{"id":1785,"date":"2024-05-09T19:48:06","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T19:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freshstoryes.lol\/?p=1785"},"modified":"2024-05-09T19:48:06","modified_gmt":"2024-05-09T19:48:06","slug":"charles-bronson-maybe-im-too-masculine-casting-directors-cast-in-their-own-or-an-idealized-image-maybe-i-dont-look-like-anybodys-ideal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freshstoryes.lol\/?p=1785","title":{"rendered":"Charles Bronson: Maybe I\u2019m too masculine, casting directors cast in their own, or an idealized, image, maybe I don\u2019t look like anybody\u2019s ideal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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During the height of his career, Bronson was hugely popular in Europe; the French knew him as \u201cLe Sacre Monstre\u201d (The Sacred Monster), the Italians as \u201cIl Brutto\u201d (The Ugly Man). In 1971, he was presented a Golden Globe as \u201cthe most popular actor in the world.\u201d<\/div>\n

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Like Clint Eastwood, whose spaghetti westerns won him stardom, Bronson had to make European films to prove his worth as a star. He left a featured-role career in Hollywood to play leads in films made in France, Italy and Spain. His blunt manner, powerful build and air of danger made him the most popular actor in those countries.At age 50, he returned to Hollywood a star.In a 1971 interview, he theorized on why the journey had taken him so long:\u201cMaybe I\u2019m too masculine. Casting directors cast in their own, or an idealized, image. Maybe I don\u2019t look like anybody\u2019s ideal.\u201dHis early life gave no indication of his later fame. He was born Charles Bunchinsky on Nov. 3, 1921 \u2013 not 1922, as studio biographies claimed \u2013 in Ehrenfeld, Pa. He was the 11th of 15 children of a coal miner and his wife, both Lithuanian immigrants.Young Charles learned the art of survival in the tough district of Scooptown, \u201cwhere you had nothing to lose because you lost it already.\u201d The Bunchinskys lived crowded in a shack, the children wearing hand-me-downs from older siblings. At the age of 6, Charles was embarrassed to attend school in his sister\u2019s dress.Charles\u2019 father died when he was 10, and at 16 Charles followed his brothers into the mines. He was paid $1 per ton of coal and volunteered for perilous jobs because the pay was better. Like other toughs in Scooptown, he raised some hell and landed in jail for assault and robbery.He might have stayed in the mines for the rest of his life except for World War II.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Drafted in 1943, he served with the U.S. Army Air Corps in the Pacific, reportedly as a tail gunner on a B29. Having seen the outside world, he vowed not to return to the squalor of Scooptown.He was attracted to acting not, he claimed, because of any artistic urge; he was impressed by the money movie stars could earn. He joined the Philadelphia Play and Players Troupe, painting scenery and acting a few minor roles.<\/div>\n

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At the Pasadena Playhouse school, Bronson improved his diction, supporting himself by selling Christmas cards and toys on street corners. Studio scouts saw him at the Playhouse and he was cast as a gob in the 1951 service comedy \u201cYou\u2019re in the Navy Now\u201d starring Gary Cooper.As Charles Buchinsky or Buchinski, he played supporting roles in \u201cRed Skies of Montana,\u201d \u201cThe Marrying Kind,\u201d \u201cPat and Mike\u201d (in which he fell victim to Katharine Hepburn\u2019s judo), \u201cThe House of Wax,\u201d \u201cJubal\u201d and other films. In 1954 he changed his last name, fearing reaction in the McCarthy era to Russian-sounding names.Bronson\u2019s first starring role came in 1958 with an eight-day exploitation film, \u201cMachine Gun Kelly.\u201d He also appeared in two brief TV series, \u201cMan with a Camera\u201d (1958) and \u201cThe Travels of Jamie McPheeters\u201d (1963).His status grew with impressive performances in \u201cThe Magnificent Seven,\u201d \u201cThe Great Escape,\u201d \u201cThe Battle of the Bulge,\u201d \u201cThe Sandpiper\u201d and \u201cThe Dirty Dozen.