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 The archetypal screen tough guy with weatherbeaten features--one film critic described his rugged looks as "a Clark Gable who had been left out in the sun too long"--Charles Bronson was born Charles Buchinsky, one of 15 children of struggling parents in Pennsylvania. His mother, Mary (Valinsky), was born in Pennsylvania, to Lithuanian parents, and his father, Walter Buchinsky, was a Lithuanian immigrant coal miner.He completed high school and joined his father in the mines (an experience that resulted in a lifetime fear of being in enclosed spaces) and then served in WW II. After his return from the war, Bronson used the GI Bill to study art (a passion he had for the rest of his life), then enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse in California. One of his teachers was impressed with the young man and recommended him to director Henry Hathaway, resulting in Bronson making his film debut in You're in the Navy Now (1951).He appeared on screen often early in his career, though usually uncredited. However, he made an impact on audiences as the evil assistant to Vincent Price in the 3-D thriller House of Wax (1953). His sinewy yet muscular physique got him cast in action-type roles, often without a shirt to highlight his manly frame. He received positive notices from critics for his performances in Vera Cruz (1954), Target Zero (1955) and Run of the Arrow (1957). Indie director Roger Corman cast him as the lead in his well-received low-budget gangster flick Machine-Gun Kelly (1958), then Bronson scored the lead in his own TV series, Man with a Camera (1958). The 1960s proved to be the era in which Bronson made his reputation as a man of few words but much action.Director John Sturges cast him as half Irish/half Mexican gunslinger Bernardo O'Reilly in the smash hit western The Magnificent Seven (1960), and hired him again as tunnel rat Danny Velinski for the WWII POW big-budget epic The Great Escape (1963). Several more strong roles followed, then once again he was back in military uniform, alongside Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine in the testosterone-filled The Dirty Dozen (1967).European audiences had taken a shine to his minimalist acting style, and he headed to the Continent to star in several action-oriented films, including Guns for San Sebastian (1968) (aka "Guns for San Sebastian"), the cult western Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) (aka "Once Upon a Time in The West"), Rider on the Rain (1970) (aka "Rider On The Rain") and, in one of the quirkier examples of international casting, alongside Japansese screen legend Toshir? Mifune in the western Red Sun (1971) (aka "Red Sun").American audiences were by now keen to see Bronson back on US soil, and he returned triumphantly in the early 1970s to take the lead in more hard-edged crime and western dramas, including The Valachi Papers (1972) and the revenge western Chato's Land (1972). After nearly 25 years as a working actor, he became an 'overnight" sensation. Bronson then hooked up with British director Michael Winner to star in several highly successful urban crime thrillers, including The Mechanic (1972) and The Stone Killer (1973). He then scored a solid hit as a Colorado melon farmer-done-wrong in Richard Fleischer's Mr. Majestyk (1974). However, the film that proved to be a breakthrough for both Bronson and Winner came in 1974 with the release of the controversial Death Wish (1974) (written with Henry Fonda in mind, who turned it down because he was disgusted by the script).The US was at the time in the midst of rising street crime, and audiences flocked to see a story about a mild-mannered architect who seeks revenge for the murder of his wife and rape of his daughter by gunning down hoods, rapists and killers on the streets of New York City. So popular was the film that it spawned four sequels over the next 20 years.Action fans could not get enough of tough guy Bronson, and he appeared in what many fans--and critics--consider his best role: Depression-era street fighter Chaney alongside James Coburn in Hard Times (1975). That was followed by the somewhat slow-paced western Breakheart Pass (1975) (with wife Jill Ireland), the light-hearted romp (a flop) From Noon Till Three (1976) and as Soviet agent Grigori Borsov in director Don Siegel's Cold War thriller Telefon (1977).Bronson remained busy throughout the 1980s, with most of his films taking a more violent tone, and he was pitched as an avenging angel eradicating evildoers in films like the 10 to Midnight (1983), The Evil That Men Do (1984), Assassination (1987) and Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989). Bronson jolted many critics with his forceful work as murdered United Mine Workers leader Jock Yablonski in the TV movie Act of Vengeance (1986), gave a very interesting performance in the Sean Penn-directed The Indian Runner (1991) and surprised everyone with his appearance as compassionate newspaper editor Francis Church in the family film Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus (1991).Bronson's final film roles were as police commissioner Paul Fein in a well-received trio of crime/drama TV movies Family of Cops (1995), Breach of Faith: A Family of Cops II (1997) and Family of Cops III: Under Suspicion (1999). Unfortunately, ill health began to take its toll; he suffered from Alzheimer's disease for the last few years of his life, and finally passed away from pneumonia at Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in August 2003.Bronson was a true icon of international cinema; critics had few good things to say about his films, but he remained a fan favorite in both the US and abroad for 50 years, a claim few other film legends can make.
