Charles Bronson American Actor Born 1921 in Ehrenfeld

Early life

Charles Bronson was born Charles Dennis Buchinsky on 3 November 1921 in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, a coal-mining community in the Allegheny Mountains. He was one of fifteen children in a family of Lithuanian descent, and English was not the language spoken at home. After his father died in 1933 he worked in the mines himself. In 1943 he joined the United States Army Air Forces, served as an aerial gunner on bomber missions against Japan, and received a Purple Heart. After the war he took work painting scenery for a theatre company in Philadelphia, which led to small acting parts and then to classes at the Pasadena Playhouse in California.

Career

Billed as Charles Buchinsky, he appeared in his first films in 1951, among them You're in the Navy Now and The Mob. Through the 1950s he played supporting parts in features and guest roles on television, including the horror film House of Wax in 1953 and the Western Vera Cruz in 1954. He changed his surname to Bronson in 1954. His first leading film role came with Machine-Gun Kelly in 1958, and in 1959 he headlined the television series Man with a Camera.

The 1960s brought larger ensemble roles in The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963), Battle of the Bulge (1965) and The Dirty Dozen (1967). He also appeared in The Sandpiper in 1965. The turning point for his international profile came in 1968, when he co-starred with Alain Delon in the French film Adieu l'ami and played Harmonica in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West. Films made in Europe followed, including Rider on the Rain in 1970 and Red Sun in 1971, and he became a major draw with audiences there.

Returning to the United States, he worked repeatedly with the director Michael Winner on Chato's Land, The Mechanic and The Stone Killer. In 1974 he starred in Death Wish as an architect who becomes a vigilante, a role that defined much of his later career and led to four sequels, including Death Wish II in 1982, Death Wish 3 in 1985, a fourth film in 1987 and Death Wish V in 1994. Other 1970s and 1980s titles include Mr. Majestyk, Breakheart Pass and Telefon. He also took on a few television films that departed from his action image. His final credits were a trilogy of television films that began with Family of Cops in 1995 and ended with Family of Cops 3 in 1999. In all, the dossier lists 94 screen credits, plus writing credits on Kid Galahad and The Jayne Mansfield Story.

Recognition

In 1972 Bronson shared the Golden Globe Henrietta Award for World Film Favorite, Male, with Sean Connery. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1980 and a Golden Boot Award in 1996. His Purple Heart for military service is also counted among his honours. Rider on the Rain, one of his European films, won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.

Personal life

Bronson married the English actress Jill Ireland in 1968, and they stayed together until she died in 1990, leaving him widowed. Ireland often played opposite him in his films. In 1998 he married Kim Weeks, and the marriage lasted until 2003. He had four children on record. The family spent time at a farmhouse in West Windsor, Vermont, where he was later buried. Bronson died on 30 August 2003 in Los Angeles.