The Real Story Of Hollywood's Tough Guy

[Music] Charles Bronson was once called a grenade with the pin pulled well on the set of Mr Majestic the grenade exploded in the most terrifying way imaginable in the 1970s Charles Bronson was the most famous man in Hollywood while this iconic action star has gone down in cinema history for his Devil May care equips and a inspiring stunts his Steely eyed stare concealed an utterly brutal past Charles Dennis binsky was born in Pennsylvania on November 3rd 1921 born to Lithuanian immigrants he was their 11th child incredibly his parents ended up having 15 kids in total sadly they were far from a happy family Bronson didn't have many memories of his early childhood but he did remember that when his father came home he and his siblings would instinctively hide it's not an understatement to say that Charles Bronson grew up in extreme poverty according to Bronson himself he shared socks with his brothers and their father shaved their heads in the hope that they wouldn't get lice growing up very poor in a large family and going into the workforce as a child was undoubtedly a very stressful situation for Bronson this upbringing has often been used to explain one of Bronson's worst habits he took up smoking at the tender age of nine it was a habit he maintained for the rest of his life and sadly contributed to his demise when Charles was 10 his father died this loss not only deprived him of a parent it also meant he had to work in the coal mines where his father had previously been employed in order to support the family Bronson spent the entirety of his teenage years working in the coal mines he later claimed that for every ton of coal that he mined he was paid a single Dollar in 194 3 Bronson was drafted into the US forces as they fought World War II man this guy can't catch a break he claimed that being drafted was the best thing that had ever happened to him not only did he get to leave the co mines but as he put it he was well fed he was well dressed for the first time in his life and he was able to improve his English that's right English wasn't his first language growing up his parents spoke Lithuanian at home and he didn't learn English until he was a teenager however he was far from a laer Bronson was the first person in his family to graduate from high school following the war Bronson worked a series of odd jobs to keep busy until one day in Atlantic City when a group of actors invited him to paint sets for them while he was working in the theater he did some acting on the side and eventually decided to pursue it as a career Bronson began his Hollywood career with his real surname binsky but a dark time forced him to change it in the 1950s the Red Scare gripped the US us encouraged by Senator Joe McCarthy anti-communist witch hunts swept the country targeting leftists and Eastern Europeans alike to stand a chance Bronson all but had to change his Lithuanian last name all actors have unique stories of how they finally managed to snag their first film role and Bronson's story is particularly bizarre as a struggling young actor he first appeared in the 1951 film you're in the Navy now he only managed to get the role because of his ability to belch at will unfortunately while it was good enough to get him the gig it wasn't good enough for him to get a credit in 1954 Bronson was in Mexico shooting Vera Cruz a film about American Gunslingers getting caught up in a conflict between the Mexicans and the French one day during production Bronson and one of his co-stars Ernest Borgnine needed to go into town because they happened to still have the horses from filming they just rode into town from the set little did they know they were for a chilling event they were still dressed like old west Outlaws prop guns included and their timing couldn't have been worse they were spotted by a truck full of Mexican national authorities who didn't know about the movie Bronson and Borgnine ended up both being held at gunpoint until someone could be found to confirm who they really were for all his success in film Charles Bronson was one of the great late bloomers in Hollywood his breakout supporting role in the Magnificent 7 didn't occur until he was 39 he didn't become a movie star until the success of Death Wish when he was 53 Death Wish is probably the most quintessentially Charles Bronson film but it's often been criticized for its promotion of armed vigilantism Bronson himself however was fully convinced that the film was pushing the opposite message even when his own agent urged him not to do Death Wish Bronson steadfastly maintained that the film's message was that an ey for an eye makes the whole world blind Charles Bronson's path to fame was uneven to say the least though it took until his 50s for Bronson to get famous in the USA he was an international star long before then the Magnificent Seven and the Great Escape were box office failures in America but huge hits in places like Europe and Japan Bronson's career continued to be fueled by European and Japanese box office results even when his movies weren't profitable in the US more than money Brun became a figure of hero worship overseas Charles Bronson married Harriet tendler while they were both aspiring actors they had two kids before divorcing in 1965 he and his second wife actress Jill Ireland were first introduced in 1963 when Bronson was filming The Great Escape interestingly they were introduced by Ireland's then husband and Bronson's then co-star David mallum Bronson who was already head over heels for land even jokingly told mallum that he was going to marry his wife rude they married in 1968 the same year that they first appeared together in the film via rides they would go on to star in 16 films together Bronson and Ireland were deeply in love and remained together until 1990 when she lost a long battle with cancer one of Bronson's most beloved films is the dirty dozen despite the film's wild success Bronson had an utterly brutal time on set he was reportedly infuriated when the lead actor Lee Marvin disappeared from the set one day to get drunk he also didn't want his haircut and only gave in when he was threatened with a lawsuit Bronson was further frustrated when he was the subject of a prank which rudely focused on the height difference between him and his much taller co-stars Jim Brown and Donald Sutherland bronton didn't like watching the film either he walked out halfway through because he thought the action sequences were too brutal Clint Eastwood's work on Spaghetti Westerns are the stuff of Cinema Legend but he only got one of his most famous Parts because Charles Bronson turned it down when the director Sergio Leone approached Bronson about starring in a fist full of dollars he declined saying it was the worst script he'd ever seen despite that Bronson and Leone did work together on the 1968 film Once Upon a Time in the West the director later called Bronson the greatest actor he ever