Seven Things to Know About Charles Bronson

Bronson in The Dirty Dozen.

1. Charles Bronson and Jack Klugman were roommates early in their careers. According to Klugman, Bronson was by far the neater of the two--in other words, he was sort of the Felix to Klugman's Oscar. When Bronson died in 2003, Klugman wrote a farewell tribute to his friend for Entertainment Weekly.

2. Charles Bronson had become an in-demand supporting actor in 1960s Hollywood, with key performances in big hits like The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963), and The Dirty Dozen (1967). However, lead roles were few and far between and limited to low-budget movies like Machine Gun Kelly (1958) and Master of the World (1961). Italian director Sergio Leone offered Bronson the starring role in the 1964 Spaghetti Western A Fistful of Dollars. Bronson rejected the part after reading the script and then watched as the film made Clint Eastwood an international star. Even after that, Bronson turned down opportunities to star alongside Eastwood in Leone's classic Westerns For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. (Bronson was replaced--memorably--by Lee Van Cleef in both films.)

3. Bronson's acting career got the jolt it needed when he teamed with French superstar Alain Delon in the 1968 heist film Farewell, Friend (aka Honor Among Thieves). Delon, who admired Bronson's work in Machine Gun Kelly, played a major role in casting the American as his co-star. Farewell, Friend was a huge hit in Europe and Bronson followed it with Once Upon a Time in the West (finally working with Leone), Rider on the Rain, Red Sun, Chato's Land, and The Valachi Papers. These motion pictures cemented the rugged Bronson's stardom in France (where he was known as  “Le Sacre Monstre”), Italy (where he was dubbed “Il Bruto”), and Spain.  By 1972, he was the subject of a Newsweek article and had been proclaimed the number one box office star in the world by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Bronson in Once Upon a Time.

4. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) was a huge hit in Europe, but a financial flop in the U.S. Paramount, which handled the American release, trimmed 25 minutes from Leone's 165-minute film, which surely didn't help with understanding the lengthy plot. However, the film's reputation has grown steadily since its original release. In 2005, Time Magazine’s film critics, Richard Corliss and Richard Schickel, included Once Upon a Time in the West on their list of the 100 Greatest Movies. Bronson's performance is often cited as one of his best, along with Death Wish, Hard Times, and the underrated From Noon Till Three.

5. Bronson met David McCallum's wife, Jill Ireland, on the set of The Great Escape in 1962. He famously told McCallum: "I'm going to marry your wife." Bronson was married at the time to Harriet Tendler, whom he divorced in 1965. That same year, Ireland and McCallum separated; they divorced two years later after ten years of marriage. Bronson and Ireland wed in 1968 and remained together until her death from breast cancer in 1990 at age 54. The couple appeared in 15 movies together (not counting a cameo by Ireland in Lola). Their best films together were the previously mentioned From Noon Till Three and Hard Times.

6. After his international box office successes, Charles Bronson returned to the U.S. to star in The Mechanic (1972). He played an assassin who trains a protege, played by Jan-Michael Vincent (Richard Dreyfuss was originally cast in the role, but later dropped out). While The Mechanic, The Stone Killer, and Mr. Majestyk all turned profits, it was Death Wish (1974) that made Bronson a household name in America. The controversial vigilante drama was condemned by some critics and praised by others. It was the thirteenth biggest domestic box office hit in 1974. It had staying power, too, not reaching on the top spot on Variety's box office chart until its twentieth week of release. In response to some of the negative film reviews, Bronson quipped: "We don't make movies for critics, since they don't pay to see them anyhow."

7. Charles Bronson was no stranger to television. He guest-starred on many popular 1960s TV series, to include: Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, Have Gun--Will Travel, The Untouchables, Dr. Kildare, Rawhide, The Big Valley, The F.B.I., and The Fugitive. In 1958, Bronson starred in his own TV series, Man With a Camera, for 29 episodes. He played a free-lance photographer in New York City in the half-hour show. Bronson joined the 1963-64 Western series The Travels of Jamie McPheeters at mid-season. A young Kurt Russell played the title role and the Osmond Brothers appeared in nine episodes. The 1965 theatrical film Guns of Diablo is an expanded version of the final episode of The Travels of Jamie McPheeters. Finally, Charles Bronson earned his only Emmy nomination (for best supporting actor) for the anthology series General Electric Theater. In the 1961 episode "Memory in White," he played a boxer alongside Sammy Davis, Jr. and Joe Besser (of the later Three Stooges).