Charles Bronson

This article is about the Death Wish actor. For other uses, see Charles Bronson (disambiguation).

Charles Bronson
at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival
Born	Charles Dennis Buchinsky (1921-11-03)November 3, 1921 Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, USA
Died	August 30, 2003(2003-08-30) (aged 81) Los Angeles, California, USA
Cause of death	Respiratory and congestive heart failure complicated by COPD and lung cancer
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1950–1999
Spouse(s)	Harriet Tendler (1949–67; divorced) Jill Ireland (1968–90; her death) Kim Weeks (1998–2003; his death)

Charles Bronson (Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. He was a Purple Heart recipient.

Background

He was born in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania. Bronson was married to Jill Ireland (his second marriage, 1968–1990) until her death from breast cancer. He died of pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease. He is of Tatar origin. He died in Los Angeles.

He played Paul Kersey in the Death Wish movie series. He was 5'9". He was 81 years old when he died. His real full name was Charles Dennis Buchinsky Rectified - Karolis was the 1st name, his parents being from Litva, a Balto-Slavic nation, not Tartar.

Born Charles Buchinsky, Bronson changed his last name during his early career in the 1950s during the rise of McCarthyism. This was suggested by his agent in order to save his career from potentially being blacklisted as a communist.

Filmography

Feature films

  Denotes lead role

Title	Year	Functioned as		Notes
		Actor	Role
Showdown at Boot Hill	1958		Luke Welsh
Machine-Gun Kelly	1958		George R. "Machine Gun" Kelly
Gang War	1958		Alan Avery
When Hell Broke Loose	1958		Steve Boland
Never So Few	1959		Sergeant John Danforth
The Magnificent Seven	1960		Bernardo O'Reilly
Master of the World	1961		John Strock
A Thunder of Drums	1961		Trooper Hanna
X-15	1961		Lieutenant Colonel Lee Brandon
Kid Galahad	1962		Lew Nyack
The Great Escape	1963		Lieutenant Danny "Tunnel King" Welinski
4 for Texas	1963		Matson
Guns of Diablo	1964		Linc Murdock
The Sandpiper	1965		Cos Erickson
Battle of the Bulge	1965		Major Wolenski
This Property Is Condemned	1966		J.J. Nichols
The Dirty Dozen	1967		Joseph Wladislaw
Guns for San Sebastian	1968		Teclo
Villa Rides	1968		Rodolfo Fierro
Adieu l'ami	1968		Franz Propp
Once Upon a Time in the West	1968		"Harmonica"
Lola	1970		Scott Wardman
Rider on the Rain	1970		Colonel Harry Dobbs
You Can't Win 'Em All	1970		Josh Corey
Violent City	1970		Jeff Heston
Cold Sweat	1970		Joe Moran / Joe Martin
Someone Behind the Door	1971		"The Stranger"
Red Sun	1971		Link Stuart
The Valachi Papers	1972		Joseph "Joe" Valachi
Chato's Land	1972		Pardon Chato
The Mechanic	1972		Arthur Bishop
The Stone Killer	1973		Detective Lou Torrey
Chino	1973		Chino Valdez
Mr. Majestyk	1974		Vince Majestyk
Death Wish	1974		Dr. Paul Kersey
Breakout	1975		Nick Colton
Hard Times	1975		Chaney
Breakheart Pass	1975		John Deakin
From Noon till Three	1976		Graham
St. Ives	1976		Raymond St Ives
The White Buffalo	1977		Bill Hickok / James Otis
Telefon	1977		Major Grigori Borzov
Love and Bullets	1979		Detective Charlie Congers
Caboblanco	1980		Gifford "Giff" Hoyt
Borderline	1980		Agent Jeb Maynard
Death Hunt	1981		Albert Johnson
Death Wish II	1982		Dr. Paul Kersey
10 to Midnight	1983		Detective Leo Kessler
The Evil That Men Do	1984		Holland
Death Wish 3	1985		Dr. Paul Kersey
Murphy's Law	1986		Detective Jack Murphy
Assassination	1987		Jay Killion
Death Wish 4: The Crackdown	1987		Dr. Paul Kersey
Messenger of Death	1988		Garret Smith
Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects	1989		Lieutenant Crowe
The Indian Runner	1991		Mr. Roberts
Death Wish V: The Face of Death	1994		Dr. Paul Kersey

Television

  Denotes lead role

Title	Year	Functioned as		Network	Notes
		Actor	Role
The Bull of the West	1972		Ben Justin	Unknown
The Meanest Men in the West	1974		Harge Talbot Jr.	Unknown
Raid on Entebbe	1976		General Dan Shomron	HBO
Act of Vengeance	1986		Joseph "Jock" Yablonski	HBO
Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus	1991		Francis Church	Unknown
The Sea Wolf	1993		Captain Wolf Larsen	TNT
Donato and Daughter	1993		Sergeant Mike Donato	CBS
Family of Cops	1995		Commissioner Paul Fein	CBS
Breach of Faith: A Family of Cops 2	1997		Commissioner Paul Fein	CBS
Family of Cops 3	1999		Commissioner Paul Fein	CBS

Other websites

Media related to Charles Bronson at Wikimedia Commons

• Charles Bronson on IMDb
• Charles Bronson at AllMovie
• Japanese fansite Archived 2010-04-28 at the Wayback Machine