Charles Bronson gained recognition for portraying tough and stoic roles in his films, mirroring his true character. Raised in poverty and laboring in coal mines, he later joined the US Army Air Forces (USAAF), where he served as an aerial gunner on a Boeing B-29 Superfortress during World War II.
Early life in the coal mines of Pennsylvania
Charles Bronson, born Charles Dennis Buchinsky on November 3, 1921, in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, was the 11th child in a struggling Roman Catholic family of Lithuanian heritage. At first, he did not speak English. As a teenager, he mastered Russian, Lithuanian, English, and Greek.
Following the death of his father, Bronson began working in the Pennsylvania coal mines at age 10 to help support his family, making only one dollar per ton of coal he extracted.
Entering the US Army Air Forces (USAAF)
In 1943, following 12 years working in the mines, Charles Bronson enlisted in the US Army Air Forces.
Initially, Bronson was assigned to the 760th Flexible Gunnery Training Squad. He later served as an aerial gunner on a Boeing B-29 Superfortress. As part of the 61st Bombardment Squadron, 39th Bombardment Group in Guam, he flew 25 combat missions against Japan, many of which were extremely dangerous.
During one mission, he sustained injuries to his arms, earning him the Purple Heart for wounds received in battle. He completed his military service in 1946, after three years.
Charles Bronson adapted well to military life
Though many found the standards of military life challenging, Charles Bronson viewed them as indulgent, saying, “I never had it so good as when I entered the Army. Men were complaining around me. But I was eating and sleeping well, and I thought: ‘Jeez! This is great!’ For me, being drafted was like having a fairy godfather change me into a prince.”
After Bronson achieved fame as a Hollywood star – a genuine rags-to-riches story – news sources scrutinized his military background. Some suggested he had only served as a delivery truck driver for the 760th Mess Squadron in Arizona. However, his World War II comerades validated his role as a nose gunner on a B-29.
Additionally, records have been found confirming his service in Guam as a B-29 crew member, including a September 1945 roster from the 61st Squadron that lists his name.
Post-World War II
After his military service, Charles Bronson used the money he received from the GI Bill to study art and enrolled in the Pasadena Playhouse in sunny California. This change in career didn’t go as smoothly as he would have liked and he had to work many odd jobs. At one point, he was living in an apartment with fellow aspiring actor, Jack Klugman.
His first roles were minor and uncredited, and at the time he was still going by his birth name of Charles Buchinsky. It wasn’t until his role as Igor in 1953’s House of Wax that audiences and major Hollywood studios began to take notice of his abilities.
Starting in the late-1940s and continuing throughout much of the 1950s, the US experienced a nationwide fear of Communism, known as the Second Red Scare. After a series of Soviet spies were discovered in seemingly secure positions, the country began actively hunting and putting a stop to Communist activities.
In 1954, he changed his name to “Charles Bronson” to stop his Eastern European-sounding name drawing unwanted attention from the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).
Charles Bronson’s career eventually gained steam
Charles Bronson’s career gained steam in the 1950s, and by the ’70s he was considered one of Hollywood’s leading men, earning $1 million per film. Among his most popular movies were The Great Escape (1963), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and Death Wish (1974). These roles saw him starring alongside some of Tinsel Town’s finest, including Steve McQueen and Henry Fonda.
While a beloved star, Bronson’s past remained with him, and for much of his life he suffered from bouts of claustrophobia due to his time in the coal mines and aboard B-29 bombers. Bronson’s final role was as Paul Fein in the Family of Cops television movie franchise, of which there were three films.
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He retired from acting following a hip replacement, and in the later years of his life suffered from deteriorating health. In 2003, at the age of 81, he passed away and was interred at Brownsville Cemetery in West Windsor, Vermont.