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Charles Bronson (November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003), born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series. He often cast in the role of a police officer or gunfighter, often in revenge-oriented plot lines. Bronson was born Charles Dennis Buchinsky (or Buchinskas) in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny Mountain Coal region north of Johnstown. During the McCarthy hearings, he changed his last name to... MORE

Charles Bronson (November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003), born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series. He often cast in the role of a police officer or gunfighter, often in revenge-oriented plot lines. Bronson was born Charles Dennis Buchinsky (or Buchinskas) in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny Mountain Coal region north of Johnstown. During the McCarthy hearings, he changed his last name to Bronson, fearing that Buchinsky sounded "too Russian". He was one of 15 children born to a Lithuanian immigrant father of Lipka Tatar ancestry, and a Lithuanian-American mother. His father hailed from the town of Druskininkai (or Druskienniki). His mother, Mary Valinsky, whose parents were from the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was born in the anthracite coal mining town of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania. Bronson was the first member of his family to graduate from high school. As a young child, Bronson did not initially know how to speak English and only learned it in his teens. He spoke Polish at home. LESS