1921-11-03 Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. He was known for his roles in action films and his "granite features and brawny physique". Bronson was born into extreme poverty in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town in the Allegheny Mountains. Bronson's father, a miner, died when Bronson was young. Bronson himself worked in the mines as well until joining the United States Army Air Forces in 1943 to fight in World War II. Bronson had sizeable co-starring roles in The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963), This Property Is Condemned (1966), and The Dirty Dozen (1967). Bronson also performed in many major television shows, and was nominated for an Emmy Award for his supporting role in an episode of General Electric Theater. Actor Alain Delon (who was a fan of Bronson) hired him to co-star with him in the French film Adieu l'ami (1968). That year, he also played one of the leads in the Italian spaghetti Western, Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). Bronson continued playing leads in various action, Western, and war films made in Europe, including Rider on the Rain (1970), which won a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. During this time Bronson was the most popular American actor in Europe. Early life and war service Bronson was born November 3, 1921, in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, a coal mining region in the Allegheny Mountains, north of Johnstown. He was the 11th of 15 children born into a Roman Catholic family of Lithuanian descent. The very large family slept in shifts in their cold-water shack. The coal car tracks that ran out of the mine's mouth passed just a few yards away. His father, Walter Buchinsky (né Vladislavas Valteris Paulius Bučinskas/Bučinskis), was a Lipka Tatar from Druskininkai in southern Lithuania. Bronson's mother, Mary (née Valinsky), whose parents were from Lithuania, was born in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, in the Anthracite Coal Region. Bronson said English was not spoken at home during his childhood, like many other first-generation American children he grew up with. He once recounted that even as a soldier, his accent was strong enough to make his comrades think he was a foreigner. Besides English, he could speak Lithuanian and Russian. Marriages His first marriage was to Harriet Tendler, whom he met when both were fledgling actors in Philadelphia. They had two children, Suzanne and Tony, before divorcing in 1965. Bronson died at age 81 on August 30, 2003, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Bronson was married to English actress Jill Ireland from October 5, 1968, until her death in 1990. Death Bronson died at age 81 on August 30, 2003, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Although pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease have been cited as his cause of death, neither appears on his death certificate, which cites "respiratory failure", "metastatic lung cancer", with, secondarily, "chronic obstructive pulmonary disease" and "congestive cardiomyopathy" as the causes of death. He was interred at Brownsville Cemetery in West Windsor, Vermont. CLR
 |
Elvis: A Life in Music | Self (archive footage) | 2026-01-08 |
 |
Breakdown: 1975 | Self - Actor in Death Wish (archive footage) | 2025-12-18 |
 |
Rat Pack | Self (archive footage) | 2022-01-11 |
 |
Charles Bronson, le génie du mâle | Self (archive footage) | 2020-11-29 |
 |
Spanish Western | Self (archive footage) | 2015-05-04 |
 |
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films | Self - Actor (archive footage) | 2014-10-06 |
 |
Operation Dirty Dozen | Self | 2006-01-01 |
 |
Family of Cops III | Paul Fein | 1999-01-12 |
 |
Breach of Faith: A Family of Cops II | Commissioner Paul Fein | 1997-02-02 |
 |
Family of Cops | Paul Fein | 1995-11-26 |
 |
Sinatra: 80 Years My Way | Self - Audience Member (uncredited) | 1995-12-14 |
 |
Death Wish V: The Face of Death | Paul Kersey | 1994-01-14 |
 |
The Sea Wolf | Capt. Wolf Larsen | 1993-04-18 |
 |
Donato and Daughter | Sgt. Mike Donato | 1993-09-21 |
 |
La Classe américaine | The Indian (archive footage) | 1993-12-31 |
 |
Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus | Francis Church | 1991-12-08 |
 |
The Indian Runner | Mr. Roberts | 1991-09-20 |
 |
Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects | Lieutenant Crowe | 1989-02-03 |
 |
Messenger of Death | Garret Smith | 1988-09-16 |
 |
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood | Self | 1987-05-18 |
