made.
  • There was a made-for-TV movie 8 years ago about the life of Jill Ireland (starring Jill Clayburgh) in which Bronson was played by none other than Lance Hendrickson! The Bronson role is small and the movie focuses on Jill's relationship with her drug abusing son Jason (McCallum).
  • Nominated for Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actor or Actress in a Single Program at Emmy Awards for G.E. Theatre (1961)

Quotes
  • "I guess I look like a rock quarry that someone has dynamited."
  • "Acting is the easiest thing I've done, I guess that's why I'm stuck with it."
  • "Someday I'd like a part where I can lean my elbow against a mantlepiece and have a cocktail."

Awards
  • Golden Globe Awards: World Film Favorites (1972)
  • Golden Boot Awards: Golden Boot (1996)
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