Charles Bronson
Born: 1921-11-03 in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, USA
Died: 2003-08-30
Known For: Acting
Biography
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
Filmography
2026
- Elvis: A Life in Music as Self (archive footage)
2025
- Breakdown: 1975 as Self - Actor in Death Wish (archive footage)
2022
- Rat Pack as Self (archive footage)
2020
- Charles Bronson: The Spirit of Masculinity as Self (archive footage)
2015
- Spanish Western as Self (archive footage)
2014
- Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films as Self - Actor (archive footage)
2006
- Operation Dirty Dozen as Self
1999
- Family of Cops III: Under Suspicion as Paul Fein
1997
- Breach of Faith: A Family of Cops II as Commissioner Paul Fein
1995
- Family of Cops as Paul Fein
- Sinatra: 80 Years My Way as Self - Audience Member (uncredited)
1994
- Death Wish V: The Face of Death as Paul Kersey
1993
- La Classe américaine as The Indian (archive footage)
- Donato and Daughter as Sgt. Mike Donato
- The Sea Wolf as Capt. Wolf Larsen
1991
- The Indian Runner as Mr. Roberts
- Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus as Francis Church
1989
- Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects as Lieutenant Crowe
1988
- Messenger of Death as Garret Smith
1987
- Death Wish 4: The Crackdown as Paul Kersey
- Assassination as Jay Killion
- Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood as Self
1986
- Murphy's Law as Jack Murphy
- Act of Vengeance as Joseph 'Jock' Yablonski
- All Star Party for Clint Eastwood as Self
1985
- Death Wish 3 as Paul Kersey
- Night of 100 Stars II as Self
1984
- The Evil That Men Do as Holland
1983
- 10 to Midnight as Leo Kessler
- All-Star Party for Frank Sinatra as Self
1982
- Death Wish II as Paul Kersey
1981
- Death Hunt as Albert Johnson
1980
- Borderline as Jeb Maynard
- Caboblanco as Gifford Hoyt
- Catastrophe: No Safe Place as Self - Host
1979
- Love and Bullets as Charlie Congers
1978
- The Meanest Men in the West as Harge Talbot Jr.
1977
- The White Buffalo as Wild Bill Hickok/James Otis
- Telefon as Major Grigori Borzov
1976
- Raid on Entebbe as Brig. Gen. Dan Shomron
- From Noon Till Three as Graham Dorsey
- St. Ives as Raymond St. Ives
1975
- Breakout as Nick Colton
- Hard Times as Chaney
- Breakheart Pass as John Deakin
1974
- Death Wish as Paul Kersey
- Mr. Majestyk as Vince Majestyk
1973
- The American Film Institute Salute to ... as Self
- The Valdez Horses as Chino Valdez
- The Stone Killer as Lou Torrey
1972
- The Mechanic as Arthur Bishop
- Chato's Land as Pardon Chato
- The Valachi Papers as Joe Valachi
- The Bull of the West as Ben Justin
- Valachi: The Violent Era as Self
1971
- Film '72 as Self
- Red Sun as Link
- V.I.P. Schaukel as Self
- Someone Behind the Door as The Stranger
- Mean Justice as Moreno
1970
- You Can't Win 'Em All as Josh Corey
- Rider on the Rain as Col. Harry Dobbs
- Twinky as Scott Wardman
- Cold Sweat as Joe Martin
- Violent City as Jeff Heston
1968
- Once Upon a Time in the West as 'Harmonica'
- The Dick Cavett Show as Self - Guest
- Villa Rides as Rodolfo Fierro
- Farewell, Friend as Franz Propp
1967
- The Dirty Dozen as Joseph Wladislaw
- Guns for San Sebastian as Teclo
1966
- This Property Is Condemned as J.J. Nichols
1965
- The Big Valley as Tate
- The F.B.I. as Earl Clayton
- The Legend of Jesse James as Cheyney
- Battle of the Bulge as Maj. Wolenski