 |
Assassination | Jay Killion | 1987-01-09 |
 |
Death Wish 4: The Crackdown | Paul Kersey | 1987-06-11 |
 |
Act of Vengeance | Joseph 'Jock' Yablonski | 1986-09-04 |
 |
Murphy's Law | Jack Murphy | 1986-04-18 |
 |
All Star Party for Clint Eastwood | Self (uncredited) | 1986-11-30 |
 |
Night of 100 Stars II | Self | 1985-03-10 |
 |
Death Wish 3 | Paul Kersey | 1985-11-01 |
 |
The Evil That Men Do | Holland | 1984-03-14 |
 |
10 to Midnight | Leo Kessler | 1983-03-11 |
 |
All-Star Party for Frank Sinatra | Self | 1983-12-11 |
 |
Death Wish II | Paul Kersey | 1982-02-20 |
 |
Death Hunt | Albert Johnson | 1981-04-15 |
 |
Borderline | Jeb Maynard | 1980-12-19 |
 |
Caboblanco | Gifford Hoyt | 1980-01-23 |
 |
Catastrophe: No Safe Place | Self - Host | 1980-09-18 |
 |
Love and Bullets | Charlie Congers | 1979-04-05 |
 |
The Meanest Men in the West | Harge Talbot Jr. | 1978-05-04 |
 |
The White Buffalo | Wild Bill Hickok/James Otis | 1977-05-01 |
 |
Telefon | Major Grigori Borzov | 1977-12-16 |
 |
From Noon Till Three | Graham Dorsey | 1976-08-01 |
 |
St. Ives | Raymond St. Ives | 1976-02-24 |
 |
Raid on Entebbe | Brig. Gen. Dan Shomron | 1976-12-26 |
 |
Breakheart Pass | John Deakin | 1975-12-09 |
 |
Hard Times | Chaney | 1975-08-13 |
 |
Breakout | Nick Colton | 1975-05-01 |
 |
Death Wish | Paul Kersey | 1974-07-24 |
 |
Mr. Majestyk | Vince Majestyk | 1974-07-17 |
 |
Valdez, il mezzosangue | Chino Valdez | 1973-09-14 |
 |
The Stone Killer | Lou Torrey | 1973-08-08 |
 |
Chato's Land | Pardon Chato | 1972-05-25 |
 |
The Valachi Papers | Joe Valachi | 1972-01-06 |
 |
Valachi: The Violent Era | Self | 1972-01-01 |
 |
The Mechanic | Arthur Bishop | 1972-10-06 |
 |
The Bull of the West | Ben Justin | 1972-05-04 |
 |
Quelqu'un derrière la porte | The Stranger | 1971-07-28 |
 |
Mean Justice | Moreno | 1971-02-08 |
 |
Soleil Rouge | Link | 1971-09-15 |
 |
Città violenta | Jeff Heston | 1970-09-17 |
 |
You Can't Win 'Em All | Josh Corey | 1970-07-23 |
 |
Twinky | Scott Wardman | 1970-01-06 |
 |
Le Passager de la pluie | Col. Harry Dobbs | 1970-01-21 |
 |
Cold Sweat | Joe Martin | 1970-12-18 |
 |
Villa Rides | Rodolfo Fierro | 1968-05-29 |
 |
C'era una volta il West | 'Harmonica' | 1968-12-21 |
 |
Adieu l'ami | Franz Propp | 1968-08-14 |
 |
La Bataille de San Sebastian | Teclo | 1967-04-26 |
 |
The Dirty Dozen | Joseph Wladislaw | 1967-06-15 |
 |
This Property Is Condemned | J.J. Nichols | 1966-08-03 |
 |
The Big Sur | Self (uncredited) | 1965-05-01 |
 |
Battle of the Bulge | Maj. Wolenski | 1965-12-16 |
 |
The Sandpiper | Cos Erickson | 1965-06-23 |
 |
Guns of Diablo | Linc Murdock | 1964-10-04 |
 |
The Great Escape | Danny 'Tunnel King' | 1963-07-03 |
 |
4 for Texas | Matson | 1963-12-21 |
 |
Kid Galahad | Lew Nyack | 1962-11-29 |
 |
X-15 | Lt. Col. Lee Brandon | 1961-12-22 |
 |
Master of the World | John Strock | 1961-05-01 |
 |
A Thunder of Drums | Trooper Hanna | 1961-09-26 |
 |
The Magnificent Seven | Bernardo O'Reilly | 1960-10-12 |
 |
Never So Few | Sgt. John Danforth | 1959-12-07 |
 |
Showdown at Boot Hill | Luke Welsh | 1958-05-01 |
 |
Machine-Gun Kelly | George R. 'Machine Gun' Kelly | 1958-05-01 |
 |
Gang War | Alan Avery | 1958-07-01 |
 |
When Hell Broke Loose | Steve Boland | 1958-11-01 |
 |
No Time at All | Wolf Hagan | 1958-02-13 |
 |
Run of the Arrow | Blue Buffolo | 1957-09-05 |
 |
Jubal | Reb | 1956-02-25 |
 |
Target Zero | Sgt. Vince Gaspari | 1955-11-15 |
 |
Big House, U.S.A | Benny Kelly | 1955-03-03 |
 |
Drum Beat | Kintpuash | 1954-11-10 |
 |
Apache | Hondo | 1954-07-09 |
 |
Tennessee Champ | Sixty Jubel | 1954-03-03 |
 |
Vera Cruz | Pittsburgh | 1954-12-25 |
 |
Riding Shotgun | Pinto | 1954-04-01 |
 |
Crime Wave | Ben Hastings | 1953-10-22 |
 |
Torpedo Alley | Submariner | 1953-12-25 |
 |
Miss Sadie Thompson | Pvt. Edwards | 1953-12-23 |
 |
The Clown | Gambler (uncredited) | 1953-01-16 |
 |
House of Wax | Igor | 1953-04-16 |
 |
Diplomatic Courier | Russian Agent (uncredited) | 1952-06-13 |
 |
Pat and Mike | Henry 'Hank' Tasling | 1952-06-13 |
 |
My Six Convicts | Jocko | 1952-03-20 |
 |
Bloodhounds of Broadway | Phil Green, aka 'Pittsburgh Philo' (uncredited) | 1952-11-14 |
 |
Battle Zone | Marine Private (uncredited) | 1952-10-26 |
 |
Red Skies of Montana | Neff (uncredited) | 1952-01-23 |
 |
The Marrying Kind | Eddie | 1952-02-01 |
 |
Off Limits | Russell (Uncredited) | 1952-12-30 |
 |
You're in the Navy Now | Wascylewski | 1951-02-23 |
 |
The People Against O'Hara | Angelo Korvac (uncredited) | 1951-09-01 |
 |
The Mob | Jack (uncredited) | 1951-09-07 |