Bio:
The archetypal screen tough guy with weatherbeaten features--one film critic described his rugged looks as "a Clark Gable who had been left out in the sun too long"--Charles Bronson was born Charles Buchinsky, one of 15 children of struggling parents in Pennsylvania. His mother, Mary (Valinsky), was born in Pennsylvania, to Lithuanian parents, and his father, Walter Buchinsky, was a Lithuanian immigrant coal miner.He completed high school and joined his father in the mines (an experience that resulted in a lifetime fear of being in enclosed spaces) and then served in WW II. After his return from the war, Bronson used the GI Bill to study art (a passion he had for the rest of his life), then enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse in California. One of his teachers was impressed with the young man and recommended him to director Henry Hathaway, resulting in Bronson making his film debut in You're in the Navy Now (1951).He appeared on screen often early in his career, though usually uncredited. However, he made an impact on audiences as the evil assistant to Vincent Price in the 3-D thriller House of Wax (1953). His sinewy yet muscular physique got him cast in action-type roles, often without a shirt to highlight his manly frame. He received positive notices from critics for his performances in Vera Cruz (1954), Target Zero (1955) and Run of the Arrow (1957). Indie director Roger Corman cast him as the lead in his well-received low-budget gangster flick Machine-Gun Kelly (1958), then Bronson scored the lead in his own TV series, Man with a Camera (1958). The 1960s proved to be the era in which Bronson made his reputation as a man of few words but much action.Director John Sturges cast him as half Irish/half Mexican gunslinger Bernardo O'Reilly in the smash hit western The Magnificent Seven (1960), and hired him again as tunnel rat Danny Velinski for the WWII POW big-budget epic The Great Escape (1963). Several more strong roles followed, then once again he was back in military uniform, alongside Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine in the testosterone-filled The Dirty Dozen (1967).European audiences had taken a shine to his minimalist acting style, and he headed to the Continent to star in several action-oriented films, including Guns for San Sebastian (1968) (aka "Guns for San Sebastian"), the cult western Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) (aka "Once Upon a Time in The West"), Rider on the Rain (1970) (aka "Rider On The Rain") and, in one of the quirkier examples of international casting, alongside Japansese screen legend Toshir? Mifune in the western Red Sun (1971) (aka "Red Sun").American audiences were by now keen to see Bronson back on US soil, and he returned triumphantly in the early 1970s to take the lead in more hard-edged crime and western dramas, including The Valachi Papers (1972) and the revenge western Chato's Land (1972). After nearly 25 years as a working actor, he became an 'overnight" sensation. Bronson then hooked up with British director Michael Winner to star in several highly successful urban crime thrillers, including The Mechanic (1972) and The Stone Killer (1973). He then scored a solid hit as a Colorado melon farmer-done-wrong in Richard Fleischer's Mr. Majestyk (1974). However, the film that proved to be a breakthrough for both Bronson and Winner came in 1974 with the release of the controversial Death Wish (1974) (written with Henry Fonda in mind, who turned it down because he was disgusted by the script).The US was at the time in the midst of rising street crime, and audiences flocked to see a story about a mild-mannered architect who seeks revenge for the murder of his wife and rape of his daughter by gunning down hoods, rapists and killers on the streets of New York City. So popular was the film that it spawned four sequels over the next 20 years.Action fans could not get enough of tough guy Bronson, and he appeared in what many fans--and critics--consider his best role: Depression-era street fighter Chaney alongside James Coburn in Hard Times (1975). That was followed by the somewhat slow-paced western Breakheart Pass (1975) (with wife Jill Ireland), the light-hearted romp (a flop) From Noon Till Three (1976) and as Soviet agent Grigori Borsov in director Don Siegel's Cold War thriller Telefon (1977).Bronson remained busy throughout the 1980s, with most of his films taking a