| Charles Rogers | |
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in the film Wings (1927) |
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| Born | Charles Edward Rogers August 13, 1904 Olathe, Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | April 21, 1999 (aged 94) Rancho Mirage, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor/Musician |
| Years active | 1926–99 |
| Spouse | Mary Pickford (m. 1937–1979) (her death) Beverly Ricondo (m. 1981–1999) (his death) |
Charles Edward “Buddy” Rogers (August 13, 1904 – April 21, 1999) was an American actor and jazz musician.
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Rogers was born to Maude and Bert Henry Rogers in Olathe, Kansas. He studied at the University of Kansas where he became an active member of Phi Kappa Psi. In the mid-1920s he began acting professionally in Hollywood films. A talented trombonist skilled on several other musical instruments, Rogers performed with his own jazz band in motion pictures and on radio. During World War II, he served in the United States Navy as a flight training instructor.
Nicknamed "Buddy", his most remembered performance in film was opposite Clara Bow in the 1927 Academy Award winning Wings, the first film ever honored as "Best Picture."
Respected by his peers for his work in film and for his humanitarianism, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored Rogers in 1986 with The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Charles "Buddy" Rogers has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6135 Hollywood Blvd.
A longtime resident and benefactor of California's Coachella Valley, Rogers was honored by having named after him a children's symphony orchestra that he and second wife, Beverley Ricondo, a real estate agent he married in 1981, helped found. A street in Cathedral City, California is named after him as well.
In 1937, Rogers became the third husband of silent film legend Mary Pickford, a woman twelve years his senior. The couple adopted two children—Roxanne (born 1944, adopted in 1944) and Ronald Charles (born 1937, adopted in 1943)—and remained married for 42 years until Pickford's death in 1979.
Rogers died in Rancho Mirage, California in 1999 at the age of 94 of natural causes, and was interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Cathedral City near Palm Springs, California.
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