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 Buchinski, one of 14 children of struggling Polish immigrant parents in Pennsylvania (his father was a 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 "The You're in the Navy Now (1951)". He appeared on screen often early in his career, though often 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 "Magnificent Seven (1960)", and hired him again as tunnel rat Danny Velinski for the WWII POW epic "The Great Escape (1963)". Several more strong roles followed, then once again Bronson 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 "The Bataille de San Sebastian, La (1968)" (aka "Guns for San Sebastian"), the cult western "C'era una volta il West (1968)" (aka "Once Upon a Time in The West"), "Passager de la pluie, Le (1969)" (aka "Rider On The Rain") and, in one of the quirkier examples of international casting, alongside Japansese screen legend Toshirô Mifune in the western "Soleil rouge (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 "Valachi Papers (1972)" and the revenge western "The Chato's Land (1972)". Bronson then hooked up with British director Michael Winner to star in several highly successful urban crime thrillers, including "Mechanic (1972)" and "The Stone Killer (1973)". 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)". 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 (inferior) 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 - as Depression-era streetfighter Chaney alongside James Coburn in the superb "The Hard Times (1975)". That was followed by the somewhat slow-paced but beautifully photographed western "Breakheart Pass (1975)" (with wife Jill Ireland), the light-hearted romp "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 "10 to Midnight (1983)", "Evil That Men Do (1984)", "The 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) (TV)", gave a very interesting performance in the Sean Penn-directed "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) (TV)".
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) (TV)", "Breach of Faith: Family of Cops II (1997) (TV)" and "Family of Cops III: Under Suspicion (1999) (TV)". Unfortunately, ill health began to take its toll; he suffered from Alzheimers 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.
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