more violent tone, and he was pitched as an avenging angel eradicating evildoers in films like the 10 to Midnight (1983), The Evil That Men Do (1984), Assassination (1987) and Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989). Bronson jolted many critics with his forceful work as murdered United Mine Workers leader Jock Yablonski in the TV movie Act of Vengeance (1986), gave a very interesting performance in the Sean Penn-directed The Indian Runner (1991) and surprised everyone with his appearance as compassionate newspaper editor Francis Church in the family film Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus (1991).Bronson's final film roles were as police commissioner Paul Fein in a well-received trio of crime/drama TV movies Family of Cops (1995), Breach of Faith: A Family of Cops II (1997) and Family of Cops III: Under Suspicion (1999). Unfortunately, ill health began to take its toll; he suffered from Alzheimer's disease for the last few years of his life, and finally passed away from pneumonia at Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in August 2003.Bronson was a true icon of international cinema; critics had few good things to say about his films, but he remained a fan favorite in both the US and abroad for 50 years, a claim few other film legends can make.
Tivia:
Spoke fluent Russian, Lithuanian and Greek.Once told Roger Ebert that getting drafted into World War II was one of the best things that happened to him. For the first time in his life he was well fed and well dressed, and it afforded him the opportunity to improve his English.Perhaps the biggest late bloomer in Hollywood history, he did not get the marquee treatment he deserved until his late 40s. He was already 53 when Death Wish (1974) premiered.In the 1990s a lady whom he'd never met left him her estate worth well over $1 million. She was a big fan of his. Her family sued and he ended up settling with them out of court.His father died when he was 10, and at 16 he followed his brothers into the coal mines in Scooptown, PA, to support the family. He was paid $1 per ton of coal and volunteered for perilous jobs because the pay was better.Was drafted into the US Army in 1943 and assigned to the Air Corps. At first he was a truck driver, but was later trained as a bomber tail gunner and assigned to a B-29. He flew 25 missions and received, among other decorations, a Purple Heart for wounds incurred in battle. He was based at Guam, Tinian and Saipan.He was very active in raising funds for the John Wayne Cancer Institute.Bill Murray said he based his character in Lost in Translation (2003) on Bronson.In 1954 on the Mexican set of Vera Cruz (1954), he and fellow cast member Ernest Borgnine--who were playing American gunfighters involved in the Mexican fight against the French--had some spare time on their hands and decided to go to a nearby town for cigarettes. They saddled up in costume, sidearms and all, and began riding to town. On the way they were spotted by a truck full of Mexican "federales"--national police--who mistook them for bandits and held them at gunpoint until their identities could be verified.Tested and read for Christopher Reeve's role in Superman (1978).Was by all accounts a very quiet and introspective collaborator, often sitting in a corner for much of a shoot and listening to a director's instructions and not saying a word until cameras were rolling. Don Siegel, who directed him in Telefon (1977), and Tom Gries, who directed him in Breakheart Pass (1975), both commented on how surprised they were to discover how thoroughly and completely prepared Bronson was when he came to work, as it didn't seem to fit his laid-back, taciturn image.Was one of the first big stars to note the emerging new media that was arriving--video and laserdisc--and had a clause put in all his contracts that sales from these new formats should be included in his royalties.Growing up without much money for newer clothes, as a boy he often wore his older sister's hand-me-downs.Awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 12/10/80. He and wife Jill Ireland attended the ceremony.Was a successful artist and painter. He once had an anonymous showing of his artwork at a gallery in California (under his birth name of Buchinsky), and every piece of art sold within two weeks.He was considered for the role of Snake Plissken in Escape from New York (1981), but director John Carpenter