Charles Bronson
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Nov 3, 1921
- Died
- Aug 30, 2003 (aged 81)
- Place of birth
- Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, USA
- Credits
- 170
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. He was known for his roles in action films and his "granite features and brawny physique". Bronson was born into extreme poverty in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town in the Allegheny Mountains. Bronson's father, a miner, died when Bronson was young. Bronson himself worked in the mines as well until joining the United States Army Air Forces in 1943 to fight in World War II. Bronson had sizeable co-starring roles in The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963), This Property Is Condemned (1966), and The Dirty Dozen (1967). Bronson also performed in many major television shows, and was nominated for an Emmy Award for his supporting role in an episode of General Electric Theater. Actor Alain Delon (who was a fan of Bronson) hired him to co-star with him in the French film Adieu l'ami (1968). That year, he also played one of the leads in the Italian spaghetti Western, Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). Bronson continued playing leads in various action, Western, and war films made in Europe, including Rider on the Rain (1970), which won a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. During this time Bronson was the most popular American actor in Europe.
Early life and war service
Bronson was born November 3, 1921, in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, a coal mining region in the Allegheny Mountains, north of Johnstown. He was the 11th of 15 children born into a Roman Catholic family of Lithuanian descent. The very large family slept in shifts in their cold-water shack. The coal car tracks that ran out of the mine's mouth passed just a few yards away. His father, Walter Buchinsky (né Vladislavas Valteris Paulius Bučinskas/Bučinskis), was a Lipka Tatar from Druskininkai in southern Lithuania. Bronson's mother, Mary (née Valinsky), whose parents were from Lithuania, was born in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, in the Anthracite Coal Region.
Bronson said English was not spoken at home during his childhood, like many other first-generation American children he grew up with. He once recounted that even as a soldier, his accent was strong enough to make his comrades think he was a foreigner. Besides English, he could speak Lithuanian and Russian.
Marriages
His first marriage was to Harriet Tendler, whom he met when both were fledgling actors in Philadelphia. They had two children, Suzanne and Tony, before divorcing in 1965. Bronson died at age 81 on August 30, 2003, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Bronson was married to English actress Jill Ireland from October 5, 1968, until her death in 1990. Death
Bronson died at age 81 on August 30, 2003, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Although pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease have been cited as his cause of death, neither appears on his death certificate, which cites "respiratory failure", "metastatic lung cancer", with, secondarily, "chronic obstructive pulmonary disease" and "congestive cardiomyopathy" as the causes of death. He was interred at Brownsville Cemetery in West Windsor, Vermont. CLR
Known for
Once Upon a Time in the West
1968Movie
'Harmonica'
The Great Escape
1963Movie
Danny 'Tunnel King'
The Magnificent Seven
1960Movie
Bernardo O'Reilly
The Dirty Dozen
1967Movie
Joseph Wladislaw
The Twilight Zone
1959TV
Man
Death Wish
1974Movie
Paul Kersey
Filmography
Breakdown: 1975
2025Movie
Self - Actor in Death Wish (archive footage)
Rat Pack
2022Movie
Self (archive footage)
Charles Bronson: The Spirit of Masculinity
2020Movie
Self (archive footage)
Spanish Western
2015Movie
Self (archive footage)
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
2014Movie
Self - Actor (archive footage)
Operation Dirty Dozen
2006Movie
Self
Family of Cops III: Under Suspicion
1999Movie
Paul Fein
Breach of Faith: A Family of Cops II
1997Movie
Commissioner Paul Fein
Sinatra: 80 Years My Way
1995Movie
Self - Audience Member (uncredited)
Family of Cops
1995Movie
Paul Fein
Death Wish V: The Face of Death
1994Movie
Paul Kersey
La Classe américaine
1993Movie
The Indian (archive footage)
Donato and Daughter
1993Movie
Sgt. Mike Donato
The Sea Wolf
1993Movie
Capt. Wolf Larsen
Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus
1991Movie
Francis Church
The Indian Runner
1991Movie
Mr. Roberts
Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects
1989Movie
Lieutenant Crowe
Messenger of Death
1988Movie
Garret Smith
Death Wish 4: The Crackdown
1987Movie
Paul Kersey
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
1987Movie
Self
Assassination
1987Movie
Jay Killion
All Star Party for Clint Eastwood
1986Movie
Self (uncredited)
Act of Vengeance
1986Movie
Joseph 'Jock' Yablonski
Murphy's Law
1986Movie
Jack Murphy
Death Wish 3
1985Movie
Paul Kersey
Night of 100 Stars II
1985Movie
Self
The Evil That Men Do
1984Movie
Holland
All-Star Party for Frank Sinatra
1983Movie
Self
10 to Midnight
1983Movie
Leo Kessler
Death Wish II
1982Movie
Paul Kersey
Death Hunt
1981Movie
Albert Johnson
Borderline
1980Movie
Jeb Maynard
Catastrophe: No Safe Place
1980Movie
Self - Host
Caboblanco
1980Movie
Gifford Hoyt
Love and Bullets
1979Movie
Charlie Congers
The Meanest Men in the West
1978Movie
Harge Talbot Jr.
