Charles Bickford

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Charles Bickford in Tarzan's New York Adventure

Charles Bickford (January 1, 1891–November 9, 1967) was an American actor.

1 Early life and career
2 Success as a character actor
3 Final years
4 Partial filmography
5 External links

[edit] Early life and career

Bickford was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, during the first minute of 1891. The fifth of seven children, Charles was an intelligent but very independent and unruly child. He was tried and acquitted when he was only nine years old of the attempted murder of a motorist who had accidentally driven over his dog. In his late teens he drifted aimlessly around the United States for a time but eventually graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Before breaking into acting, he worked as a lumberjack, investment promoter, and for a short time ran a pest extermination business. He eventually joined a road company and travelled throughout the United States for more than a decade where he appeared in various productions. During an appearance in a Broadway play called, "Outside Looking In," he was noticed by legendary filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille and offered a contract with MGM studios. He soon began working with MGM head Louis B. Mayer on a number of projects.

He became a star after playing Greta Garbo's lover in Anna Christie (1930), but never developed into a romantic lead. Always of independent mind, strong-willed and quick with his fists, Bickford would frequently argue and sometimes come to blows with Mayer. During the production of DeMille's Dynamite, he punched out his director and eventually found himself blacklisted from MGM productions on several different occasions. Understandably, his association with MGM was short-lived, and Bickford became an independent actor for several years. Later, he would sign with Twentieth Century Fox studios where it was anticipated he would play leading man roles. However, Bickford was mauled by a lion while filming East of Java in 1935. While he recovered from this attack, he would lose his contract with Fox as well as his leading man status due to extensive neck scaring coupled with his advancing age.

[edit] Success as a character actor

With the possibility of leading man status gone, Bickford sought character actor roles. Here he would find his greatest success, both in films and later in television. He would establish himself as a highly sought after, powerful character actor, whose screen appearances commanded attention throughout the remainder of his career. His burly frame and craggy, intense features, coupled with a gruff but powerful voice lent themselves to his being cast in a wide variety of roles in high qualify productions. Most often he played loveable father figures, stern businessmen, heavies, ship captains or authority figures of some sort. During the 1940s he would be nominated three times for the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. Throughout the remainder of his career he would continue to act in generally prestigious projects right up until his death.

[edit] Final years

In his final years, Bickford played rancher John Grainger, owner of the "Shiloh Ranch" on The Virginian NBC television series. He died in Los Angeles of a blood infection at age 76, just days after filming a 1967 Virginian episode. He had a son, Rex and a daughter, Doris.