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OT; bronson dead ...

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by scooter, Sep 1, 2003.

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  1. scooter
    Joined: Mar 2, 2001
    Posts: 612

    scooter
    Member
    from phx,az,USA

    not really a hot rod guy but charles bronson died last night RIP he was one of my fav tough guys bummmmmer.
     
  2. El Caballo
    Joined: Mar 3, 2001
    Posts: 6,283

    El Caballo
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    My favorite role he played was in "The Great Escape". He was a movie tough guy who was actually tough.
     
  3. Deuce Roadster
    Joined: Sep 8, 2002
    Posts: 9,519

    Deuce Roadster
    Member Emeritus

    [​IMG]



    I saw that on the news.

    He was 81.

    His wife died a few years ago..........breast cancer I believe.



    [​IMG]
     
  4. fab32
    Joined: May 14, 2002
    Posts: 13,985

    fab32
    Member Emeritus

    I also liked Bronson. He made some great tough guy movies and it seemed he wasnt acting to pull off the role he was playing. He and his wife had a REAL love affair and Its been told it almost killed him when she died.

    Frank
     

  5. katzenhammer
    Joined: Aug 26, 2002
    Posts: 398

    katzenhammer
    Member

    ah nuts that sucks.
     
  6. LIMEY
    Joined: Nov 5, 2002
    Posts: 1,987

    LIMEY
    Member

    Sad news.....another one of the great actors gone but not forgotten. [​IMG]
     
  7. MIKE-3137
    Joined: Feb 19, 2003
    Posts: 1,578

    MIKE-3137
    Member

    Just watched "The Great Escape" last night....too wierd..
     
  8. Germ
    Joined: Apr 11, 2001
    Posts: 1,321

    Germ
    Member

    PAUL KERSEY
     
  9. dondanno
    Joined: Mar 20, 2003
    Posts: 679

    dondanno
    Member

  10. Radshit
    Joined: Mar 2, 2001
    Posts: 1,420

    Radshit
    Member

    He'll be missed......Mr Majestic was my favorite. The way he horsebeat that F-100 pickup, and it kept going....I think Ford used clips in that movie for their truck ads......
     
  11. draggin'GTO
    Joined: Jul 7, 2003
    Posts: 1,792

    draggin'GTO
    Member

    LOS ANGELES (Sept. 1) - Charles Bronson, the grim-faced tough guy who built a European following before making his mark in the United States with action films including the ''Death Wish'' series, died Saturday of pneumonia.

    He was 81.

    The actor died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with his wife at his bedside, publicist Lori Jonas said. He had been in the hospital for weeks, Jonas said.

    The actor had often wondered if he was too manly to achieve instant stardom in his home country.

    ''Maybe I'm too masculine,'' he said in a 1971 interview. ''Casting directors cast in their own, or an idealized image. Maybe I don't look like anybody's ideal.''

    During the height of his career, Bronson was hugely popular in Europe; the French knew him as ''le sacre monstre'' (the sacred monster), the Italians as ''Il Brutto'' (the ugly man). In 1971, he was presented a Golden Globe as ''the most popular actor in the world.''

    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.

    His early life gave no indication of his later fame. He was born Charles Buchinsky on Nov. 3, 1921 - not 1922, as studio biographies claimed - 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, ''where you had nothing to lose because you lost it already.'' The Buchinskys 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's dress.

    Charles' 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 made trouble 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.

    Drafted in 1943, he served with the Air Force 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 in a few minor roles.

    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 sailor in the 1951 service comedy ''You're in the Navy Now'' starring Gary Cooper.

    As Charles Buchinsky or Buchinski, he played supporting roles in ''Red Skies of Montana,'' ''The Marrying Kind,'' ''Pat and Mike'' (in which he fell victim to Katharine Hepburn's judo), ''The House of Wax,'' ''Jubal'' and other films. In 1954 he changed his last name, fearing reaction in the McCarthy era to Russian-sounding names.

    Bronson's first starring role came in 1958 with ''Machine-Gun Kelly,'' an exploitation film made in eight days. He also appeared in two brief TV series, ''Man with a Camera'' (1958) and ''The Travels of Jamie McPheeters'' (1963).

    His status grew with impressive performances in ''The Magnificent Seven,'' ''The Great Escape,'' ''The Battle of the Bulge,'' ''The Sandpiper'' and ''The Dirty Dozen.'' 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 ''Machine-Gun Kelly,'' and he invited Bronson to co-star with him in a British-French film, ''Adieu, L'Ami'' (''Farewell, Friend''). It made Bronson a European favorite.

    Among his films abroad was a hit spaghetti western, ''Once Upon a Time in the West.'' Finally Hollywood took notice.

    Among his starring films: ''The Valachi Papers,'' ''Chato's Land,'' ''The Mechanic,'' ''Valdez,'' ''The Stone Killer,'' ''Mr. Majestyk,'' ''Breakout,'' ''Hard Times,'' ''Breakout Pass,'' ''White Buffalo,'' ''Telefon,'' ''Love and Bullets,'' ''Death Hunt,'' ''Assassination,'' ''Messenger of Death.''

