Saturdays with the Stars: Charles Bronson

Each month of 2026 we are looking at an actor or actress who found their fame in action films, fighting bad guys & saving the day.  Last month, we talked about Sean Connery, the man who in many ways forged the mold for what we think of as a modern action hero.  This month we're going to talk about a man who, like Connery, had a history of fine acting but was largely overshadowed by the action films that the public adored & would ultimately become his legacy.  Unlike Connery, though, he seemed to be more comfortable with this, and would largely eschew any attempts to reclaim some of the impressive, dramatic work of his early career after one movie, the one he would be most-associated with, would forever cement his public image as a violent vigilante on the big-screen.  This month's star is Charles Bronson.

Born Charles Dennis Buchinsky in 1921, the future Charles Bronson grew up in a small coal-mining town in rural Pennsylvania, the 11th of 15 children born of immigrant parents from Lithuania.  Bronson grew up in abject poverty, his father dying when he was just 12, which forced him to go to work in the mines to help support his mother and siblings.  He still was able to finish high school, though, and in some ways World War II offered him a different life, as he joined the Army Air Force and was a pilot in the Pacific, eventually winning a Purple Heart.  After the war, he would take on stagehand work and eventually small parts in the Philadelphia theatrical community (even living with future Odd Couple star Jack Klugman) before moving to Hollywood and working as an extra in movies starring opposite Katharine Hepburn, Mitzi Gaynor, Spencer Tracy, & Gary Cooper.  His big break came with a scene-stealing turn as Igor in House of Wax (a surprise hit starring Vincent Price), which led in the 1960's to key supporting turns in some of the biggest action/war pictures of the era, such as The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, and The Dirty Dozen.

Bronson's career is fascinating in part because he could've stayed a supporting player forever, making a good living as a stoic figure stealing scenes in war pictures that would continue to be popular throughout the 1970's & 1980's, but instead two odd things happened.  First, he would gain international recognition in two films (Once Upon a Time in the West and Rider on the Rain), the former considered by many (including me) to be the greatest film ever made, and the latter a commercial & critical triumph that would win the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1970; both films were lensed outside of Hollywood, giving him an international flavor despite very American roots.  But instead he would largely sell out when he came back to Hollywood as a leading man, making a series of action films that were wildly popular, but didn't have the gravitas that he was clearly capable of, all culminating in Death Wish, his most famous movie, and the role with which he would be (for better or for worse) associated with for the rest of his life.  This month, we're going to talk about Bronson's career, why he ended up being an action film hero that (unlike Connery) never really also made promise on his clear acting talent in serious dramas, and how this would in some ways set up a paradox that future stars in this series would have to jump past.