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Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his "granite features and brawny physique,"[1] he gained international fame for his starring roles in action, western, and war films; initially as a supporting player and later a leading man. A quintessential cinematic "tough guy", Bronson was cast in various roles where the plot line hinged on the authenticity of the character's toughness and brawn.[2] At the height of his fame in the early 1970s, he was the world's No. 1 box office attraction, commanding $1 million per film.
Born to a Lithuanian-American coal mining family in rural Pennsylvania, Bronson served in the United States Army Air Forces as a bomber tail gunner during World War II. He worked several odd jobs before entering the film industry in the early 1950s, playing bit and supporting roles as henchmen, thugs, and other "heavies". After playing a villain in the Western film Drum Beat, he was cast in his first leading role by B-movie auteur Roger Corman, playing the title character in the gangster picture Machine-Gun Kelly (1958). The role brought him to the attention of mainstream critics, and led to sizable co-lead parts as an Irish-Mexican gunslinger in The Magnificent Seven (1960), a claustrophobic tunneling expert in The Great Escape (1963), a small-town Southern louche in This Property Is Condemned (1966), and a prisoner-turned-commando in The Dirty Dozen (1967).
Despite his popularity with audiences and critics, Bronson was unable to find top-billed roles in major Hollywood productions. His acclaim among European filmmakers, particularly in France and Italy, led to a string of successful starring roles on the continent. He played a vengeful, Harmonica-playing gunman in Sergio Leone's epic Spaghetti Western Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), an offbeat detective in Rider on the Rain (1970), real-life Mafia turncoat Joe Valachi in The Valachi Papers (1972), and starred opposite Alain Delon in Adieu l'ami (1968) and Red Sun (1971). The success of those films proved his capability as a leading man and launched him to international stardom. In his home country, he played the architect-turned-vigilante Paul Kersey in Death Wish (1974) and its four sequels, a role that typified the rest of his career. He continued acting well into the 1980s, often in Cannon Films productions. His final role was in a trilogy of made-for-television films, Family of Cops, aired between 1995 and 1999.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | The Mob | Jack | Uncredited | [3] |
| You're in the Navy Now | Wascylewski | [4] | ||
| The People Against O'Hara | Angelo Korvac | [5] | ||
| 1952 | Bloodhounds of Broadway | "Pittsburgh Philo" Green | [6] | |
| Battle Zone | Private | [7] | ||
| Pat and Mike | Hank Tasling | Credited as Charles Buchinski | [8] | |
| Diplomatic Courier | Russian Agent | Uncredited | [9] | |
| My Six Convicts | Jocko | Credited as Charles Buchinsky | [10] | |
| The Marrying Kind | Eddie – Co-Worker at Plant | Uncredited | [11] | |
| Red Skies of Montana | Neff | [12] | ||
| 1953 | Miss Sadie Thompson | Private Edwards | Credited as Charles Buchinsky | [13] |
| House of Wax | Igor | [14] | ||
| Off Limits | Russell | Uncredited | [15] | |
| The Clown | Eddie, Dice Player | [16] | ||
| Torpedo Alley | Submariner | |||
| 1954 | Apache | Hondo | Credited as Charles Buchinsky | |
| Riding Shotgun | Pinto | |||
| Tennessee Champ | Sixty Jubel, the 'Biloxi Blockbuster' | |||
| Crime Wave | Ben Hastings | |||
| Vera Cruz | Pittsburgh | |||
| Drum Beat | "Captain Jack" Kintpuash | |||
| 1955 | Target Zero | Sergeant Vince Gaspari | [17] | |
| Big House, U.S.A. | Benny Kelly | [18] | ||
| 1956 | Jubal | Reb Haislipp | [19] | |
| 1957 | Run of the Arrow | Blue Buffalo | [20] | |
| 1958 | Gang War | Alan Avery | [21] | |
| When Hell Broke Loose | Steve Boland | [22] | ||
| Machine-Gun Kelly | Machine Gun Kelly | [23] | ||
| Showdown at Boot Hill | Luke Welsh | [24] | ||
| 1959 | Never So Few | Sergeant John Danforth | [25] | |
| 1960 | The Magnificent Seven | Bernardo O'Reilly | [26] | |
| 1961 | Master of the World | John Strock | [27] | |