    The titles indicate their nature: 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 ''Death Wish.'' As an affluent, liberal architect, Bronson's 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's vigilantism brought widespread criticism, but ''Death Wish'' 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 ''Death Wish'' films, and in 1987 he defended them: ''I think they provide satisfaction for people who are victimized by crime and look in vain for authorities to protect them. But I don't think people try to imitate that kind of thing.''

    Bronson could be as taciturn in interviews as he appeared on the screen. He remained aloof from the Hollywood scene, once observing, ''I have lots of friends and yet I don't have any.''

    His 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: ''I'm going to marry your wife.''

    The McCallums divorced in 1967, and Bronson and Ireland married the following year. She costarred in several of his films.

    The Bronsons lived in a grand Bel Air mansion with seven children. Two were by his previous marriage, three by hers and the couple had 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 best-selling book, ''Life Wish.'' She followed with ''Life Lines,'' 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.

    Bronson is survived by his wife, Kim, six children and two grandchildren. Funeral services will be private.

     
  12. Mike
    Joined: Mar 5, 2001
    Posts: 3,540

    Mike
    Member

    Sad news indeed.

    "I just want to get my melons in" Mr. Majestic.
     
  13. SKR8PN
    Joined: Nov 8, 2002
    Posts: 439

    SKR8PN
    Member

    Bummer......my favorite Bronson movie is "The Mechanic"
    I liked the way they twisted the name of my profession, to fit another livelyhood........
     
  14. Flat Ernie
    Joined: Jun 5, 2002
    Posts: 8,406

    Flat Ernie
    Tech Editor

    We're losing all the great ones! Very sad news.

    [​IMG]
     
  15. TagMan
    Joined: Dec 12, 2002
    Posts: 6,295

    TagMan
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    "Charles Bronson (nee Buchinsky) was a tail gunner with 25 combat missions; received the Purple Heart for wounds received during combat in the Army Air Corps."





     
  16. I wondered about that. I was flicking through the channels this morning and they had Charlie on the Italian News. Now as I can't speak a word of Italian (apart from a couple of swear words), I didn't really know what was going on, but by the footage they were showing I kind of figured he must have died.

    Dirty Dozen was always one of my favourites.

    RIP
     
  17. He was great- and will be missed- I loved seeing him in the old westerns- and the death wish series of films.
     
  18. Rolf
    Joined: Jul 23, 2002
    Posts: 1,835

    Rolf
    Member

    Yup, Mr Majestic was a great one...RIP, Charles...

    He is right up there with McQueen and Eastwood.
     
  19. billbrown
    Joined: Dec 24, 2007
    Posts: 595

    billbrown
    BANNED

    never forget death wish and death wish 2.
     
  20. custom50
    Joined: Dec 29, 2007
    Posts: 396

    custom50
    Member
    from Indiana

    Watched the movie again the other night. We need him to come back!!!!
     
  21. Wow, a resurrected 5 1/2 year old OT thread! :eek:

    Today, in the news, Charles Bronson is still dead! :D
     
  22. oilslinger53
    Joined: Apr 17, 2007
    Posts: 2,500

    oilslinger53
    Member
    from covina CA

    Six year old off topic thread? I love bronson too, but....
     
  23. Now, THAT'S funny!

    Some of you are too young to remember the classic SNL reference...!
     
  24. RichG
    Joined: Dec 8, 2008
    Posts: 3,919

    RichG
    Member

    Oh, thank god, I thought I was in another one of those time warps where stuff keeps happening over and over, and then Bill Murray chases me with a bologna, screaming "Where the Buffalo Roam" was a good movie you fascist bastard. Then we're eating ice cream on the Riviera, and then there's a real Riviera driven by Yul Brenner dressed like he was in Futureworld, then the rookie cop from Dirty Harry gets shot and....

    nevermind.
     
  25. 60srailjob
    Joined: Nov 14, 2008
    Posts: 1,218

    60srailjob
    Member
    from nowhere

    He was one of my dad's favorite actors....that crappy
     
  26. custom50
    Joined: Dec 29, 2007
    Posts: 396

    custom50
    Member
    from Indiana

    Keep jumping in and you'll keep it around!! One guy must have seen my new avatar. I just got robbed of $8,850 and it got my adrenalin going.
     
  27. Damn, you mean we have had the same dream? :eek:
     
  28. helmsville
    Joined: Mar 4, 2007
    Posts: 363

    helmsville
    Member

    that suck's wescott now bronson my buddy's dog died, im bumbed out.
     
  29. Mazooma1
    Joined: Jun 5, 2007
    Posts: 13,598

    Mazooma1
    Member

    Bad news. At this rate Elvis will be dead by summer:(:(:(:(:(


    [​IMG]
     
  30. RichG
    Joined: Dec 8, 2008
    Posts: 3,919

    RichG
    Member

    I'll be fine as long as Rod Serling doesn't show up. Nobody needs that crap...
     
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