His status grew with impressive performances in "The Magnificent Seven," "The Great Escape," "The Battle of the Bulge," "The Sandpiper" and "The Dirty Dozen." But real stardom eluded him, his rough-hewn face and brusque manner not fitting the Hollywood tradition for leading men.Īlain Delon, like many French, had admired "Machine Gun Kelly," and he invited Bronson to co-star with him in a British-French film, "Adieu, L'Ami" ("Farewell, Friend").
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In 1954 he changed his last name, fearing reaction in the McCarthy era to Russian-sounding names.īronson's first starring role came in 1958 with an eight-day exploitation film, "Machine Gun Kelly." He also appeared in two brief TV series, "Man with a Camera" (1958) and "The Travels of Jamie McPheeters" (1963). Studio scouts saw him at the Playhouse and he was cast as a gob in the 1951 service comedy "You're in the Navy Now" starring Gary Cooper.Īs Charles Buchinsky or Buchinski, he played supporting roles in "Red Skies of Montana," "The Marrying Kind," "Pat and Mike" (in which he fell victim to Katharine Hepburn's judo), "The House of Wax," "Jubal" and other films. He joined the Philadelphia Play and Players Troupe, painting scenery and acting a few minor roles.Īt the Pasadena Playhouse school, Bronson improved his diction, supporting himself by selling Christmas cards and toys on street corners.
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He was attracted to acting not, he claimed, because of any artistic urge he was impressed by the money movie stars could earn. Having seen the outside world, he vowed not to return to the squalor of Scooptown. Army Air Corps in the Pacific, reportedly as a tail gunner on a B29. He might have stayed in the mines for the rest of his life except for World War II.ĭrafted in 1943, he served with the U.S. Like other toughs in Scooptown, he raised some hell and landed in jail for assault and robbery. He was paid $1 per ton of coal and volunteered for perilous jobs because the pay was better. At the age of 6, Charles was embarrassed to attend school in his sister's dress.Ĭharles' father died when he was 10, and at 16 Charles followed his brothers into the mines.
Young Charles learned the art of survival in the tough district of Scooptown, "where you had nothing to lose because you lost it already." The Bunchinskys lived crowded in a shack, the children wearing hand-me-downs from older siblings. He was the 11th of 15 children of a coal miner and his wife, both Lithuanian immigrants. 3, 1921 - not 1922, as studio biographies claimed - in Ehrenfeld, Pa. Alfred Hitchcock impersonating Ringo Starr, 1964.His early life gave no indication of his later fame.
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He was released on 30 October 1988 but only spent sixty-nine days as a free man before he was arrested again.
What was originally a seven year term stretched out to a fourteen year sentence that resulted in his first wife, Irene, with whom he had a son, leaving him.
Regarded as a problem prisoner, he was moved 120 times throughout Her Majesty’s Prison Service and spent most of that time in solitary confinement. These fights added years onto his sentence. While in prison he began making a name for himself as a loose cannon, often fighting convicts and prison guards. In 1974 he was imprisoned for a robbery and sentenced to seven years. This programme looks at the history of Charles Bronson, considered one of Britain’s most brutal criminals. His sentence has been extended several times for violent behaviour and he was jailed for life earlier in 2000 after taking an education officer at Hull prison hostage. Charles Bronson who was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for armed robbery in 1974.