CHARLES BRONSON

Actor

Charles Buchinski, later known as Charles Bronson, was the eleventh child of what would be fifteen children when he was born on November 3, 1921 in Ehrenfeld, PA. His father was an immigrant from Lithuania who worked in the Pennsylvania coal mines. Branson spoke no English as a child, and worked in the coal mines along with his brothers to help support the family. He graduated from high school, and served as a tail gunner in World War Two. After the war, he studied art in Philadelphia then tried his hand at acting in New York before going to California to study acting at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Bronson's first film role was in You're in the Navy Now in 1951, and he got several more roles all emphasizing his "tough guy" image.He became well known after being cast in The Magnificent Seven in 1960, then in 1963's The Great Escape and 1967's The Dirty Dozen. 1968 found him in Europe making several films, including Once Upon a Time in the West and The Valachi Papers. Back in the United States, he had perhaps his most famous role as the calm, law-abiding man driven to extreme violence in Death Wish, as well as its four sequels. Bronson also had several television roles, including 1977's Raid on Entebbe and 1991's The Indian Runner. His last TV appearance was in Family of Cops III in 1999.

Bronson married three times. He had two children with Harriet Tendler and one daughter with Jill Ireland - his longest marriage, from 1958 until her death in 1990. He married Kim Weeks in 1990, to whom he was married when he died on August 30, 2003.