Charles Ray

Ray portrayed simple unaffected country bumpkins in silent rural melodramas. Unfortunately, Ray let Hollywood turn him into a headstrong egotist. Alienating most producers, he put up his own money to finance a major feature called The Courtship of Myles Standish (1923). The film was a miserable failure that wiped out Ray's fortune. Comeback attempts were hampered by the advent of the sound picture.Boyish American leading man who shot to fame but could not sustain his career. The son of a Scots-Irish railroad worker and a mother of French descent, Ray was raised peripatetically in towns in Illinois and then California. Half-hearted attempts at a business career were waylaid by a growing love for the theatre, and his sister nudged him into a professional career by giving him the tuition to attend the Wallace Dramatic School. After touring in plays (some of which he produced) throughout the Southwest, Ray returned to Los Angeles and, in 1912, applied for work as an extra at Thomas H. I... [Details Intro]