Charles Ruggles
Born: 1886-02-08 in Los Angeles, California, USA
Died: 1970-12-23
Known For: Acting
Biography
Charles Ruggles had one of the longest careers in Hollywood, lasting more than 60 years and encompassing more than 100 films. He made his film debut in 1914 in The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914) and worked steadily after that. He was memorably paired with Mary Boland in a series of comedies in the early 1930s, and was one of the standouts in the all-star comedy If I Had a Million (1932), as a harried, much-put-upon man who finally goes berserk in a china shop. Ruggles' slight stature and distinctive mannerisms - his fluttery, jumpy manner of speaking, his often befuddled look whenever events seemed about to overwhelm him, which was often - endeared him to generations of moviegoers. Memorable as Maj. Applegate the big-game hunter in the classic screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby (1938). Many will remember him as the narrator of the "Aesop's Fables" segment of the animated cartoon The Bullwinkle Show (1961). He was the brother of director Wesley Ruggles.
Filmography
1976
- Bob Hope's World of Comedy as Self - Tribute Montage (archive footage)
1967
- Carousel as The Starkeeper / Dr. Selden
1966
- The Ugly Dachshund as Dr. J. L. Pruitt
- Follow Me, Boys! as John Everett Hughes
1964
- Bewitched as Mr. Caldwell
- The Man from U.N.C.L.E. as Governor Callahan
- I'd Rather Be Rich as Dr. Charles Crandall
1963
- Burke's Law as Mr. Gregory
- Vacation Playhouse as Eli Harcourt
- Son of Flubber as Judge Murdock
- Papa's Delicate Condition as Anthony Ghio
1961
- The Parent Trap as Charles McKendrick
- All in a Night's Work as Dr. Warren Kingsley, Sr
- The Pleasure of His Company as Mackenzie Savage
1960
- The Andy Griffith Show as John Canfield
- Aesop and Son as Aesop (voice)
1959
- The Bullwinkle Show as Aesop (voice)
- The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends as Aesop (voice)
1956
- Eloise as Murphy
1954
- The World of Mr. Sweeney as Cicero P. Sweeney
1953
- Ben and Me as Ben Franklin (voice)
1949
- The Lovable Cheat as Claude Mercadet
- Look for the Silver Lining as Caro "Pop" Miller
1948
- Give My Regards to Broadway as Toby Helper
1947
- It Happened on Fifth Avenue as Michael J. 'Mike' O'Connor
- Ramrod as Ben Dickason
- The Perfect Marriage as Dale Williams, Sr.
- My Brother Talks to Horses as Richard Pennington Roeder
1946
- A Stolen Life as Freddie Linley
- Gallant Journey as Jim Montgomery
1945
- Incendiary Blonde as Cherokee Jim
- Bedside Manner as Dr. J.H. 'Doc' Fredericks
1944
- The Doughgirls as Stanley Slade
- Our Hearts Were Young and Gay as Mr. Otis Skinner
- The Shining Future as Mr. Ames
- The Road to Victory as Mr. Ames (uncredited)
- 3 Is a Family as Sam Whitaker
1943
- Dixie Dugan as Pa Dugan
1942
- Friendly Enemies as Heinrich Block
1941
- Go West, Young Lady as Jim Pendergast
- The Parson of Panamint as Chuckawalla Bill Redfield
- Honeymoon for Three as Harvey Wilson
- Model Wife as Milo Everett
- The Perfect Snob as Dr. Edgar Mason (as Charlie Ruggles)
1940
- The Invisible Woman as George
- Public Deb No. 1 as Milburn
- No Time for Comedy as Philo Swift
- The Farmer's Daughter as Nicksie North
- Maryland as Dick Piper
- Opened by Mistake as Buzz Nelson
1939
- Sudden Money as Sweeney J. Patterson
- Balalaika as Nicki Popoff
- Invitation to Happiness as Henry 'Pop' Hardy
- Boy Trouble as Homer C. Fitch
- Night Work as Homer C. Fitch
1938
- Bringing Up Baby as Horace Applegate
- Hollywood Handicap as Himself
- Screen Snapshots Series 17, No. 12 as Charles Ruggles
- Breaking the Ice as Sam Terwilliger
- Service de Luxe as Robinson
- His Exciting Night as Adam Tripp
1937
- Exclusive as Tod Swain
- Turn Off the Moon as J. Elliott Dinwiddy
1936
- Early to Bed as Chester Beatty
- Yours for the Asking as Sunbather (uncredited)
- The Preview Murder Mystery as Himself (Uncredited)
- Anything Goes as Rev. Dr. Moon
- Wives Never Know as Homer Bigelow
- Hearts Divided as Henry
- Hollywood Boulevard as Charles Ruggles - Actor - Cameo Appearance (uncredited)
- Mind Your Own Business as Orville Shanks
1935
- Ruggles of Red Gap as Egbert Floud
- The Big Broadcast of 1936 as Wilbur Sealingsworth
- No More Ladies as Edgar Holden
- People Will Talk as Henry Wilton
1934
- Six of a Kind as J. Pinkham Whinney (as Charlie Ruggles)
- Friends of Mr. Sweeney as Asaph 'Ace' Holliday
- Murder in the Private Car as Godfrey D. Scott
- The Pursuit of Happiness as Aaron Kirkland
- Melody in Spring as Warren Blodgett
1933
- Alice in Wonderland as March Hare
- Murders in the Zoo as Peter Yates
- Melody Cruise as Pete Wells
- Good-bye Love as Oswald Groggs
- Terror Aboard as Blackie Witherspoon
- Mama Loves Papa as Wilbur Todd
- Girl Without a Room as Vergil Crock
1932
- Trouble in Paradise as The Major
- Love Me Tonight as Viscount Gilbert de Varèze
- One Hour with You as Adolph
- If I Had a Million as Henry Peabody
- Madame Butterfly as Lieutenant Barton
- This Is the Night as Bunny West
- Make Me a Star as Charles Ruggles (uncredited)
- The Night of June 13 as Philo Strawn (as Charlie Ruggles)
- This Reckless Age as Goliath Whitney (as Charlie Ruggles)
- Evenings for Sale as Bimpfl
- 70,000 Witnesses as Johnny Moran
1931
- Honor Among Lovers as Monty Dunn
- The House That Shadows Built as (archive footage)
- The Smiling Lieutenant as Max
- Husband's Holiday as Clyde Saunders
- The Beloved Bachelor as Jerry Wells
- The Girl Habit as Charlie Floyd
1930
- Her Wedding Night as Bertie Bird
- Queen High as T. Boggs Johns
- Charley's Aunt as Fancourt Babberley
- Roadhouse Nights as Willie Bindbugel
- Young Man of Manhattan as Shorty Ross
1929
- Gentlemen of the Press as Charlie Haven
- The Lady Lies as Charlie Tayler
- The Battle of Paris as Zizi
1923
- The Heart Raider as Gaspard McMahon (an insurance clerk)
1915
- The Reform Candidate
- Peer Gynt as The Button Molder
- The Majesty of the Law as Lawrence Evans