felt Bronson was too old and too tough, and cast Kurt Russell instead.His parents were from Lithuania, where his father was a coal miner, and he grew up in a western Pennsylvania coal-mining town. Like all the men in his family he worked in the mines, but hated it and used a variety of means to escape it (including the military and, eventually, acting). His expertise with tunneling and working underground turned out to be quite helpful when making The Great Escape (1963) in the role of "Tunnel King" Velinski. However, even though the "tunnel" he was working in was a cutaway set, he could only stay in it for a few minutes at a time before he had to get up and leave. As a boy working in the mines, he was caught in a cave-in and almost died before he was finally rescued. Ever since that time he had had a deathly fear of enclosed spaces."I am not a Casper Milquetoast," he told "The Washington Post" in 1985, recalling the time he was visiting Rome and felt someone stick a gun in his side. "A guy in broken English asked me for money. I said, 'You give ME money.' He turned around and walked away.".The term "Charles Bronson" is frequently uttered in Reservoir Dogs (1992) in reference to a tough guy.John Huston once summed him up as "a grenade with the pin pulled".Was introduced to his second wife, Jill Ireland, by her then-husband David McCallum during the filming of The Great Escape (1963).He and wife Jill Ireland adopted Katrina Holden Bronson after her mother Hilary Holden died in 1983.Although born in Pennsylvania, Bronson grew up speaking Russian and Lithuanian as his first language (his father was an immigrant, and his mother was the daughter of immigrants). He did not become truly fluent in English until he served in the military during World War II.Sergio Leone once called him "the greatest actor I ever worked with". Leone had wanted Bronson for all of what became known as the "Man with No Name" trilogy, but Bronson turned him down each time. He turned down the lead role in A Fistful of Dollars (1964) after describing it as the "worst script I have ever seen"; he turned down the role of Col. Douglas Mortimer in For a Few Dollars More (1965) as he wasn't interested, and turned the role of Angel Eyes in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) because he was in England filming The Dirty Dozen (1967). Leone eventually cast him as Harmonicac in Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).He grew privately frustrated by the declining quality and range of roles over his career, being pigeonholed as a violent vigilante after the commercial success of Death Wish (1974). His own favorite of his vigilante movies was Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).In the latter part of his career, he worked predominantly with The Guns of Navarone (1961) director J. Lee Thompson. They made nine films together in just over a decade between 1977-89: 10 to Midnight (1983), Cabo Blanco (1980), Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987), The Evil That Men Do (1984), Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989), Messenger of Death (1988), Murphy's Law (1986), St. Ives (1976) and The White Buffalo (1977).With his death on 8/30/03, Robert Vaughn became the last surviving actor to have played one of the title characters in The Magnificent Seven (1960). Vaughn died on 11/11/16 at age 83.Was considered for Gene Hackman's roles in The French Connection (1971), Bite the Bullet (1975) and A Bridge Too Far (1977).He was considered for Jeff Bridges' role in Blown Away (1994).Changed his stage name in the early 1950s in the midst of the McCarthy "Red Scare" at the suggestion of his agent, who was fearful that his last name (Buchinsky) would damage his career.Retired from acting after undergoing hip replacement surgery in August 1998.Called West Windsor, VT, his home for more than three decades (Bronson Farm), and was buried in nearby Brownsville Cemetery, near the foot of Mt. Ascutney.The name Bronson is said to be taken from the "Bronson Gate" at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, at the north end of Bronson Ave.Made six films with director Michael Winner: Chato's Land (1972), The Mechanic (1972), The Stone Killer (1973), Death Wish (1974), Death Wish II (1982) and Death Wish 3 (1985).Tennessee Williams wanted him to play the general in his play "The Red Devil Battery Sign" in 1975, but he wasn't interested.A heavy smoker