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 Buchinsky, one of
15 children of struggling parents in Pennsylvania. His mother, Mary
(Valinsky), was born in Pennsylvania, to Lithuanian parents, and his
father, Walter Buchinsky, was a Lithuanian immigrant 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
You're in the Navy Now (1951).
He appeared on screen often early in his career, though usually
uncredited. However, he made an impact on audiences as the evil
assistant to Vincent Price in the
3-D thriller Das Kabinett des Professor Bondi (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),
Sperrfeuer auf Quadrat 7 (1955) and
Hölle der tausend Martern (1957). Indie
director Roger Corman cast him as the lead
in his well-received low-budget gangster flick
Revolver-Kelly (1958), then
Bronson scored the lead in his own TV series,
Der Mann mit der Kamera (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
Die glorreichen Sieben (1960),
and hired him again as tunnel rat Danny Velinski for the WWII POW
big-budget epic
Gesprengte Ketten (1963). Several
more strong roles followed, then once again he was back in military
uniform, alongside Lee Marvin and
Ernest Borgnine in the
testosterone-filled
Das dreckige Dutzend (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
San Sebastian (1968)
(aka "Guns for San Sebastian"), the cult western
Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod (1968)
(aka "Once Upon a Time in The West"),
Der aus dem Regen kam (1970)
(aka "Rider On The Rain") and, in one of the quirkier examples of
international casting, alongside Japansese screen legend
Toshirô Mifune in the western
Rivalen unter roter Sonne (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
Die Valachi-Papiere (1972) and
the revenge western
Chatos Land (1972). After nearly 25
years as a working actor, he became an
'overnight" sensation. Bronson
then hooked up with British director
Michael Winner
to star in several highly successful urban crime thrillers, including
Kalter Hauch (1972) and
Ein Mann geht über Leichen (1973). He then
scored a solid hit as a Colorado melon farmer-done-wrong in
Richard Fleischer's
Das Gesetz bin ich (1974). However, the
film that proved to be a breakthrough for both Bronson and Winner came
in 1974 with the release of the controversial
Ein Mann sieht rot (1974) (written with
Henry Fonda in mind, who turned it down
because he was disgusted by the script).
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 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: Depression-era
street fighter Chaney alongside
James Coburn in
Ein stahlharter Mann (1975). That was followed
by the somewhat slow-paced western
Nevada Pass (1975) (with wife
Jill Ireland), the light-hearted romp (a
flop)
Zwischen Zwölf und Drei (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 the
Ein Mann wie Dynamit (1983),
Der Liquidator (1984),
Der Mordanschlag (1987) and
Kinjite - Tödliches Tabu (1989).
Bronson jolted many critics with his forceful work as murdered United
Mine Workers leader Jock Yablonski in the TV movie
Local 323 (1986),
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
...und den Weihnachtsmann gibts doch! (1991).
Bronson's final film roles were as police commissioner Paul Fein in a
well-received trio of crime/drama TV movies
Eiskalte Wut (1995),
Family of Cops 2 - Der Beichtstuhlmörder (1997)
and
Family of Cops 3 - Zigarren für den Killer (1999).
Unfortunately, ill health began to take its toll; he suffered from
Alzheimer's 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.