worked with often rugged mysterious or vaguely written Bronson's characters were men of action rather than words this was by Bronson's own design especially as he got more clout over the course of his career he was a man of few words himself he couldn't stand to watch his own movies and he disliked interviews one of Bronson's most successful films both critically and commercially was 19 1975's Hard Times despite being 53 when he made it Bronson was in excellent shape and did most of his own stunts according to director Walter Hill Bronson received close to a million salary the film cost between two and 4 million to make and it proceeded to make nearly 30 million at the box office despite that wild success there was a lot of trouble on the set during production Bronson's co-star James Coburn was reportedly very upset at playing second fiddle even though the two had worked together before it was allegedly because Bronson had acquired a reputation as a b movie star Bronson had his own set of problems on the set of hard times when director Walter Hill criticized Jill Ireland's acting Bronson was incensed he reportedly refused to shake hell's hand and never worked with him again however some film historians think there was a stranger reason behind Bronson's treatment of Hell during his life Bronson avoided shaking hands at the time people accused him of being arrogant however the truth was that Bronson feared germs and tried to avoid infection as often as possible it's even been suggested that he might have had undiagnosed OCD another fear which plagued Bronson all his life was his fear of fire this influenced several important decisions with a notable example occurring during the filming of Death Wish in 1974 Bronson arranged for himself and his family to stay in hotel rooms that never Rose higher than the second floor he was convinced that if there was a fire and they were higher than the second floor he or one of his family members might not make it [Music] out it might be surprising to consider but Bronson was one of the most bankable actors of his lifetime when discussing Mr Majestic a producer once stated that Charlie was making $20,000 a day for a 6 day week plus 10% of the net plus 2500 a week walking around money but he did also have seven kids so in the late' 70s Bronson auditioned to play the Man of Steel in the Richard Doner helmed film Superman Bronson was in his mid-50s at the time so you kind of have to admire his confidence he ultimately lost the role but not because of his age because he was too earthy which I think is just a polite way of saying ugly if there was one thing which Bronson didn't like to do it was disgusting the deeper meanings of his films with interviewers however he broke from both those Traditions after death wish 3 was released when he saw the final product he was stunned the film was packed with extra shots of Gore that director Michael witer had filmed when Bronson wasn't on set it was the last time that the pair ever worked [Music] together despite his reputation as being tight lipped and stoic Bronson was known to tell anecdotes about his rough past to journalists he talked about fist fights which led to arrests for assault and his skill at throwing knives however Bronson's stories were eventually revealed to be false or at the very least exaggerations Bronson had never been locked up and he didn't have a reputation for getting angry away from film sets he'd just been adding to the Mythos around his onscreen [Music] Persona Charles Bronson was one of those people lucky or unlucky enough to live to see a movie about his own life upon the loss of his second wife Jill Ireland in 1990 her memoirs were adapted into a film most people would be touched to see a film being made about their late wife's Brave battle with cancer unfortunately Bronson was not one of those people he was so ticked about the adaptation that he even threatened to take the filmmakers to court more than 8 years after losing his beloved second wife Bronson married for a third and final time Kim weeks had previously known Bronson through her work with his wife Jill they were married for 5 years until Bronson's own final days through the latter half of his career Charles Bronson became increasingly frustrated by the fact that he was typ cast in aggressive bovie roles he finally broke from the mold when he appeared in Shawn Penn's 1991 directorial debut the Indian Runner Brunson surprised film critics with a very nuanced and peaceful performance sadly despite the positive reviews the Indian Runner was a box office failure and it was Bronson's final film to get a theatrical release for all his successes as an actor critically or commercially Bronson was largely ignored when it came to film Awards throughout his career he only garnered three Awards and two nominations of those five mentions one was for the Hollywood Walk of Fame one was a prime time Emmy nomination and another was the Henry Retta award at the Golden Globes for World film favorite with a caveat he had to share it with Shan connory even though Bronson was the ultimate tough guy he had a sensitive side too he loved art and was an avid painter as film critic Roger Ebert noted Bronson enjoyed talking about his painting more than his acting during interviews however he didn't want his paintings to sell just because he was a movie star to hide his identity he painted under his original last name binsky the ruse worked according to Bronson he managed to sell several paintings on the strength of the art alone Charles Bronson acted in the action adventure film breakout alongside famed Hollywood filmmaker and actor John Houston following their work together Houston famously quipped that Bronson was like a grenade with the pin pulled well on the set of Mr Majestic let's just say that the grenade exploded Bronson once in Fury created an entire film crew on the set of the 1974 film Mr Majestic at the time Bronson himself was in a bad mood when the production was delayed on its first day of filming a transport truck carrying cars was late to the set prompting Bronson to exclaim that what the company needed was a European crew word quickly got around the set and the film's director Richard fler had to persuade the entire crew not to quit the film on mass even when they remained Bronson was astounded by The Grudge they held for his insulting remarks in the summer of 1998 an aging Bronson underwent a hip replacement and retired from acting after the operation at the age of 81 he died on August 30th 203 from a combination of respiratory failure and metastatic lung cancer far from letting the extraordinary challenges of his early life holding back Bronson overcame them and swaggered his way into Hollywood Legend if you enjoyed this video please give it a like And subscribe for more videos

Channel: Factinate

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Length: 15min 10sec (910 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 27 2024