for most of his life, he suffered from severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in later years.Owned homes in Europe, including Lithuania and Greece.He was originally considered for Lee Marvin's role in The Delta Force (1986). This turned out to be Marvin's final role.Robert Mitchum did not get along with Bronson when they filmed Villa Rides (1968). He later said he could not understand why Bronson was famous.Left an estate worth $48 million, including an $8-million house in Malibu, CA, as well as a $4.8-million beach house and a ranch in Vermont.In 1949 he moved to California, where he signed up for acting lessons at the Pasadena Playhouse.Was once considered to star in a film to be directed by Sam Peckinpah (in the latter part of his career) but he refused. His reason was "I ain't working with no drunk".He was considered for Gregory Peck's roles in Cape Fear (1962) and The Omen (1976).His personal handgun was a Wildey .475 Magnum hand cannon. He suggested its use in Death Wish 3 (1985).Shared a room with Jack Klugman in a New York boarding house in the 1940s.He was considered for the role of John McClane in Die Hard (1988) but was under contract with The Cannon Group, which refused to loan him out.He turned down the role of the titular character's father in Billy Madison (1995).He was considered for the lead role in Conan the Barbarian (1982).Billy Crystal claimed that Bronson was offered the role of Curly in City Slickers (1991), only to be rudely rebuffed because the character dies. Jack Palance went on to win an Oscar for the role.Capable of essaying a variety of types, from Russian to American Indian, from homicidal villain to tight-lipped hero, he suddenly became a star at the age of 53. Following the success of Death Wish (1974), he repeated, with little variation, his role as a vengeful urban vigilante. |
| Name: |
Charles Bronson |
Type: |
Actor (IMDB) |
| Area: |
All World |
Platform: |
IMDB |
| Category: |
|
Business scope: |
Actor |
| Products for sale: |
Actor |
| Model rank: |
122 |
| Last update: |
2024-07-01 03:29:16 |
| Height: |
5' 8?' (1.74 m) |
| Biography: |
The archetypal screen tough guy with weatherbeaten features--one film critic described his rugged looks as \"a Clark Gable who had been left out in the sun too long\"--Charles Bronson was born Charles Buchinsky, one of 15 children of struggling |
| Trivia: |
Spoke fluent Russian, Lithuanian and Greek.Once told Roger Ebert that getting drafted into World War II was one of the best things that happened to him. For the first time in his life he was well fed and well dressed, and it afforded him the opportunity to improve his English.Perhaps the biggest late bloomer in Hollywood history, he did not get the marquee treatment he deserved until his late 40s. He was already 53 when Death Wish (1974) premiered.In the 1990s a lady whom he'd never met left him her estate worth well over $1 million. She was a big fan of his. Her family sued and he ended up settling with them out of court.His father died when he was 10, and at 16 he followed his brothers into the coal mines in Scooptown, PA, to support the family. He was paid $1 per ton of coal and volunteered for perilous jobs because the pay was better.Was drafted into the US Army in 1943 and assigned to the Air Corps. At first he was a truck driver, but was later trained as a bomber tail gunner and assigned to a B-29. He flew 25 missions and received, among other decorations, a Purple Heart for wounds incurred in battle. He was based at Guam, Tinian and Saipan.He was very active in raising funds for the John Wayne Cancer Institute.Bill Murray said he based his character in Lost in Translation (2003) on Bronson.In 1954 on the Mexican set of Vera Cruz (1954), he and fellow cast member Ernest Borgnine--who were playing American gunfighters involved in the Mexican fight against the French--had some spare time on their hands and decided to go to a nearby town for cigarettes. They saddled up in costume, sidearms and all, and began riding to town. On the way they were spotted by a truck full of Mexican "federales"--national police--who mistook them for bandits and held them at gunpoint until their identities could be verified.Tested and read for Christopher Reeve's role in Superman (1978).Was by all accounts a very quiet and introspective collaborator, often sitting in a corner for much of a shoot and listening to a director's instructions