\u201d But real stardom eluded him, his rough-hewn face and brusque manner not fitting the Hollywood tradition for leading men.Alain Delon, like many French, had admired \u201cMachine Gun Kelly,\u201d and he invited Bronson to co-star with him in a British-French film, \u201cAdieu, L\u2019Ami\u201d (\u201cFarewell, Friend\u201d). It made Bronson a European favorite.Among his films abroad was a hit spaghetti western, \u201cOnce Upon a Time in the West.\u201d Finally Hollywood took notice.Among his starring films: \u201cThe Valachi Papers,\u201d \u201cChato\u2019s Land,\u201d \u201cThe Mechanic,\u201d \u201cValdez,\u201d \u201cThe Stone Killer,\u201d \u201cMr. Majestyk,\u201d \u201cBreakout,\u201d \u201cHard Times,\u201d \u201cBreakout Pass,\u201d \u201cWhite Buffalo,\u201d \u201cTelefon,\u201d \u201cLove and Bullets,\u201d \u201cDeath Hunt,\u201d \u201cAssassination,\u201d \u201cMessenger of Death.\u201dThe titles indicate the nature of the films: lots of action, shooting, dead bodies. They were made on medium-size budgets, but Bronson was earning $1 million a picture before it was fashionable.His most controversial film came in 1974 with \u201cDeath Wish.\u201d As an affluent, liberal architect, Bronson\u2019s life is shattered when young thugs kill his wife and rape his daughter. He vows to rid the city of such vermin, and his executions brought cheers from crime-weary audiences.The character\u2019s vigilantism brought widespread criticism, but \u201cDeath Wish\u201d became one of the big moneymakers of the year. The controversy accelerated when Bernard Goetz shot youths he thought were threatening him in a New York subway.Bronson made three more \u201cDeath Wish\u201d films, and in 1987 he defended them:\u201cI think they provide satisfaction for people who are victimized by crime and look in vain for authorities to protect them. But I don\u2019t think people try to imitate that kind of thing.\u201dBronson could be as taciturn in interviews as he appeared on the screen. He remained aloof from the Hollywood scene, once observing, \u201cI have lots of friends and yet I don\u2019t have any.\u201dHis first marriage was to Harriet Tendler, whom he met when both were fledgling actors in Philadelphia. They had two children before divorcing.In 1966 Bronson fell in love with the lovely blonde British actress Jill Ireland, who happened to be married to British actor David McCallum. Bronson reportedly told McCallum bluntly: \u201cI\u2019m going to marry your wife.\u201dThe McCallums were divorced in 1967, and Bronson and Ireland married the following year. She co-starred in several of his films.The Bronsons lived in a grand Bel Air mansion with seven children: two by his previous marriage, three by hers and two of their own. They also spent time in a colonial farmhouse on 260 acres in West Windsor, Vt.Ireland lost a breast to cancer in 1984. She became a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society and wrote a bestselling book, \u201cLife Wish.\u201d She followed with \u201cLife Lines,\u201d in which she told of her struggle to rescue her 27-year-old son, Jason McCallum Bronson, from drug addiction. He died of an overdose in 1989, and she died of cancer a year later.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the height of his career, Bronson was hugely popular in Europe; the French knew him as \u201cLe Sacre Monstre\u201d (The Sacred Monster), the Italians as \u201cIl Brutto\u201d (The Ugly Man). In 1971, he...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nCharles Bronson: Maybe I\u2019m too masculine, casting directors cast in their own, or an idealized, image, maybe I don\u2019t look like anybody\u2019s ideal - FRESHSTORYES<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/freshstoryes.lol\/?p=1785\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Charles Bronson: Maybe I\u2019m too masculine, casting directors cast in their own, or an idealized, image, maybe I don\u2019t look like anybody\u2019s ideal - FRESHSTORYES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During the height of his career, Bronson was hugely popular in Europe; the French knew him as \u201cLe Sacre Monstre\u201d (The Sacred Monster), the Italians as \u201cIl Brutto\u201d (The Ugly Man). 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