Charles Bronson (Deceased) Many celebrities have risen to stardom amidst adverse conditions but none more so than the actor who would become synonymous with vigilante, maverick style characters as played in ‘Death Wish’ with Jeff Goldblum and in ‘The Magnificent Seven’ with Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen. Charles Bronson was born in Ehrenfeld, a poor and dangerous area of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania which was mainly known for its coalmining industry. With fourteen siblings he grew up in a deprived home with a Lithuanian immigrant father and a Lithuanian American mother. When his father died, Charles was just ten years old and almost instantly abandoned his education and took up work in the coal mines along with his older brothers, where he earned $1.00 per ton of coal mined. Charles continued working in the mines until 1943 when his orders came to join the United States Army Air Force where he served in the Pacific as a tail gunner and flew bombing missions over Japan. Following the war, Bronson began to take an interest in acting based purely on the financial gain it would bring to his life. Although Bronson believed he would become wealthy from acting it took many years to arrive at that point and while he was a struggling actor he shared a room with Jack Klugman who was also a starving actor at that time. While the McCarthy hearings were taking place Charles changed his last name from Buchinsky to Bronson in his belief that having a Slavic sounding name would not make him well received in the acting profession. After seeing the Bronson Gate at Paramount Studios Charles was inspired to take Bronson for his new surname. Using his new surname Bronson made his screen debut along with Lee Marvin in the 1951 black and white movie, ‘You’re in the Navy Now’. Almost at once Bronson found himself working alongside one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, Gary Cooper.One of Bronson’s first screen roles using his new name was as a henchman to Vincent Price's character in the 1953 horror classic ‘House of Wax’ which has since been remade starring Paris Hilton.
The big time was still eluding Bronson although he appeared in three of ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents’ episodes during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s and 1961 saw him starring with Elizabeth Montgomery in the second episode of ‘The Twighlight Zone’.One of Bronson’s early roles had him playing in a cameraman in the detective series, ‘Man with a Camera’. But it was in his 1963 role as Linc, in the TV western ‘The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters’ that gained him attention when he played alongside a ten year old Kurt Russell. Bronson’s career began expanding in America but it was in Europe where he really made himself a name as a serious actor and in 1971 his European roles gained him a Golden Globe for the ‘Most Popular Actor in the World’.Being a descendent of the Lipka Tatars, from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Bronson’s looks fitted in well with roles requiring a Mexican, Chicano or American Indian featured characters. Bronson really found fame as an actor in America when he was cast in the western movies, ‘The Magnificent Seven’ with Yul Brynner and in ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ when he starred with Henry Fonda.Probably one of Bronson’s best remembered roles was as the vigilante architect, Paul Kersey, in ‘Death Wish’ when his wife, played by Hope Lange, was murdered and his daughter was raped. His character sparked a huge audience of crime weary citizens who applauded his vigilante actions to such an extent that Bronson actually made an appeal to people not to imitate his character’s actions. The movie went on to spawn another four Death Wish movies.
Following his role in ‘Death Wish’ Bronson became synonymous with violent films when he starred in ‘The Evil that Men Do’ with John Glover and in the 1983 thriller ’10 To Midnight’ which saw him acting alongside a young Kelly Preston. Bronson continued his role as a vigilante in his final screen appearance in the 1994 ‘Death Wish V: The Face of Death’ which starred Lesley-Anne Down as Olivia Regent.During his life Bronson was married three times. His second marriage was to British born actress Jill Ireland whom he met while filming ‘The Great Escape’ with her then husband, British actor David McCullum who was known for his role in as Illya Kuryakin ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ with Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo. After Jill’s death from breast cancer in 1990 Bronson went on to marry his third wife Kim. Toward the later part of his life Bronson started suffering poor health after he underwent a hip replacement in 1998 and was later diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Finally he fell ill with pneumonia and at the age of eighty one died at Cedar Sinai Medical Center. roles which, on reflection would have propelled him even further into the l Hollywood limelight. ABB | 