Telefon
1977Movie
Major Grigori Borzov
The White Buffalo
1977Movie
Wild Bill Hickok/James Otis
Raid on Entebbe
1976Movie
Brig. Gen. Dan Shomron
From Noon Till Three
1976Movie
Graham Dorsey
St. Ives
1976Movie
Raymond St. Ives
Breakheart Pass
1975Movie
John Deakin
Hard Times
1975Movie
Chaney
Breakout
1975Movie
Nick Colton
Death Wish
1974Movie
Paul Kersey
Mr. Majestyk
1974Movie
Vince Majestyk
The Valdez Horses
1973Movie
Chino Valdez
The Stone Killer
1973Movie
Lou Torrey
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
1973TV
Self
The Mechanic
1972Movie
Arthur Bishop
Chato's Land
1972Movie
Pardon Chato
The Bull of the West
1972Movie
Ben Justin
The Valachi Papers
1972Movie
Joe Valachi
Valachi: The Violent Era
1972Movie
Self
Film '72
1971TV
Self
Red Sun
1971Movie
Link
Someone Behind the Door
1971Movie
The Stranger
V.I.P. Schaukel
1971TV
Self
Mean Justice
1971Movie
Moreno
Cold Sweat
1970Movie
Joe Martin
Violent City
1970Movie
Jeff Heston
You Can't Win 'Em All
1970Movie
Josh Corey
Rider on the Rain
1970Movie
Col. Harry Dobbs
Twinky
1970Movie
Scott Wardman
Once Upon a Time in the West
1968Movie
'Harmonica'
Farewell, Friend
1968Movie
Franz Propp
The Dick Cavett Show
1968TV
Self - Guest
Villa Rides
1968Movie
Rodolfo Fierro
The Dirty Dozen
1967Movie
Joseph Wladislaw
Guns for San Sebastian
1967Movie
Teclo
This Property Is Condemned
1966Movie
J.J. Nichols
Battle of the Bulge
1965Movie
Maj. Wolenski
The F.B.I.
1965TV
Earl Clayton
The Big Valley
1965TV
Tate
The Legend of Jesse James
1965TV
Cheyney
The Sandpiper
1965Movie
Cos Erickson
The Big Sur
1965Movie
Self (uncredited)
Guns of Diablo
1964Movie
Linc Murdock
4 for Texas
1963Movie
Matson
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters
1963TV
Linc Murdock
The Fugitive
1963TV
Ralph Schuyler
Vacation Playhouse
1963TV
John Wesley Hardin
The Great Escape
1963Movie
Danny 'Tunnel King'
Kid Galahad
1962Movie
Lew Nyack
Combat!
