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Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie
Encyclopedia:
Actor. (b. Nov. 3, 1921,
Ehrenfield, Penn., as Charles Buchinsky.) He once said, "I guess
I look like a rock quarry that someone has dynamited," but
despite his craggy, unconventional features and taciturn manner,
Charles Bronson became an international star
relatively late in his career, depicting men of action who were not
afraid to use violence to get a job done. Bronson was one of fifteen
children born to Lithuanian immigrant parents, and though he was the
only member of the family to complete high school, he joined his
brothers working in the coal mines to support the family. He served
during World War 2 as a tailgunner, then used his G.I. Bill rights to
study art in Philadelphia and, intrigued by acting, enrolled at
California's Pasadena Playhouse. An instructor there recommended him
to director Henry Hathaway for a movie role and the result was
Buchinsky's debut in You're in the Navy Now (1951). He secured more
bit parts- mostly as tough-looking window dressing- in films like The
People Against O'Hara, The Mob (both 1951) and Red Skies of Montana
(1952) and graduated to more substantial roles in Pat and Mike (1952,
where he is beaten up by Katharine Hepburn!) and House of Wax (1953,
as Vincent Price's mute assistant, Igor).
He began playing Indians in 1954's Apache and received good notices as
Captain Jack in Drum Beat (also 1954, and the film in which he was
first credited as Charles Bronson). He alternated features like Vera
Cruz (1954) with television work, and won larger roles in B movies
like Big House, U.S.A and Target Zero (both 1955). Good supporting
roles continued in big features like Jubal (1956) and Run of the Arrow
(1957, as Chief Blue Buffalo), but his leads were confined to a string
of B's like Gang War, Showdown at Boot Hill,
Machine Gun Kelly and When Hell Broke Loose (all 1958). Following his
own TV series, "Man With a Camera" (1958-60, as photographer
Mike Kovac), Bronson had his first taste of film stardom as Bernardo,
one of the The Magnificent Seven (1960). Master of the World, A
Thunder of Drums (both 1961), X-15 and Kid Galahad (both 1962), were
followed with a solid role in The Great Escape (1963), as the
claustrophobic tunnel- digger Danny Velinski. He had more good parts
in 4 for Texas (1963), The Sandpiper (1965), and the smash The Dirty
Dozen (1967) before heading to Europe, where he spent the next few
years. He appeared in Guns for San Sebastian and Villa Rides (both
1968), and then teamed with Alain Delon for Adieu l'ami (1968), which
was a smash in
France, before starring in the classic Once Upon a Time in the West
(1968), directed by Sergio Leone (who had originally offered him the
role in A Fistful of Dollars that made Clint Eastwood a star).
These films established Bronson as a top box-office draw in Europe,
and the stylish Rider on the Rain, The Family (both 1970), Cold Sweat
(1971), and Red Sun (1972) raised him to the ranks of the most popular
stars worldwide. Duplicating that success in the U.S.
came slowly with Chato's Land, The Mechanic, The Valachi Papers (all
1972), and Mr. Majestyk (1974), until Bronson's frequent collaborator
Michael Winner directed him in Death Wish (1974), a revenge fantasy
about an architect who turns vigilante when his wife and daughter are
raped. The movie was both controversial and extremely popular (and
spawned four inferior sequels in 1982,
1985, 1987, and 1994). It also established Bronson as a star in his
own country and set the tough, cold, violent persona he would project
from that time on. There were some exceptions along the way, most
notably the excellent Hard Times (1975, as a 1930s streetfighter),
the offbeat black comedy From Noon Till Three (1976, the best of many
teamings with his wife, Jill Ireland), and The White Buffalo (1977, as
Wild Bill Hickok). However, Bronson stuck with action-thrillers like
Breakout (1975), Telefon (1977), and Love and Bullets (1979) and spent
the 1980s in gory fodder like Ten to Midnight (1983), The Evil That
Men Do (1984), Murphy's Law (1986), and Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects
(1989), exterminating a variety of pimps and psychos. Bronson did some
of his most interesting work in TV movies, including Raid on Entebbe
(1977), Act of Vengeance (1986, as United Mine Workers official Jack
Yablonski), and in the title role of The Sea Wolf (1993), although his
role as a stern father in Sean Penn's The Indian Runner (1991) proved
h
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