and not saying a word until cameras were rolling. Don Siegel, who directed him in Telefon (1977), and Tom Gries, who directed him in Breakheart Pass (1975), both commented on how surprised they were to discover how thoroughly and completely prepared Bronson was when he came to work, as it didn't seem to fit his laid-back, taciturn image.Was one of the first big stars to note the emerging new media that was arriving--video and laserdisc--and had a clause put in all his contracts that sales from these new formats should be included in his royalties.Growing up without much money for newer clothes, as a boy he often wore his older sister's hand-me-downs.Awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 12/10/80. He and wife Jill Ireland attended the ceremony.Was a successful artist and painter. He once had an anonymous showing of his artwork at a gallery in California (under his birth name of Buchinsky), and every piece of art sold within two weeks.He was considered for the role of Snake Plissken in Escape from New York (1981), but director John Carpenter felt Bronson was too old and too tough, and cast Kurt Russell instead.His parents were from Lithuania, where his father was a coal miner, and he grew up in a western Pennsylvania coal-mining town. Like all the men in his family he worked in the mines, but hated it and used a variety of means to escape it (including the military and, eventually, acting). His expertise with tunneling and working underground turned out to be quite helpful when making The Great Escape (1963) in the role of "Tunnel King" Velinski. However, even though the "tunnel" he was working in was a cutaway set, he could only stay in it for a few minutes at a time before he had to get up and leave. As a boy working in the mines, he was caught in a cave-in and almost died before he was finally rescued. Ever since that time he had had a deathly fear of enclosed spaces."I am not a Casper Milquetoast," he told "The Washington Post" in 1985, recalling the time he was visiting Rome and felt someone stick a gun in his side. "A guy in broken English asked me for money. I said, 'You give ME money.' He turned around and walked away.".The term "Charles Bronson" is frequently uttered in Reservoir Dogs (1992) in reference to a tough guy.John Huston once summed him up as "a grenade with the pin pulled".Was introduced to his second wife, Jill Ireland, by her then-husband David McCallum during the filming of The Great Escape (1963).He and wife Jill Ireland adopted Katrina Holden Bronson after her mother Hilary Holden died in 1983.Although born in Pennsylvania, Bronson grew up speaking Russian and Lithuanian as his first language (his father was an immigrant, and his mother was the daughter of immigrants). He did not become truly fluent in English until he served in the military during World War II.Sergio Leone once called him "the greatest actor I ever worked with". Leone had wanted Bronson for all of what became known as the "Man with No Name" trilogy, but Bronson turned him down each time. He turned down the lead role in A Fistful of Dollars (1964) after describing it as the "worst script I have ever seen"; he turned down the role of Col. Douglas Mortimer in For a Few Dollars More (1965) as he wasn't interested, and turned the role of Angel Eyes in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) because he was in England filming The Dirty Dozen (1967). Leone eventually cast him as Harmonicac in Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).He grew privately frustrated by the declining quality and range of roles over his career, being pigeonholed as a violent vigilante after the commercial success of Death Wish (1974). His own favorite of his vigilante movies was Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).In the latter part of his career, he worked predominantly with The Guns of Navarone (1961) director J. Lee Thompson. They made nine films together in just over a decade between 1977-89: 10 to Midnight (1983), Cabo Blanco (1980), Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987), The Evil That Men Do (1984), Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989), Messenger of Death (1988), Murphy's Law (1986), St. Ives (1976) and The White Buffalo (1977).With his death on 8/30/03, Robert Vaughn became the last surviving actor to have played one of the title characters in The Magnificent Seven (1960). Vaughn died on 11/11/16 at age 