1962TV
Velasquez
Empire
1962TV
Paul Moreno, Moreno, Paul
The Virginian
1962TV
Ben Justin, Harge Talbot
X-15
1961Movie
Lt. Col. Lee Brandon
The New Breed
1961TV
Jerry Bergason
Dr. Kildare
1961TV
Harry Gregg
A Thunder of Drums
1961Movie
Trooper Hanna
Cain's Hundred
1961TV
Hank Conrad
Master of the World
1961Movie
John Strock
The Magnificent Seven
1960Movie
Bernardo O'Reilly
The Islanders
1960TV
Dutch Malkin
The Aquanauts
1960TV
Hector Morrison
Never So Few
1959Movie
Sgt. John Danforth
Adventures in Paradise
1959TV
Dan Morton
The Twilight Zone
1959TV
Man
Riverboat
1959TV
Crowley
Bonanza
1959TV
Harry Starr
One Step Beyond
1959TV
Yank Dawson
Rawhide
1959TV
Del Lingman
When Hell Broke Loose
1958Movie
Steve Boland
U.S. Marshall
1958TV
Zenogalache a.k.a. Apache Kid
Man with a Camera
1958TV
Mike Kovac
Yancy Derringer
1958TV
Rogue Donovan
Gang War
1958Movie
Alan Avery
Machine-Gun Kelly
1958Movie
George R. 'Machine Gun' Kelly
Showdown at Boot Hill
1958Movie
Luke Welsh
No Time at All
1958Movie
Wolf Hagan
Colt .45
1957TV
Danny Gordon
The Walter Winchell File
1957TV
Eggers
Suspicion
1957TV
Cal
M Squad
1957TV
Eddie Loder
Sugarfoot
1957TV
Sandy Randall, Cliff Raven
Have Gun, Will Travel
1957TV
Manfred Holt
Run of the Arrow
1957Movie
Blue Buffolo
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
1957TV
Dan Rocco
Tales of Wells Fargo
1957TV
Butch Cassidy
Wire Service
1956TV
Sam Adams
Playhouse 90
1956TV
Wolf Hagan, Andy Kovaric, Sgt Meras
Hey, Jeannie!
1956TV
Rocky Harman
Telephone Time
1956TV
Guest
Jubal
1956Movie
Reb
Target Zero
1955Movie
Sgt. Vince Gaspari
Crusader
1955TV
Mike Brod
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1955TV
Det. Krovitch, Frank Bramwell, Ray Bardon
Gunsmoke
1955TV
Crego, Ben Tiple
Those Whiting Girls
1955TV
Martin Carroll
Big House, U.S.A
1955Movie
Benny Kelly
The Millionaire
1955TV
Jerry Bell
Vera Cruz
1954Movie
Pittsburgh
Drum Beat
1954Movie
Kintpuash
Studio 57
1954TV
Dawson
Medic
1954TV
Dr. John Bircher
Apache
1954Movie
Hondo
Riding Shotgun
1954Movie
Pinto
Tennessee Champ
1954Movie
Sixty Jubel
The Joe Palooka Story
1954TV
Eddie Crane
Torpedo Alley
1953Movie
Submariner (uncredited)
Miss Sadie Thompson
1953Movie
Pvt. Edwards
Crime Wave
1953Movie
Ben Hastings
The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse
1953TV
Joe Krossen
Letter to Loretta
1953TV
Eugene Walters
House of Wax
1953Movie
Igor
General Electric Theater
1953TV
Pike, Henry, Soldier Conlon
The Clown
1953Movie
Gambler (uncredited)
Off Limits
1952Movie
Russell (Uncredited)
Bloodhounds of Broadway
1952Movie
Phil Green, aka 'Pittsburgh Philo' (uncredited)
Biff Baker U.S.A.
1952TV
Czech spy, Wilhelm
Battle Zone
1952Movie
Marine Private (uncredited)
Cavalcade of America
1952TV
John Stanizewski
Four Star Playhouse
1952TV
Frank Dana
Diplomatic Courier
1952Movie
Russian Agent (uncredited)
Pat and Mike
1952Movie
Henry 'Hank' Tasling
My Six Convicts
1952Movie
Jocko
The Marrying Kind
1952Movie
Eddie
Red Skies of Montana
1952Movie
Neff (uncredited)
Chevron Theatre
1952TV
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951TV
Sgt. Roy Smith
The Mob
1951Movie
Jack (uncredited)
The People Against O'Hara
1951Movie
Angelo Korvac (uncredited)
You're in the Navy Now
1951Movie
Wascylewski
Lux Video Theatre
1950TV
Sergeant Borth
Treasury Men in Action
1950TV
Frankie Ames
Studio One
1948TV
Cal
Golden Globe Awards
1944TV
Self - Presenter
Stage 7
TV
Jerry Donn, Murray Forman
After Death
Movie
Paul Kersey