| A Thunder of Drums | Trooper Hanna | [28] | ||
| 1962 | X-15 | Lieutenant Colonel Lee Brandon | ||
| Kid Galahad | Lew Nyack | [29] | ||
| 1963 | The Great Escape | Flight Lieutenant Danny Velinski, 'The Tunnel King' | [30] | |
| 4 for Texas | Matson | [31] | ||
| 1965 | Guns of Diablo | Linc Murdock | Feature version of the final episode of The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters | |
| The Sandpiper | Cos Erickson | [32] | ||
| Battle of the Bulge | Major Wolenski | [33] | ||
| The Bull of the West | Ben Justin | Theatrical release combining 2 episodes of The Virginian | ||
| 1966 | This Property Is Condemned | J.J. Nichols | [34] | |
| The Meanest Men in the West | Charles S. Dubin | Theatrical release combining 2 episodes of The Virginian | ||
| 1967 | The Dirty Dozen | Joseph Wladislaw | [35] | |
| 1968 | Guns for San Sebastian | Teclo | [36] | |
| Adieu l'ami | Franz Propp | |||
| Villa Rides | Rodolfo Fierro | [37] | ||
| Once Upon a Time in the West | Harmonica | [38] | ||
| 1969 | You Can't Win 'Em All | Josh Corey | ||
| 1970 | Lola | Scott Wardman | [39] | |
| Rider on the Rain | Colonel Harry Dobbs | [40] | ||
| Violent City | Jeff Heston | [41] | ||
| 1971 | Cold Sweat | Joe Martin | ||
| Someone Behind the Door | The Stranger | |||
| Red Sun | Link Stuart | |||
| 1972 | The Valachi Papers | Joseph Valachi | [42] | |
| Chato's Land | Pardon Chato | [43] | ||
| The Mechanic | Arthur Bishop | [44] | ||
| 1973 | The Stone Killer | Lou Torrey | [45] | |
| Chino | Chino Valdez | [46] | ||
| 1974 | Mr. Majestyk | Vince Majestyk | [47] | |
| Death Wish | Paul Kersey | [48] | ||
| 1975 | Breakout | Nick Colton | [49] | |
| Hard Times | Chaney | [50] | ||
| Breakheart Pass | Deakin | [51] | ||
| 1976 | From Noon till Three | Graham Dorsey | [52] | |
| St. Ives | Raymond St Ives | [53] | ||
| 1977 | The White Buffalo | Wild Bill Hickok | [54] | |
| 1978 | Telefon | Major Grigori Bortsov | [55] | |
| 1979 | Love and Bullets | Charlie Congers | [56] | |
| 1980 | Borderline | Jeb Maynard | [57] | |
| Caboblanco | Gifford Hoyt | [58] | ||
| 1981 | Death Hunt | Albert Johnson | [59] | |
| 1982 | Death Wish II | Paul Kersey | [60] | |
| 1983 | 10 to Midnight | Leo Kessler | [61] | |
| 1984 | The Evil That Men Do | Holland / Bart Smith | [62] | |
| 1985 | Death Wish 3 | Paul Kersey | [63] | |
| 1986 | Murphy's Law | Jack Murphy | [64] | |
| 1987 | Assassination | Jay Killion | [65] | |
| Death Wish 4: The Crackdown | Paul Kersey | [66] | ||
| 1988 | Messenger of Death | Garret Smith | [67] | |
| 1989 | Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects | Lieutenant Crowe | [68] | |
| 1991 | The Indian Runner | Mr. Roberts | [69] | |
| 1994 | Death Wish V: The Face of Death | Paul Kersey | [70] |
| Year | Title | Role | Format | Episode | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Cavalcade of America | John Stanizewski | Television series | Season 4 episode 6: "A Chain of Hearts" | [71] |
| 1956, 1962 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Detective Krovitch; Frank Bramwell; Ray Bardon | Season 1 episode 20: "And So Died Riabouchinska"; season 1 episode 25: "There Was an Old Woman"; season 7 episode 18: "The Woman Who Wanted to Live" | ||
| 1958 | Gunsmoke | Ben Tipple | Season 1 episode 25: "Lost Rifle" | ||
| 1958-1960 | Man with a Camera | Mike Kovac | 29 episodes | [72][73] | |
| 1959 | Yancy Derringer | Donavan | Season 1 episode 20: "Hell and High Water" | [74] | |
| 1963–64 | The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters | Linc Murdock | 26 episodes | ||
| 1967 | The Fugitive | Ralph Schuyler | Season 4 episode 17: "The One That Got Away" | [75] | |
| 1977 | Raid on Entebbe | Brigadier General Dan Shomron | Television film | [76] | |
| 1986 | Act of Vengeance | Joseph Yablonski | [77] | ||
| 1991 | Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus | Francis Pharcellus Church | [78] | ||
| 1993 | The Sea Wolf | Captain Wolf Larsen | [79] | ||
| Donato and Daughter | Sergeant Mike Donato | [80] | |||
| 1995 | Family of Cops | Commisioner Paul Fein | [81] | ||
| 1997 | Breach of Faith: A Family of Cops 2 | [82] | |||
| 1999 | Family of Cops 3 | [83] |
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