83.Was considered for Gene Hackman's roles in The French Connection (1971), Bite the Bullet (1975) and A Bridge Too Far (1977).He was considered for Jeff Bridges' role in Blown Away (1994).Changed his stage name in the early 1950s in the midst of the McCarthy "Red Scare" at the suggestion of his agent, who was fearful that his last name (Buchinsky) would damage his career.Retired from acting after undergoing hip replacement surgery in August 1998.Called West Windsor, VT, his home for more than three decades (Bronson Farm), and was buried in nearby Brownsville Cemetery, near the foot of Mt. Ascutney.The name Bronson is said to be taken from the "Bronson Gate" at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, at the north end of Bronson Ave.Made six films with director Michael Winner: Chato's Land (1972), The Mechanic (1972), The Stone Killer (1973), Death Wish (1974), Death Wish II (1982) and Death Wish 3 (1985).Tennessee Williams wanted him to play the general in his play "The Red Devil Battery Sign" in 1975, but he wasn't interested.A heavy smoker for most of his life, he suffered from severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in later years.Owned homes in Europe, including Lithuania and Greece.He was originally considered for Lee Marvin's role in The Delta Force (1986). This turned out to be Marvin's final role.Robert Mitchum did not get along with Bronson when they filmed Villa Rides (1968). He later said he could not understand why Bronson was famous.Left an estate worth $48 million, including an $8-million house in Malibu, CA, as well as a $4.8-million beach house and a ranch in Vermont.In 1949 he moved to California, where he signed up for acting lessons at the Pasadena Playhouse.Was once considered to star in a film to be directed by Sam Peckinpah (in the latter part of his career) but he refused. His reason was "I ain't working with no drunk".He was considered for Gregory Peck's roles in Cape Fear (1962) and The Omen (1976).His personal handgun was a Wildey .475 Magnum hand cannon. He suggested its use in Death Wish 3 (1985).Shared a room with Jack Klugman in a New York boarding house in the 1940s.He was considered for the role of John McClane in Die Hard (1988) but was under contract with The Cannon Group, which refused to loan him out.He turned down the role of the titular character's father in Billy Madison (1995).He was considered for the lead role in Conan the Barbarian (1982).Billy Crystal claimed that Bronson was offered the role of Curly in City Slickers (1991), only to be rudely rebuffed because the character dies. Jack Palance went on to win an Oscar for the role.Capable of essaying a variety of types, from Russian to American Indian, from homicidal villain to tight-lipped hero, he suddenly became a star at the age of 53. Following the success of Death Wish (1974), he repeated, with little variation, his role as a vengeful urban vigilante. |
| Trademarks: |
Frequently played violent characters
Distinctive, gravelly voice
Rough facial features
Long thin moustache |
| Quotes: |
I guess I look like a rock quarry that someone has dynamited.
<br />
<hr>
Acting is the easiest thing I've done, I guess that's why I'm stuck with it.
<br />
<hr>
Someday I'd like a part where I can lean my elbow against a mantlepiece and have a cocktail.
<br />
<hr>
I don't look like someone who leans on a mantelpiece with a cocktail in my hand, you know. I look like the kind of guy who has a bottle of beer in my hand.
<br />
<hr>
[in 1971] Maybe I'm too masculine. Casting directors cast in their own, or an idealized image. Maybe I don't look like anybody's ideal. |
| Salaries: |
Death Wish: The Face of Death (1994) - $5,000,000 -$6,000,000
<br />
<hr>
Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987) - $4,000,000
<br />
<hr>
Death Wish 3 (1985) - $1,500,000
<br />
<hr>
10 to Midnight (1983) - $2,000,000
<b |
| Job title: |
Actor |
| Others works: |
(1987) Print ads (PSA): Motorcycle Industry Council promoting safety and responsible riding
(1970s) TV commercial (Japan only): "Mandom" cologne
(1957) TV commercial: General Electric batteries
(10/26/56) Radio: Appeared in "Family Theat |
| Spouse: |
Kim Weeks (December 27, 1998 - August 30, 2003) (his death)Jill Ireland (October 5, 1968 - May 18, 1990) (her death, 1 child)Harriet Tendler (September 30, 1949 - 1967) (divorced, 2 children) |
| Parents: |
Mary Buchinsky (Valinsky)
Walter Buchinsky |
|