- The Sandpiper as Cos Erickson
- The Big Sur as Self (uncredited)
1964
- Guns of Diablo as Linc Murdock
1963
- The Fugitive as Ralph Schuyler
- The Great Escape as Danny 'Tunnel King'
- Vacation Playhouse as John Wesley Hardin
- The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters as Linc Murdock
- 4 for Texas as Matson
1962
- The Virginian as Ben Justin
- Combat! as Velasquez
- Empire as Paul Moreno
- Kid Galahad as Lew Nyack
1961
- Dr. Kildare as Harry Gregg
- Cain's Hundred as Hank Conrad
- The New Breed as Jerry Bergason
- Master of the World as John Strock
- A Thunder of Drums as Trooper Hanna
- X-15 as Lt. Col. Lee Brandon
1960
- The Magnificent Seven as Bernardo O'Reilly
- The Islanders as Dutch Malkin
- The Aquanauts as Hector Morrison
1959
- Bonanza as Harry Starr
- The Twilight Zone as Man
- Rawhide as Del Lingman
- One Step Beyond as Yank Dawson
- Adventures in Paradise as Dan Morton
- Riverboat as Crowley
- Never So Few as Sgt. John Danforth
1958
- Yancy Derringer as Rogue Donovan
- Man with a Camera as Mike Kovac
- Machine-Gun Kelly as George R. 'Machine Gun' Kelly
- No Time at All as Wolf Hagan
- When Hell Broke Loose as Steve Boland
- Showdown at Boot Hill as Luke Welsh
- Gang War as Alan Avery
1957
- Have Gun, Will Travel as Manfred Holt
- Sugarfoot as Sandy Randall
- Richard Diamond, Private Detective as Dan Rocco
- Tales of Wells Fargo as Butch Cassidy
- Suspicion as Cal
- M Squad as Eddie Loder
- The Walter Winchell File as Eggers
- Colt .45 as Danny Gordon
- Run of the Arrow as Blue Buffolo
1956
- Playhouse 90 as Wolf Hagan
- Telephone Time as Guest
- Hey, Jeannie! as Rocky Harman
- Wire Service as Sam Adams
- Jubal as Reb
- U.S. Marshall as Zenogalache a.k.a. Apache Kid
1955
- Gunsmoke as Crego
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents as Det. Krovitch
- The Millionaire as Jerry Bell
- Crusader as Mike Brod
- Those Whiting Girls as Martin Carroll
- Big House, U.S.A as Benny Kelly
- Target Zero as Sgt. Vince Gaspari
1954
- Studio 57 as Dawson
- Medic as Dr. John Bircher
- Vera Cruz as Pittsburgh
- Apache as Hondo
- Riding Shotgun as Pinto
- The Joe Palooka Story as Eddie Crane
- Drum Beat as Kintpuash
- Tennessee Champ as Sixty Jubel
1953
- The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse as Joe Krossen
- Letter to Loretta as Eugene Walters
- House of Wax as Igor
- General Electric Theater as Pike
- Crime Wave as Ben Hastings
- The Clown as Gambler (uncredited)
- Miss Sadie Thompson as Pvt. Edwards
- Torpedo Alley as Submariner
1952
- Four Star Playhouse as Frank Dana
- Cavalcade of America as John Stanizewski
- Biff Baker U.S.A. as Czech spy
- Chevron Theatre as (2 Episodes)
- My Six Convicts as Jocko
- Pat and Mike as Henry 'Hank' Tasling
- Diplomatic Courier as Russian Agent (uncredited)
- Battle Zone as Marine Private (uncredited)
- Off Limits as Russell (Uncredited)
- Bloodhounds of Broadway as Phil Green, aka 'Pittsburgh Philo' (uncredited)
- The Doctor as Joe Langan
- Red Skies of Montana as Neff (uncredited)
- The Marrying Kind as Eddie
1951
- Schlitz Playhouse of Stars as Sgt. Roy Smith
- The Mob as Jack (uncredited)
- You're in the Navy Now as Wascylewski
- The People Against O'Hara as Angelo Korvac (uncredited)
1950
- Lux Video Theatre as Sergeant Borth
- Treasury Men in Action as Frankie Ames
1948
- Studio One as Cal
1944
- Golden Globe Awards as Self - Presenter